Unfriendliest area of the US?

Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama

Friendly how?

In my road trip experience, it's been AZ and NM. The South and even TX was fine. Chicago fine, midwest IA and NE fine, MA and New England, great.

FLORIDA

I live in Nevada, and people are unfriendly unless they already know you.

Texas is full of rude assholes.

Connecticut, without a doubt. And I've been all over the country.

The Pacific Northwest is pretty bad. People will be polite for the most part, but not friendly.

From my experience, Seattle. Idaho is also strange.

Indiana

Philadelphia is hands down the worst.

I second what R7 said. Connecticut,and I, too, have been all over the USA.

R11, yes. They win no prizes for friendliness in the 'burbs of Philly, esp. Bucks County.

I've always heard that New Yorkers are gruff and rude.

According to this map, it's pretty un-Friendly's everywhere but the eastern seaboard.

OP, what's that map supposed to represent?

The unfriendliest area is Datalounge at night after all the fast food restaurants close.

We're reserved, bitches. Now mind your own business and don't talk to me when I'm on line at the grocery store.

Wherever R1 lives. Chock full idiotic buttholes.

California native who visited Florida. Californians mostly keep to themselves but Floridians will get up in your face for the stupidest reasons like accidentally cutting them in line. It's like road rage but with pedestrians.

Florida, Boston, Philly, DC.

Another vote for Seattle (haven't been to any other places in WA, so I'll keep it to there). Beautiful city, horrible people. I'm from California, so that seemed to make it even worse.

Long Island, hands down.

Alaska.

A friend of mine from Boston said it's her state, Massachusetts. She lives in Mississippi now and says it's friendlier. (another friend from Montreal said the same thing - that maybe it was because of the weather and people being outside, around each other more of the time)

I'm NOT advocating for Mississippi - just saying people tend to be friendly, even among the races, if you can believe that. Just don't pry too deeply into their belief systems.

A lot of areas with friendly people are just fake friendly. They're nice to your face but have regressive attitudes and will vote for the most foul politicians on Earth. No thanks. I'll take a place with unfriendly and aloof people who at least won't vote for antigay policies!

I'd agree with Connecticut

Boston, as shown in this documentary

My worst experiences were around DC, followed by New York. Quite a lot of assholes in Hawaii too.

I grew up in Indiana. Angry bitter suspicious people.

Hawaii? Nah. They got the aloha spirit, brah.

R30 Indiana is a cesspool. We live in N.C. where a lot of retirees wind up, and they say it's an awful place. The most self-segregated and racist state in the country with a still very active KKK presence. Also, another friend who went to Notre Dame says it was a hell hole.

I lived in Maine for almost a year for work. I didn't experience any of that Cabot Cove folksiness.

I agree with R10 on Indiana. I spent time working there many years ago and my team and I received bonus pay because the people there were so nasty. That was the only time we received bonuses.

Typically I find states with mostly Protestant people to be the least friendly.

Indiana/Midwest hands down.

Colorado is the friendliest (to me)

New York’s are surprisingly kind and helpful when you get out of the touristy areas, (though they don’t do the fakey-fake nice thing.)

The southeast is pretty friendly if you are white.

Testing, can I post?

725 5th Avenue, New York, New York 10022

People in the Northeast, Mid Atlantic and South are very friendly. They'll talk to anybody. The sense of humor is *very* different in each area, but all these regions are filled with surprisingly warm, friendly people.

I hate the midwest. Suspicious, hostile people. Everyone looks at you like you're about to rape their dog. Nevada was gruff, but okay. Arizona and New Mexico gave me the creeps. Texas, is just Texas. It's mostly awesome except for Houston which is completely un-Texan. Dallas is filled with wannabe Texans who were imported from somewhere else, so they're Fauxans. They're a Texas version of Kardashians.

California and Oregon were stellar, super friendly and wherever you go people are pretty friendly and open. California seems to bring out the best in people. Portlanders are crazy friendly and I swear they all pack donuts or cupcakes as an agreed up sign of their friendliness.

It stays like that through Olympia, but when you get past there and closer to Seattle it's "you're not good enough for us" time. It's as bad as St Louis with the "what school did you go to?". Nobody knows you, nobody wants to know you.

Go east across Idaho and it's "You're obviously not one of us, so we shall pretend you don't exist". Montana is the same, but with more guns.

Yay. R10 and R34 are correct. Fairy-fake nice. Also the most stupendously crappy drivers in the U.S. If they drove in LA, Sf, NYC, Philly or Balt/ DC they would be Darwinned out of existence. The only liberal area is Marion County where Indy is.

Any place where The Poors are is always unfriendly.

Poor and uneducated especially. WV, parts of OH and PA, all the rust belt places, and most of the deep south.

Montana and Idaho have rural areas where people live for privacy when they don't want others or the government to bother them. Wasn't that militia-country? If ever an anti-government insurgency were to break out, I would expect that to be the red zone.

Georgia. Racist hicks.

Colorado. Snotty and full of themselves.

Indiana sounds like a hell-Hole.

Ohio

Rural Texas win hands down. Glad nuclear wastes are dumped in those areas!

DC, Seattle, any rural backwater filled with suspicious defensive yokels. I don’t know why New York gets a bad rap; they are so friendly and chatty up there.

Southern Indiana pretty friendly. Indianapolis and above fucking awful!

[quote]Unfriendliest area of the US?

That would be Roseanne Barr's vast and cavernous ass.

Southern friendliness is really about drawing you out, rather than really engaging you.

Massachusetts, DC, Florida are unfriendly. California and Michigan are very friendly

Trump University

oops wrong thread

Another vote for Connecticut. Mass isn’t great either.

The most unfriendly would have to be DC /Maryland. Boring nasty dullards who are snobbish despite having nothing to be snobbish about.

Connecticut and the Boston area aren't particularly friendly either but nothing compares to the soulless automaton bores that infest the DC area.

Rockford, Illinois was a very unfriendly city when I lived there. Left years ago for Southern California and never went back.

What R1 said. For sure.

R54 I’ll agree, but with a qualification. The locals, meaning people who grew up here and/or have actual connection to DC are completely different. The class of “I’m here to be IMPORTANT” are regrettably plentiful, last about as long as a Kardashian “leak”.

They’re horrid, and I don’t disagree at all with the bad impression they’ve left you. If you should get the opportunity and are in a forgiving mood, drive south out of DC down 295 to Branch Avenue. Take that to 301 South to the headwaters of the Potomac and the Chesapeake Bay.

This is why I stay here. This is real Maryland, real Virginia. Now, follow the signs for Captain Billy’s and Robeson’s Crabhouse. This is not a chain, it’s an institution. You have a mess of crabs, sitting out where you can hear the water on a beautiful summer day. You’ll see actual happy people.

San Francisco was very unfriendly when I was there. Ugh! What a bunch of snobs.

Washington, DC, was OK, especially compared to San Francisco.

R17, so true

So, R18 here. I would like to clarify Yankee aloofness. It's not that we're unfriendly. We respect people's alternate views and privacy. I am never gonna go on and on about religion. Gauche as fuck. If we have the same views, we'll eventually get to know each other and vent about politics. But we will NOT put a fucking sign in our yard. Those are for the interlopers.

I WILL welcome you to the neighborhood with maybe some vegetables from the garden. But I expect nothing. If you decide to talk more, maybe a key so you can feed the cat. We are NOT gonna be instant friends. I had way too much of that in the South. Friendship takes time. And I don't want weirdos in my house.

Easy, the entire Rustbelt and South Eastern united states. Awful people. The whites are homophobes, the blacks even more so...

Imagine driving at night and your car braking down!!! Mary !!!

Nebraska, anywhere west of Lincoln. Kearney the worst.

Arizona wins.

Rural Vermont.

This depends on the color of your skin.

"Rockford, Illinois was a very unfriendly city when I lived there. Left years ago for Southern California and never went back. "

Are you me? I grew up there - I think there's something bad in the water.

San Francisco. They all think they are in Paradise and that no one could possibly have a valid reason for being any place else. The San Andreas can't take it soon enough to suit me.

I lived in New York for a few years and thought the people were unusually sociable and friendly.

None of you have been to Chicago apparently because if you had, you would know the rudest cunts are in that city.

R67, I lived there for a while too. The two big things were working late to pay your bills and having no life as a result, and natives living with their parents into their forties and presumably forever, because they couldn’t afford their own place.

And people that did have their own places were very aloof and wouldn’t invite anyone over, presumably because they all lived in a rat infested, one room hellhole.

I have lived in Philadelphia, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Chicago, Connecticut, Seattle, and Pittsburgh. I have found that your social economic class really influences how friendly people are. Most upper middle class want to live where their peers live, and it is pretty same everywhere. And most people value their privacy. I did find Atlanta in general to be the friendliest. Try to find an area where most of the people are new to town. They need friends as well. Locals with generations of relatives and old friends aren't likely to seek out newbies.

"Try to find an area where most of the people are new to town."

Stay away from places that tend to be transient. Florida, for example. People move in and out of the state so fast and often, that you can't get to know people, and it makes Florida a very unfriendly place.

I vote for Bucks County Pennsylvania too. That was worse for unfriendliness than anyplace I've lived in America, and I've lived all over.

Long Island, NYC, Philadelphia

I lived in Florida for 4 years. Everyone was from somewhere else in my neighborhood and were extremely friendly. I also did some work in Texas and I found them quite friendly as well.

New York City has a reputation for being very unfriendly and my trips there confirmed it. When I was there, they were cold and unfriendly. So NYC get my vote as the unfriendliest.

Welcome to the shoreline of Connecticut, get the fuck out.

Never the area, always you attitude

Massachusetts, I lived there for 8 years. I made some great friends but couldn't wait to leave after awhile.

Seattle does have a chill to it, I would rank that 2nd.

I love Portland and think the people are very friendly here.

"Never the area, always you attitude"

Pure bullshit.

If that were true, people's experience would be the same wherever they went, and that clearly is not the case.

You'd be unfriendly, TOO, R55 and R66, if you had to live in Rockford, Fucking Illinois.

Hawaii’s especially their Beaches. Those Samoan men are dicks and they claim that Ocean.

Arizona, terrible, too. We lived there for five years. I will never return. Very homophobic.

Seattle is absolutely the most unfriendly of any city I’ve been to in the US. It’s chock-full of the biggest nerds and geeks you’ll ever find… Outside of DC. No social skills , introverted and zero sense of humor. I didn’t make one friend the whole time I lived there.

I’m gen x and find millennials to be less friendly and talkative than my generation, no matter where you are. My hometown of a Richmond was a lot friendlier twenty years ago than it is now with the hoards of sullen tattooed hipsters.

R82, I agree with you in that, but because I think that social media has made them stupider and less socially adept

R82 Friendly is not a word I would use to describe your gen. Talkative, yes.

San Francisco and the Bay Area, in general, are by far the most unfriendly and soulless people I've ever met. We lived there for over 10 years and couldn't wait to get out.

Another vote for the Massholes

People in San Fransisco ooze with judgment. They have it all figured out, except for the poopy, syringe laden thoroughfares.

Another vote for Seattle, people are polite but not friendly as posted above. Very socially awkward when you make small talk.

Philly isn't as inward looking and insular as it once was. SF, on the other hand is full of insufferable people--I always feel lucky when I'm on a project w/o Bay are folks. People from Los Angeles are more pleasant but equally self-absorbed. New Yorkers are much more fun.

Indiana is truly the armpit of America, with the deep south being the shitter. Indiana is the worst of all the Midwestern states. People sometimes accuse states like Iowa of being "boring", but at least the people there are friendly. Indiana is both racist, boring and unfriendly. It's what Illinois would be like if Chicago wasn't there.

"Both" shouldn't be in that second-to-last sentence.

Cuntifornia!

Over 90 replies and only one other poster said Vermont!

Vermont, especially northern Vermont, is filled with the most angry and insular assholes in New England. They hate anyone who isn’t a third generation Vermonter and absolutely loathe tourists even though tourism is the backbone to their shitty economy.

And, Long Island without a doubt. Aggressive, defensive assholes who are always primed for a fight or argument.

Long Island deserves a special category of nasty. Followed by northern NJ. Crass aggressive rudeness without the interest in people of NYC. Always ready for a fight. Nastiest people I’ve ever met.

So according to this thread, HANDS DOWN, the unfriendliest part of the US is all of it.

Why would Samoans claim Hawaii, R80 ? They don’t even live in the same hemisphere.

Someone in Reno shot a man just to watch him die.

That was me, R93! You nailed it, that is exactly what is happening in Vermont! I was shocked myself that no one else said it first!

I find Americans very friendly for the most part but I find people in Seattle are very rude. The nicest are in the South.

Another vote for Long Island... the culture in the Hamptons especially. Rich, waspy, whites getting cryotherapy in East Quogue. BARF.

It's ironic that social media have made people less socially adept.

I've only lived in Northern CA (can't speak to Southern CA), but SF is awful as far as people go.

"The nicest are in the South."

You don't know them.

These are the same people who say "bless your heart" to and about you, which sounds sweet, but is actually an insult, meaning "you moron." That pretty much sums up the "friendliness" of the south.

R103, it's like when the English say "with all due respect".

At first meeting most people treat others based on the vibe the person gives off. If they look and act suspicious they'll be treated with suspicion. If they're friendly and cordial, they're usually treated in a more friendly manner. if they give off a vibe of "I'm better than you" they're treated harshly by most.

I've traveled through every state in the union except Alaska. I have found more nice people across the country than nasty people. If you're kind to people you don't know you'll more then likely receive kindness back.

I guess it's what you define as friendly.

In Pittsburgh, if you make a friend, they'll give you a kidney. Generous to a fault. But go to the grocery store, and the employees don't talk to you or say thank you. You get one grunt which means "thanks."

Most of Ohio.

If you lived in Ohio you'd be bitchy too.

Another vote for Massachusetts (with the entire region getting a special mention despite the redundancy). I lived there for 14 years and the unfriendliness got to be a running joke between my friends, husband and me. Hubby and I played a game whenever we flew back into Logan: see how far you could get past the parking garage toll booth before someone did something obnoxious (usually measured in feet) but had to start the game earlier when, on one occasion, a native got aggressive with us in the parking lot because we weren't loading our trunk fast enough for him to take our parking space — despite the fact that there were open parking spaces in plain view and we'd taken less than 15 seconds to put the luggage in the trunk and get in the car. He laid on the horn and waved his middle finger at us as we backed out and drove away.

We got so that we could tell whether someone was native or a "newcomer" (meaning their ancestors [italic]didn't[/italic] arrive on the Mayflower) by looking at their demeanor and the way that they just stood there. It was best to avoid them whenever possible.

I should have never settled in Boston when, after being there for all of 3 days, I had an appointment to look at an apartment. I showed up a few minutes early to make sure I could find the place and be on time; when I strolled up to the house (in Malden near the Oak Grove T) and saw a guy working on what passes for a front porch in New England, I assumed it was the landlord I was meeting, walked up with a big smile and held out my hand, saying "you must be the owner!" and his response was to just grunt, turn and walk away. Now, I was obviously there for the appointment, he was obviously the landlord/owner, I was on-the-dot on time to the appointment, and it could not have been clearer without me wearing a billboard-sized sign reading "potential tenant" but he was rude, acted like it was a real inconvenience to show the apartment, was dressed for shit and could barely string three words together to form a sentence. In other words, a typical Boston native.

He flung the door open, grunted "look" at me, and stood there like a decaying statue in an abandoned graveyard. The apartment smelled of rotting wood, cigarettes and mold; it was small, overpriced and hadn't seen a broom or mop, let alone a new appliance, in decades. I described it to the friends I was staying with while settling were "dirty, dark, damp and cold" which became the words I use to describe Boston to this day. All of the friends I made in Boston were non-natives. We have all since departed, and a far flung crowd we are... but when we get together, it is never in Boston and no one even wants to go back for a visit. But I tell everyone it wasn't all bad; I met my husband and some wonderful friends in Boston, made a ton of money, and learned a lot (like, where not to live).

R109, that sounds terrible. I have never been and Boston looks incredible--it's small, filled with parks and has loads of educated people. But your description makes me want to not even visit. Have you lived in NYC?

I live in DC and just had to do business in North Carolina. On the way I stopped about 30 miles outside of Richmond VA. It was so strange, people in the Panera smiled at me and the attendant who bussed the tables we so freaking nice. I was kind of caught off guard. People in DC do kind of suck, they're very socially awkward or focused on climbing the ladder.

Boston is fab, R110.

Just stay the hell away from California. They are not really aggressively hostile. They are just withdawn and self-absorbed. They won't be friendly to you because they just do not care about you. Better to be on the East Coast where if you get dissed, it's for an actual reason.

I don't think Americans are friendly. We are generally polite, which is good. But this American "friendliness" the Europeans are always complaining about? It's a social facade. It means nothing. It's our version of Japanese etiquette. (A Russian woman in the 18th Century once said "better false courtesy than genuine boorishness," so I don't know that I'm complaining.)

R113, I think there is a lot of fake friendliness but I do think Americans generally have more compassion than Europeans. Europeans from the mainland seem more callous (at least initially).

[quote] They are just withdawn and self-absorbed. They won't be friendly to you because they just do not care about you.

We're busy over here. We don't have time to always feed you all of the attention you so desperately need.

R115, I'm glad people are California are soooo much busier than New Yorkers, Bostonians, Chicagoans, and all other Americans to be courteous and friendly.

No, no, R116. Do not conflate courteous and friendly. That's part of the problem here.

On the East Coast, they're friendly, but they're not courteous.

In California, they're courteous, but they're not friendly.

Boston does have a harshness to it. I was at the farmers market and some homeless old ladies were going through the garbage to find some bruised produce that was edible, and the merchants grabbed it from their hands and screamed at them. The people are so grumpy, callous and just plain mean. I didn’t like the accents, either. They are reflective of the people.

R109, I loved your post. Great stories and very reflective of the 12 years I spent in Boston. The city itself is awesome but the people and weather are nasty.

We were inadvertently being charged for all the exterior electricity at our rental in Somerville. We lived on the third floor of an old converted house. Each floor had been converted into a separate apartment and had outdoor lights. For some reason our electric bill was like $500, and it turned out we were being charged for everyone’s outdoor lights. I sorted it out with the electric company who came out to read the meters and then explained to my landlords what happened. When I showed up at their house with the rent check a week later, they were having a bbq and the nasty old landlady shouted after me “that’s the tenant who doesnt want to pay his electricity bill.”

Another vote for Seattle

These are the same people who say "bless your heart" to and about you, which sounds sweet, but is actually an insult, meaning "you moron." [R103], it's like when the English say "with all due respect".

Or when Italians say "Thatsa nice".

Yet another vote for Seattle (Google "Seattle freeze" for examples), but the "freeze" really is spread out among the Northwest in general, with some exceptions.

Why are Bostonians so unhappy?

R123, they never recovered from that damn tea party?

OMG, R109 -- I think I'm in love! Thank you!!

Did you notice all the fucking Nutmeggers trying to Connecticut-splain their obnoxious and boorish behaviors?? I spent the most miserable 3 1/2 years of my life at UCONN, and I have an entire collection of Connecticut (not UCONN) stories. But I'll spare you, since I don't want to get the "reserved" CT folks' panties in a wad. I mean, if you ever say anything bad about CT, they always act like you said you just had sex with their mother.

Suffice it to say that I (a lesbian) came up with my own description of Connecticut. I called it "the CLIT." Why? Because it was always raw and irritated and no matter how gently you rubbed it, you always rubbed it the wrong way.

It's critical to differentiate Western Mass, where I live, from the middle part (Springfield, which is very poor) and the eastern part of the state (snootier Boston, Salem, Plymouth, Cape Cod etc). There's a very traditional bent on the east which is more conservative and historical. Western Mass, conversely, is full of college towns and is a very progressive and open-minded region with an abundance of culture and community spirit.

The Pioneer Valley (Northampton, Amherst, Easthampton, Montague, Turner's Falls, Shelburne Falls, etc) is filled with very kind, enlightened people and families. Everyone seems to be well-educated, caring, liberal, accepting, creative, outdoorsy, and just really friendly. I've made a lot of interesting, cool friends who do really cool things. There is a very strong, out-and-proud LGBTQ scene here as well.

My biggest complaint in general regarding friendliness in America, is that people are wayyy too busy, frazzed, and "over-connected" these days, to follow through on all the "I'll call you" and "let's get together" talk that happens in life.

Everyone mostly means well, and aren't trying to be fake. But we're all just run so ragged that often it can take months for those sorts of sentiments to come to fruition. So I never feel like I'm getting super close to people from year to year, except a very few that I see all the time for various reasons. My friends are more of a large, warm circle of acquaintances. I don't know how many of them I'd feel comfortable calling on in a real pinch.

R114 Europeans seem more reserved initially but after getting to know someone they're friendlier.

R110, I have a very different experience of Boston. I’ve vacationed there a number of times and found the people to be friendly and helpful, if not particularly outgoing for the most part. I only have two reservations about the city: it’s expensive, particularly rent, and it has the most horrible drivers in the US. It’s the one city in the country I refuse to drive in, and I’ve driven in Los Angeles during rainstorms, Orlando at the end of peak season in August, and the Washington Beltway at rush hour with a migraine.

Louisiana may have corrupt cops, but I’ve always found the people in general friendly. Especially in comparison to Mississippi and Alabama.

Hawaii. The natives overtly hate Haole. But they whore out themselves and their culture for tons of the DOD funds and tourism dollars.

I did not care for the passive-agressive hostility of just about everyone I met in the Portage Lake area of Ohio.

R126 Springfield is western mass. Are you confusing it with Worcester?

Here is the naked truth. If you were to give America an enema, Los Angeles is where you would insert the tip.

After living in Paris, I'm happy to be around Americans.

Springfield is just as West as Northampton. I guess living in Massachusetts also means you're delusional about geography.

[R125] A female friend of mine refers to it as Connect-a-cunt. She went to Yale, though.

[quote] it has the most horrible drivers in the US.

I’ll take Peter Pan if I have to, but as God is my witness, I will never drive in Boston again!

I can always tell if someone is a Connecticut native. They have that nasty reserved quality that really is just unfriendliness. Eastern Massachusetts, too. That, and a sneering kind of attitude. This is even among retail or service and professional people.

Well put, R117. There are two different kinds of friendliness being discussed here. There’s friendliness to strangers, which is a mix of common courtesy and smiling; and then there’s ease of making friends.

If you’re just visiting a place, you only care about the first. In that context, southerners are friendly, in that they’re generally courteous and pleasant to strangers. California was mentioned as being unfriendly, but I disagree in this context. I have found people in LA to be perfectly nice (except on the freeway, but that’s true in every big city). I mean, they’re busy, but they’re pleasant enough. I’m just visiting. What do I care if Angelenos are self-absorbed or southerners are right-wingers or bigots? What do I care if the friendliness is “fake”?

Places where it’s easier to make friends probably deserves its own thread because that’s a more complicated question and depends as much on you as on the place you’re moving to.

"Western Mass" is only partially geographical, R135. That's how Northampton can be Western Mass and Springfield... not so much. The Berkshires gentry are not welcoming and inclusive. They don't have to be. It's so expensive to be there that the economics sort things out. As does your address and the make of your car.

But it's beautiful there. Oh, my God, it is beautiful.

...Now the first of December was covered with snow So was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston The Berkshires seemed dream-like on account of that frosting With ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go...

My experience in 1971, at age 20, after hitchhiking 11,000 miles in the USA and Canada over the course of the summer, was that there were no unfriendliest-friendliest areas at that time.

At least then, in 1971, all areas seemed equally friendly, which included 24 U.S. states and 5 Canadian provinces.

No hostility or negativity was encountered anywhere.

Now....in the 2000's, I still travel a lot by car doing road trips, and have hit 15 U.S. states and 11 Mexican states on those journeys.

The only area of negativity encountered was in central rural Texas, where I was "coal rolled".

For those who do not know, "coal rollers" are specially modified pick-up trucks that force extra diesel fuel into the engine in order to emit huge clouds of black smoke. These vehicles are driven by conservatives and deplorables. The procedure is to pass small economy cars and hybrids and then emit choking clouds of black smoke onto them.

Easier to say what the friendliest areas are, as there are only about 5 or 6: New Orleans, Nashville, Houston, Missoula (Montana in general), Minneapolis, maybe Des Moines.

I don't count the fake 'bless your heart' southern cities like Charleston, Richmond, Savannah. The black folks there are more authentically nice than the white ones.

Surprisingly, Miami is super friendly if you speak Spanish well, and super nasty if you don't. (I've actually experimented in going to places and speaking one or the other to see how I'm treated.) NYC is somehow surprisingly friendly and mean as hell, sometimes within the same interaction. I don't get the midwestern trait not to use simple pleasantries like hello or excuse me in a doorway or elevator.

Agree that California, Seattle, and New England are all rude in different ways, from passive aggressive to fully aggressive. LA and Boston are on a common axis of evil.

If that happens again to you, R142, I recommend firing a bullet into the offender's gas tank.

Florida and Hawaii - the natives are assholes and the visitors aren't much better.

I thought Miami was very friendly, but anywhere is compared to where I normally live—DC. I think the Latin culture there makes it genuinely warm. Everyone I met, in shops or just walking around, was so nice. It’s the kind of place you can visit by yourself and not feel lonely.

Yes, native Floridians (the few that exist) are meaner than spit.

R99 the only times I’ve heard people complain is when Canadians infest the Mariners stadium for Blue Jays games. I’ve seen for myself, and it was embarrassing. Especially the Vancouver Canuck POS fan base and their rioting ways.

I feel bad for Seattle, because they’re going to be infested with Canuck fans after the next NHL expansion.

Maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome, but I tend to like the unfriendliness of Boston and New England. It might be abrasive, but at least you get what you see. You don't have any of the passive-aggression of the South, or the fake veneer of the Midwest. People are just honest. If you're just visiting, maybe that's hard to get over. But if you're from here... it's nothing.

R149 I was going to say the same thing. I live in Florida now and people are not exceptionally friendly but you know what you are getting. Geniune friendliness is not "Southern friendliness" where they will be nice to your face and secretly planning to shun you behind your back because you are neither white, christian or straight.

Christ R125. Anytime a thread even tangentially references Connecticut, we hear about your unhappy time at UCONN. We get it, you didn't like it here. I hope you are happy wherever you are now. Maybe it was actually you, though.

New England. Rude and direct

R123, when R119 said:

[quote]The city itself is awesome but the people and weather are nasty.

you have your answer, at least in my opinion: the weather in New England is bad, but what made it unbearable was the people. At the first sign of a snowflake, they all (and I mean every last person east of the Connecticut River) rushed to the grocery store to stock up on water, bread and milk as though it never snows in Boston and the stores never close; everyone expects whatever they're doing (work, school, social affairs) to be cancelled and given another snow day, which also, apparently, excused them from shovelling said snow off their sidewalks or god forbid, moving their cars so that the plows could get by and not barricade the corner crosswalks. And despite that it snows a lot in New England, you'd think every snowstorm was the "storm of the century" or apocalyptic in nature if you watched any of the local news stations and particularly how the weathermen got so worked up over average storms.

The weather in Boston had two extremes: colder than a witch's teat or hotter than hell accompanied by high humidity that made either extreme uncomfortable, except for four weeks in the late Fall when the weather was, to be honest, spectacular. It was the month out of the year that I tried not to travel and get away from Boston despite the hoards of leaf-peepers that descended upon the region. Another funny newcomer story: just after arriving in the middle of July, I got in my car and was heading to work on a very hot morning. As the air conditioning got to working in the car, it started emitting what I thought was smoke and freaked me out. The car was acting fine, but I pulled over to see what was the matter and it took me a few minutes to realize that it was condensation as the cold air hit the hot moist air, and nothing was wrong.

[quote]I’ve vacationed there a number of times and found the people to be friendly and helpful

Of course you think the people in Boston are wonderful, R129! But let me tell you another story: when I arrived and would go into the city, I was always lost and ending up wandering around trying to find something familiar to reorient myself. I dared ask for help on a couple of occasions, and you'd think I'd asked the natives for their first born and not just how to get back to South Station or the Science Museum or what have you, so I stopped asking. However, when I became familiar enough with the city to know where things were, when I saw tourists (or anyone, for that matter) who looked lost, I'd stop and chat with them and give them directions and a hearty "Welcome to Boston!" greeting (I appreciate anyone who comes to wherever I'm living, drops lots of money, and goes away without taxing the local infrastructure).

One time, by coincidence, I was helping a friend move and he'd rented a cargo van. I was driving it back to the rental place with another friend who'd helped out, and we were caught in one of those New England sudden rainstorms that drop 3 to 6 inches in a matter of minutes. Up ahead, there was a family that were obviously tourists, unprepared and looking desperate. I pulled over, threw open the van door and called them to get in and out of the rain. You'd have thought I'd awarded them with a million dollars they were so grateful. They were completely lost, had gotten turned around and scared (this was near the old Combat zone). I asked them where they were staying and drove them back to their hotel, not far by car but a hike on foot. They offered to pay me for the ride, but I told them to pay it forward when they got home and saw tourists in need.

My experience throughout the whole time I lived in Boston was that people not from Boston or New England were much nicer than the natives. They had reason to be; they didn't grow up in hell, and were likely leaving hell as soon as possible. The natives were stuck in hell and knew it.

Boston is also very provincial and closed

R93 and R94 - I have to agree with Long Island. THE most unpleasant, boorish, aggressive and nasty people I've ever met. Yes, I know there are some really nice and expensive areas, but the middle and lower classes there are repugnant.

R140 the entire 413 area code is western mass. Sure, Springfield and Chicopee aren’t crawling with butch lesbians in Subarus but it’s still western mass.

Wow over 150 replies and not a single person mentioned the Conchs of Key West, FL?

Absolutely abhorrent, violent alcoholics who hate and/or will try and scam non-natives. They use Conch as a source of pride but if anything the term just belies an identity of poverty, incest and addiction.

Yeah, people move to Key West to go off the grid. Shady people down there.

Key West is boring and unfun to me. No hot people either

Unfriendly areas? California and AZ desert towns (might as well be the same state) -- desert lizard people hiding out who don't want to be bothered. Trump voters.

Portland ?

Portlanders and Oregonians at large are racist, bitter and passive aggressive. They blame the lack of jobs on Mexicans, oh sorry, I meant “Californians.”

R155 being an expensive area doesn’t exclude aggressive assholes. The JAPs on the north shore are just as nasty as the Irish Catholic cunts and bros in Rockville Centre.

I think people misunderstand Vermonters. We're not rude. We are very direct and 'to each their own'. we just mind our own business for the most part. we are slow to warm up to people but once we do we're very loyal. regardless of new or old acquaintance, we are very helpful if needed. then we just go home and go back to minding our own business.

I grew up in LA, and moved to NYC then Hudson Valley. I find New Yorkers outspoken and friendly. I am pretty happy here.

No R164 you guys are just outright rude to tourists. Mean spirited even. I can’t even tell you how many times some yokel in the Mad River Valley was dismissive or unhelpful. Don’t even get me started on the ski instructors or staff at the resorts.

R164 do you ask other Vermonters if they were born in the state? Or if their parents were? Do you judge other Vermonters if they’re non-native?

Hands down California. Awful entitled, criminal (either in the streets or white collar), narcissistic miserable people who hopefully will die in the next earthquake, flood, or fire. From San Diego to San Francisco, they’re all awful.

Seattle wins this by a landslide. The people are so god awful!

I judge other 'Vermonters' if they've been here 5 minutes and have strong opinions on how they can improve the State. I would like to amend my original post to include yes, the touristy sections of Vermont can be rude. in fairness,, many of those people are transplants here for the skiing. we also get in inordinate amount of INCREDIBLY rude Quebecians and Massholes. our patience wears thin with tourists sometimes which while understandable isn't ok.

Gotta say I move from Rhode Island to Georgia and I like it down here. The absolute most friendly people in and around the metro Atlanta region.

I agree

R143, I’ve been to all the places you mention and don’t find them rude at all. What are you doing that provokes rudeness in total strangers? Or do you bring prejudices against southerners, Californians, etc. to the encounters so that ordinary exchanges become examples of “rudeness”?

And this “fake” business is so silly in the context of a visitor. You go into a gas station in Georgia and buy something. As the transaction concludes, the clerk smiles and says “I ‘preciate it” (as they do). Are you outraged because maybe they didn’t REALLY appreciate it? The dead giveaway is your comment that black southerners are more genuine than white southerners. That may or may not be true, but how would someone passing through know unless he brought preconceived notions to the encounter?

R149, if I’m just visiting, I couldn’t care less if the niceness is a veneer. Why would I, and how would I know? I'm waiting for someone to explain how they know whether a simple exchange with a stranger is sincere or fake.

As a visitor, I’d rather people were nice to my face, whatever they say about me when I leave.

The issue with New Englanders is that they don’t smile enough. I don’t think they’re unusually rude to visitors, but to people from almost anywhere else in America, they seem unfriendly because of their chilly expressions.

I don't think its a matter of friendliness, but more a lack of good manners and graciousness--at least with people we meet on a fairly casual basis.

Washington DC and the suburbs. The very worst of them are the DC queens.

R176 I would wish to vehemently defend my home. But, I can’t. The horrid twitter of the relentlessly self-important, “I know EVERYTHING” DC Queen is legendary. Twice the ego of a New Yorker, 1/8 the accomplishments and none of the redeeming attributes.

What you can count on are the late night Grindr passive-aggressive “You’re old and not my type, but you’re close so maybe you’re good enough to fuck me if your cock is huge and you don’t talk”

That’s a DC Queen.

How could anyone resist being sweet talked like that?

R177 I’m so glad I don’t live in that fucking swamp. Luckily I got out before I got too old

San Francisco does, indeed, suck. However, it's the people from Marin County who are the truly insufferable snobs who think they've ascended to heaven and are incapable of understanding that some people have no interest in living or visiting there.

Southerners are the friendliest.

Yes, it’s fake. I don’t have to know someone or like them to be nice to them in public. I hold open doors, I smile at strangers and tell the lady at the checkout counter to have a great day. I might be feeling like shit or my life might be falling apart, but my mother instilled good manners in me. She would tell me that you never know what someone is going through and that you might be the only person to show them any kindness that day and it doesn’t cost you anything but a smile and kind word.

Some people look miserable and act even worse and don’t care that those they interact with will have some of that rub off on them.

I can’t live in Rude places. I value social graces and sweetness.

I wonder how many of you display the same behaviors you find offensive in others? Or perhaps how your interactions provoke some of the responses you get? Or is it just possible that the local residents don't like how thousands of your tourist asses have destroyed their once quieter, more civilized way of life? Ask a native of Venice - California or Italy - and you might learn something about how your actions have contributed to the destruction of their community.

The stereotyping, as well: substitute a racial or religious group for residents of city or state XYZ and you'd be thrown off the bus if not under it and deservedly: "the blacks never smile at me," "the Jews are insufferable snobs," "the Puerto Ricans are awful, entitled narcissistic snobs." All of them? Really?

Agreed that Texan "coal rollers" (I've seen it too) are one thing and native Hawaiians keying the rental car of someone they never met in a parking lot because Hilton built a hotel on one of their sacred spaces (i.e., the whole island) is another.

But not smiling at you? Jaysus, don't go out of the house if that troubles you.

Texas or West Virginia. At least when they travel outside the US.

Long Island and DC. Not California - at least superficially. In fact I find some of the super hippy dippy friendliness of San Francisco can be grating. The coffee server acts like the are your best friend. Maybe some antisocial Aspegers tech people but compared to a lot of places, San Franciscans seem happier and nicer. Long Islanders are unhappy and nasty.

I find DC folks friendly. There are a lot of southerners here, and in NoVA the southern accents are a great hometown touch.

Have lived in DC for quite awhile, "friendly" is not a term I would use to describe people her. Have lived in Atlanta and am still laghing at the poster from RI who thinks people there are friendly. A frequent topic of conversation among recent transplants there is how shallow people are and the difficulty in cultivating friendship.

Seattle.. or anywhere in the NW.

I just came back from Atlanta, and I found the people to be extremely friendly and sweet. I am considering moving there because I love the demeanor and character of people in that area

Another vote here for Indiana. I was posted to Happy Harrison back in the 80's and it was anything but. The locals were outright hostile and I also noticed the incredible self-segregation.

Growing up in NE, I would have chosen Connecticut, like a few others here, before my Indiana experience. Maybe it was that crew in CT that migrated into the old 'west' of Indiana. They certainly have rude in common.

In the DC area, it depends upon whom you hang out with. If you hang with uppity Type A transplants jockeying for power, of course you’re going to be among unfriendly people. However I hang around people of color and laid-back people who tend to be a lot more chill and friendly. I hang out in Fredericksburg, Manassas and Quantico places that feel and are very southern and hospitable.

[R191] hey me too! I’m going to Fredericksburg tonight.

Another vote for Hawaii.

Massachusetts

R186 and R191, I agree. When considering a huge metropolitan area like DC, you can't just think about the District itself, or only the trendy parts of it. It's like thinking all of the NY metro area is like Manhattan. There are over 6 million people in metro DC; they're not all high-powered lawyers and lobbyists.

Once you get outside the fashionable parts of DC itself and a few very expensive suburbs, Washingtonians are pretty much like people everywhere because they come from everywhere. The area has been booming for many decades, and the locals are, or are descended from, people from both the Northeast and the South, with a few from other parts of the country as well.

I do think Washingtonians are reserved because it's a big city full of strangers, but if you drive out into the Maryland or Virginia suburbs, you'll find that people are as courteous and polite as you'd find in the suburbs of any other big city. There is also a large middle-class African-American population with deep roots in the area; they are generally warm and friendly as long as they don't think you've arrived to gentrify their neighborhood out of existence.

There's a cadre of DC-haters at the DL who show up every time the city is mentioned to voice, again and again, their dislike and contempt for the area. I can only assume they are natives who fled because they didn't fit into the admittedly conservative (socially, not politically) and bourgeois ambiance of the town, or arrivals from gritty northeastern cities who were offended by it.

Meanwhile, the area keeps growing and keeps maintaining its position as one of the wealthiest and best-educated metro areas in the country - and also one of the most gay-friendly. Apparently, lots of people don't find it so awful as some DLers.

R195, I'd rather live in DC than Boston any day. The entire Washington DC area is less provincial than anywhere in New England and definitely more international.

Agree DC beats Boston. But the transient nature does breed a certain coldness. As opposed to the cultural coldness of Boston.

San Francisco, my hometown. People aren't rude here; they're just not into you.

Once again, Long Island. With it's unmistakable twenty something lads who worked so hard to afford heir BMWs and Mercedes with black tinted windows. Crooked, devious, and nefarious as they day grows long. Truly horrid and miserable people. So miserable that if they were happy, they'd be even more miserable.

FAWK you, R199.

R200 Point proven.

Atlanta. Fake nice that turns unfriendly when they find out you're from the north. If you're white, blacks act like you owned their ancestors. If you're black, whites want nothing to do with you. To top it off the city is boring as hell.

R201, I guess you didn't get the joke.

I also agree with the other posters referencing Philly, especially Bucks county. I grew up in Bucks, and since the central and upper portions are extremely affluent people and lower Bucks is poor and working class there is a lot of tension and a lot of unfriendliness. The Croydon and Bristol sections of Levittown are full of the most uneducated, drugged up ignoramuses who would fit right in with the most inbred sections of Frankford and Port Richmond. Newtown and New Hope are full of pretentious cunts who couldn’t handle NYC. They sneer at you if you don’t also own a renovated colonial barn worth at least a million bucks in equity. Everyone hates each other, there isn’t even basic courtesy. Everyone thinks they’re amazing and their shit doesn’t stink for no real reason, since everything is so generic and suburban regardless of where you are. Bleh. At least there’s a lot of beautiful scenery there.

People from Philly also tend to look very, very dirty--just like their city.

I love Philly. My only problem with Philly is its lack of Latinos.

Some good insights R204 but I think the Philly unfriendliness is more a widespread metro area issue than just Bucks County. The Northeast/lower Bucks are some of the mangiest, trashiest critters in the area. But Montco and Delco have similar nastiness - though Montco may have less poor areas, it has King of Prussia which is nasty in its own way. Everyone has a chip on their shoulder and seem embittered. The wealthy are so focused on having it all but hate their hellish corporate jobs as drug pushers for Big Pharma and having to commute an hour to their McMansions in the exurbs.

I've never been to me, but I hear it's very unfriendly there.

Ohio - Indiana - Illinois are the least friendly and, frankly, downright senselessly antagonistic places I've been in the US. Cincinnati, in particular, seems to thrive on a culture of petty hostility and lunatics going out their way to "stick it" to anyone they perceive as other/better/different/non-conforming. That town should audited by The Hague. Conversely, I've always found people in the neighboring states of PA, WV, KY, MI, MO, OK to be quite friendly -- one of my best friends is from Buck's County and I've spent time in his home town.

Vancouver - super friendly. Seattle/Portland - nightmarishly chilly people.

San Diego - some of the friendliest people I've met outside of NYC, NOLA and Austin. Los Angeles is brimming with rage junkies, horrible horrible people.

#1 friendliest place in the country, though, is NYC. Nowhere else will you make lifelong friends while standing & waiting for a light to change.

Ditto NYC for friendliest. One of the only major cities in the world where you can strike up conversation in a bar or anywhere. The openness, interest in people, confidence and extroversion are the real reason I love NY - I really don’t car that much about museums, theater, food. It’s the people that make NYC great.

I agree with the NYC observations. It's still one of the few places on the planet where a person can be taken at face value and not sized up, shrunk down, and compartmentalized. Unless of course, you're competing for a job.

Wasn’t there some reality show on A&E or another shit cable network about how awful philly is vis-a-vis their parking laws? The entire show was about cars getting towed and both the parkers and towers were miserable pieces of shit.

I think it was called Parking Wars.

The A&E reality show Parking Wars showcases how miserable Philly is.

Isn’t lower Bucks filled with unregulated halfway houses? It seems like Broward county FL with the amount of aimless drug addicts and the people profiting off of them. Absolutely disgusting

Parking Wars may have been overly sympathetic even.

Lower Bucks is where the heroin/opioid addicts are formed - and then sent to Broward to escape the misery and easy access to heroin in North Philly. They usually try an overpriced “rehab” facility in Bucks - which is basically a guy with a house who runs NA meetings for thousands of dollars a month. But they quickly relapse because of the uselessness of the “rehab” facility, the misery and hopelessness that is their lives and the ridiculously easy access to cheap heroin. Most I know eventually get sent to Florida - and have a slightly greater chance of recovery there.

Opioids and the white working class of Philly are a match made in heaven (well, hell). Horribly unhappy people with no skills and no jobs and no motivation - and a drug that makes everything ok sold by a desperate underclass of non-white people who are also unemployed and hopeless but have found a way to make money by selling drugs to the relatively richer white kids from lower Bucks/suburban Philly.

Washington D.C.

dc and seattle tied

Vermont - without a doubt the least friendly place I ever lived. The only good thing is that they aren't phony - they genuinely don't like you unless your great-great grandparents are buried in the town cemetery.

Vermont is a really beautiful place. I don't blame them for wanting others to keep moving on.

Lucky for them, the winters there are not easy. Most people won't stay because of them.

I keep telling you fuckers, Vermonters are friendly!

Really annoyed this comment box shuts down after typing, before it’s posted.

Has no one mentioned Buttfuck Idaho yet?!

Flaming pustules of infection hang over Boise. They’re complete assholes there. Just to get there you have to drive past hours of signs like: next gas station 280 miles. It’s akin to driving through a real life Stephen King novel.

It’s not hard to believe racist groups, cults and other fucked up trash live there.

Anyone complaining about western states haven’t spent time in Idaho. Fuck, they’re disgusting POS.

R220 surprised to hear that. The Mormon corridor is usually filled with overly friendly LDS.

[quote] Louisiana may have corrupt cops, but I’ve always found the people in general friendly. Especially in comparison to Mississippi and Alabama.

They're friendly in Louisiana because most of them are drunk 24/7.

I'd much rather have people who don't know me from Adam being "fake nice" to me than being assholes. As it's been said before, in the south most people are nice to you until you give them a reason not to be. In some other areas people are cold to you until you give them a reason to be nice. I can deal with either type. As long as I'm not being mistreated by someone I don't even know I really don't care how they're acting toward me. I treat kindness with kindness, and rudeness with rudeness.

[R222] In South Louisiana they have drive through bars! It’s legal as long as you use a straw. Cajuns are pretty friendly, and yes, drunk. Nothing better than a paper bag of fresh boudin and a gin and tonic with a straw for the road!

A man I didn't know in NYC once saved my life. We were standing on the central strip down Park Ave. waiting for the light to change so everyone could cross the street. Traffic was really crazy. I was lost in thought and stupidly thought the light had changed and proceeded to step off the divider to cross the street. The man standing next to me immediately threw his arm out to block me just as a taxi cab came screaming by. If he had not done that I would not be alive today. I stood there in complete shock for a few seconds and the light changed and everyone crossed the street. After we got onto the sidewalk I stopped him and shook his hand. I looked at him and said "you just saved my life - how can I ever repay you?". He just looked at me,d smiled and said "don't worry about it, just be happy you didn't step off the curb". And we went on our separate ways. Today, almost 40 years later I still think about that man almost on a weekly basis. He was considerably older than me when it happened so it's probable that he's long dead. But every time I think about him the thought goes through my head "I hope he had a wonderful life".

That’s beautiful ⬆️

[R225] what a great story! I love New Yorkers. They are so nice and genuine. I had a whole bus give me advise once because they overheard my conversation. I like the busy body, extroverted personalities of New York.

New Yorkers will go out of their way to help you with directions. They can easily tell if someone if someone is from out-of-town and they love to give directions. Wish more people were like that in other cities. Chicago is great but we tend to be more reserved. But we will help if asked.

Ditto - I think NYers are in reality some of the friendliest in the US. Most will talk with anyone. Day to day service interactions - like getting coffee or a sandwich - perhaps not. For that, I find CA to be the most pleasant - in a hippy, dippy New Age kind of way. But in terms of true interaction, hard to beat NYC.

You have to have good social skills to last in NYC. If you don't, you will run or you will be crushed.

People with poor social skills thrive in places where they can drive their own cars to their own cubes and spend all day having everything just... exactly... the way... they want it!

You've got to be flexible and resilient or NYC will kill you.

I’m more extroverted and like to talk to strangers, so New York is perfect. There’s always some funny, crazy interaction going on. Even the young people act more like loud mouthed old people. In DC, young people are aloof. I love places where all you have to do is sit outside and your entertainment is provided for you.

Good point R230. Though I consider myself an introvert, NYC forced me to be more extroverted, open and to stop being so reserved. The greatest blessing of my life. When I look at my family who never learned to let loose and be open and unguarded, I’m grateful. The bad thing is I now find them boring and conversation mundane.

Again, y‘all have a white people perception of DC. DC is half black

R233 - you would never know that by going to the gay bars in DC. Weirdly white. Just like huge swaths of DC. It’s a weird city. And I would definitely vote it too 5 unfriendliest

DC is very segregated, but yes, black people there are very friendly.

Another vote for Vermont. My partner is from the Northeast Kingdom which is super weird. but I did break through with his family eventually.

Mainiacs are pretty clanish.

Mainiacs are pretty clanish.

DC is absolutely the most fucked up aloof and unfriendly city. I agree 100% that the white people have serious mental problems. The black people on the other hand are fucking hilarious and will talk to anyone.

R236 the northeast kingdom is deliverance country. Largely lawless there’s tons of crimes that go unreported and are dealt with by the community. Incest and child abuse is a HUGE problem. It’s like rural Appalachia or the ozarks but just up north. It’s funny how VT has this Volvo liberal Bernie bro stereotype when only small enclaves within the state actually fit that description.

[quote]New Yorkers ... love to give directions.

R228, I would rephrase that as "New Yorkers love to give advice." They love to tell you what to do, especially if they can present it as insider information. Always working an angle, New Yorkers are, or bragging about their special connections. Meh. I got sick of that pretty fast. I want things to work they way they're supposed to without needing insider knowledge or contacts.

R231, I am a native white Washingtonian, although I no longer live there. I think your assessment is fair enough. DC, especially the affluent parts, is an introvert's town. I am an introvert AND a native, so I'm very comfortable with the reserved-with-strangers nature of Washingtonians. It always annoyed me when I lived in NY - that thing where strangers decide to offer unsolicited advice. Mind your own business!

On the other hand, if you get out of the white parts of DC itself and the richest suburbs, you'll find that ordinary middle-class white Washingtonians in ordinary middle class suburbs are no less friendly than in most parts of the East, and, unlike New Yorkers, they DO mind their own business.

Black Washingtonians are generally nice and friendly. The area is still quite Southern in that way.

I have always found New Yorkers to be very friendly. They're in a hurry, they've got somewhere to go, but they're skilled at the art of conversation and not at all aloof. Wonderful people.

If you look up aloof in the dictionary, Seattle is what is pictured.

I wonder if the problem with people in Seattle is a vitamin D deficiency due to lack of sunlight. Most everyone can go into a depression if the weather is grey and dreary long enough

Texas of course...

Seattle, WA.

Interesting R241 - and insightful. I guess for the same reason I find people who aren’t opinionated boring. Conversation with people who don’t share opinions - respectfully - seem so superficial to me. But I appreciate that is culturally NYC. And that DC is more bookish and reserved. I know people get offended by my bluntness in conversations outside of NYC. But I find bluntness refreshing and stimulating.

Def Seattle!

Well, R247, I don't think you can say that people in DC aren't opinionated, but they might be less likely to share their more controversial opinions with strangers. Nowadays, that's probably not entirely a bad thing.

Washington is very bourgeois and thus very conservative (socially, not politically). Either you like that proper, buttoned-down facade or you don't.

Anyway, one thing I like about New Yorkers is that they complain - they complain about everything, often to total strangers. I'm a complainer, too, so there's always something to talk about. I can't stand these "oh, well, what are you gonna do? No use in complaining!" types.

Portland, OR too. Toxic passive-agression everywere there.

R250, it seems the Pacific Northwest is the epitome of passive-aggressiveness. Maybe it's the Scandinavian "reserved" character?

R251 Well that and it’s mixed with asians that have absolutely zero sense of humor and no personality.

Seattle is filled with robotic Asians and Indians who work in IT mixed with geeky introverted white people who’ve never seen the sun. Throw them together and you have absolutely no personality, no self-esteem, no humor very cold outsiders.

R251 so many Scandinavians are in Minnesota and “Minnesota nice” is what they’re known for.

Another vote for Seattle.

R254, yup, also tons of them in the Dakotas and Washington state.

I believe that Seattle has won this thread, with Portland coming in second. Good for you, Pacific NW! I remember when Kurt Cobain died, his depression was partly blamed on growing up there.

Los Angeles is weirdly friendly. Like you never know if someone is SOMEONE or related to SOMEONE so a kind of mild friendliness abounds among strangers.

I'm not an outgoing person but any time I have been on public transport in LA I've had great conversations.

R253 also sounds like SF.

Seattle is a beautiful city full of weird people. I don’t understand the culture here.

I'm really surprised that the Pacific Northwest (at least Seattle and Portland) seems to win this contest. I would never have guessed.

I’m in Seattle now and look forward to moving. A year of this is enough.

I've lived in Seattle and Portland, and agree that Seattle is the most unfriendly. Portland is slightly more friendly, but as a poster upthread mentioned, EXTREMELY passive-aggressive.

This woman admits the Seattle Freeze is real — and then blames it all on the Ted Bundy murders.

But this is what stuck out to me:

[quote]I can’t argue with the idea of the Seattle Freeze because I do it all the time. I don’t know how to behave any other way. I’m like a lot of people in Seattle: I think I’m a friendly person. I like helping strangers find a good restaurant. I’m quick to offer directions, quick to spontaneously draw someone a map. And then my good deed will be punished, almost immediately. The stranger will somehow push the boundary. Maybe it will be a suggestion to have coffee, maybe they’ll just stand there talking a little bit longer. [bold]That’s when I’ll feel a sudden discomfort (and to be honest, it’s kind of a scared discomfort) and that’s when they’ll get the Freeze. It’s a not so subtle vibe the Seattle person gives the newcomer and it communicates: OKAY THERE YOU GO. WE’RE DONE HERE. LEAVE NOW.[/bold]

I find people in the Pacific Northwest weirdly passive in conversation. When you're talking to them, they don't nod, smile, say "uh huh", or change expression at all. They just stare at you like you're speaking in Vulcan and look like one, too.

And they never interrupt or talk over you. I know this is theoretically polite, but in the East (and South as well) a certain amount of give-and-take is expected even in casual business conversations.

To put it as kindly as I can, there's a certain stillness to PNW people that seems alien to those of us from more voluble and demonstrative parts of the country.

R265 It’s like the invasion of the body snatchers in Seattle.

I agree Los Angeles has a superficial friendliness - and interest in other people - that is next best to NY. Interesting, interested people. I can feel comfortable there.

People are friendly in L.A. - but when they figure out you aren’t “someone” that has money and/or connections - don’t be surprised when that friendliness evaporates. And don’t expect any in West Hollywood unless you look like you just fell out of a gay porno.

I moved to Texas about 10 years ago and tbh I expected people to be much more friendly than they actually are. Granted, Austin isn’t exactly representative of the entire state, but for the most part, people aren’t any nicer here, especially when they drive—which is always super fast and aggressive.

Nationals Stadium in D.C. I should have stayed in NYC.

Seattle is the absolute clear winner without a doubt.