Rudest city in the US may not be where you think it is: poll

When it comes to unseen places in the US, the Panhandle is like a giant middle finger.

The Big Apple has a reputation for rudeness, but is it really the rudest city in the US? Not according to a recent survey, which found that Miami, Florida takes the cake when it comes to having a promiscuous population.

The study, carried out by language learning platform Preply, found that the Magic City was “the rudest in 2024”, with locals ranking their fellow residents 9.88 out of ten on the rudeness scale.

This was based on a number of factors, including lack of public awareness, noise in common areas and rudeness to service staff, according to the survey.

In second and third place were Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (9.12) and Tampa, Florida (8.88) – the latter named the rudest city by Preply in 2022.

“If you’re in Miami, FL, Philadelphia, PA, or Tampa, FL, don’t be surprised if you run into the rudest people you’ll ever meet,” Preply wrote.

To highlight the most polite metropolises, the site surveyed residents about “the social behaviors they observed in their city” and then calculated a rudeness score on a scale of one to ten.

Rounding out the top five on this Mount Rushmore of rudeness were Louisville, Kentucky (8.72) and Oakland, California (8.67) respectively.

The full list of the roughest cities for 2024 below:

In fact, many cities appear to be getting meaner with Louisville, KY, Charlotte, NC and Austin, TX all placing at least five places higher in the rough rankings than in 2022.

Overall, the most observed rude behaviors were lack of consideration for others, loudness in public and lack of self-awareness. Meanwhile, the older an American is, the more likely they are to view transplants as ruder than longtime residents, according to the study.

Politics also played a factor. A surprising 1 in 2 Americans think their city’s residents have gotten rougher ahead of the upcoming election.

To make matters worse, nearly a quarter of Americans have considered moving because of their residents’ misbehavior.

Fortunately, there are plenty of polite cities to counterbalance the rudeness.

The least rude city was Omaha, Nebraska with an average ranking of 6.24 on the rudeness scale.

This was followed by Minneapolis, Minnesota at 6.35 (it seems “Minnesota nice” is a real thing) and San Diego, California at 6.68.

The full list of the most and least rude cities for 2024 below:

As with their rude counterparts, many of these polite cities became more so from two years ago.

“Looking to 2022, cities like San Diego, CA, ranked significantly more polite, dropping 15 spots on the list of rudest cities,” Preply wrote. “The top cities that improved the most in roughness going down the list by more points were Washington DC, Detroit, MI, San Jose, CA and Milwaukee, WI.”

They added, “This shows that it is possible for the general norm in a city to change frequently, resulting in a more positive experience for those who live in or visit it.”