The Unfriendliest States In America
1 Nevada
One of the most unfriendly cities in Nevada is Las Vegas. If you ever had the opportunity to visit this one-of-a-kind city, you know this statement is true. While Vegas is known for many things, it is mostly known for the gambling scene. People will travel there in hopes of winning big. For some people, they come to gamble in Vegas as a hobby. But for others, this is their one chance to win the money that they desperately need.
In order to win the money that they need, sometimes they have to take some different approaches. These approaches can sometimes show up as rude and assertive, which they definitely can be. If someone doesn’t win at the casino, they will find other ways to get the cash that they came here for. Las Vegas also doesn’t have many local residents in comparison to its tourists. With the lack of local residents, the tourists take up the majority of the people in the city. Tourists aren’t there to be nice, they are there to get what they want.
2 West Virginia
Not only does West Virginia rank poorly in education, health care, and economy, but they also don’t rank very highly on the friendliness scale. While the state does have some scenic views, the locals of the state aren’t too welcoming to its visitors. If you were visiting West Virginia for the first time and someone was rude to you, chances are you wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon.
Plus, if you are a woman living in the state, you maybe have experienced some prejudice at some point or another. One person said, “[They] personally have experienced some open professional biases as a woman in interviews and in [her] workplace.” How do you expect a woman to perform to the best of her ability when her superiors don’t treat her with the same amount of respect they would give a man?
3 Maryland
The roads are so bad in Maryland that people will do everything they can to avoid driving. One person said, “Objectively, the roads can’t handle the flow, and the cost of living is expensive enough to force people into long commutes from cheaper places.” So, people refuse to live in the city, but the majority of the people are still working in the city. They said, “This results in a lot of angry, tired, frustrated, and distracted drivers taking on congested roads every day.”
Not only is the traffic extremely busy, but the drivers are in such a rush they have no idea what is going on around them. “Maryland drivers are dangerous because they are unfocused and clueless. If you get cut off, there is a decent chance they never even looked and may not have even realized they changed lanes.” If you travel to or live in Maryland, it’s probably a good idea to be as cautious as you can while driving. Who knows what someone else could be doing around you.
4 Connecticut
When you live in a state with an extremely high cost of living, you may notice the rest of the country start to resent you. People who visit Connecticut describe the residents as “stuck up” and “standoff-ish.” Now, if you live in Connecticut, you may not feel that way. People who live there feel like they are just minding their own business, which is valid. I guess.
Someone said, “People seem closed off. They care too much about what others think of them and whether your association will reflect poorly on them. I find it extremely lonely and isolating living here.” You might not have luck finding new friends while visiting or living in this state, but you will still get the experiences of all of the tourist attractions. Bring your own friends with you; that way you don’t go out of your way trying to be friends with someone who doesn’t want to be friends with you.
5 Arizona
First of all, living in immense heat for the majority of the year is enough to make anyone miserable. Maybe that is why people living in Arizona are consistently speeding to get where they need to go. They are trying to get to a place with air conditioning. It would be pretty difficult to keep a positive attitude when you are constantly drenched in sweat.
One person said, “I don’t even bother making friendly conversation. Not worth it. I’ve lived in a few places, different states, and I can say without hesitation that the worst restaurant experiences that I’ve ever had have been in Arizona, and more than once. The drivers in Phoenix have a death wish.”
6 South Dakota
South Dakota has a very popular tourist attraction known as Mount Rushmore. This scenic view causes many travelers to visit the state year-round. But that doesn’t mean that the locals are thrilled about all of their visitors. People there are not kind to those who work in any kind of service industry. In fact, when visitors are kind to them, it’s very shocking.
The number of visitors mixed in with the residents of the state results in traffic turning into a nightmare. One person said, “No one uses their blinker. And way too many people run red lights. I know it’s a problem everywhere, but in driver’s ed they taught us that SD (South Dakota) is one of the worst states for it.”
7 Ohio
Be careful when taking your children out in public while in Ohio. This state is one of the most foul-mouthed states in the U.S. The people of Ohio will use whatever kind of language they please, no matter who is around. One person says, “I’m from a major city area and have found that every person I’ve met in Ohio is flat out rude and backward. Stuck in the past or something. It is very odd here.”
People also treat customer service representatives very poorly. If they do not agree with the direction that the conversation is going, they tend to lash out at the other person. That would make it very difficult to do your job when someone is constantly down your throat. Not even your boss, but your customers. “The customer is always right,” as they say.
8 Illinois
Busy streets are almost inevitable when you live in a big city. I mean, there are so many people just trying to get to their destination all at once. But with busy traffic comes bad driving. People try to control the road and will not let anyone else have their way. This causes many drivers to have road rage while in their cars.
This person said, “Chicago drivers are the worse I’ve seen. It gives me a heart attack every time.” Plus, with the number of people congested in one area, there are bound to be people with unfriendly tendencies.
9 Michigan
Even though Michigan is across the lake from the country known for being kind, it is anything but that. In 2019, Business Insider ranked Detroit, Michigan as the sixth rudest American city. The crime rates alone in Detroit definitely coincide with the number of people living in this city.
So, it only makes sense that in a city filled with crime, the residents might be a little mean as well. Detroit is also known as the “Motor City” for the automobile factories in the city. Just because Detroit is known for the production of cars doesn’t mean that everyone is living lavishly. Many of the residents of the city live at or below the poverty level. Who would want to be nice when no one has been nice to you?
10 Wyoming
Even though Wyoming has fewer residents compared to other states, they still rank pretty low on the kindness scale. Many people believe that their attitude is due to their isolation and weather, but that should not be an excuse for treating others poorly. Apparently, people don’t always show their customer service representatives with respect, either.
Have you ever heard the term “don’t bite the hand that feeds you?” Well, someone needs to tell the residents of Wyoming that phrase. One person said that Cheyenne is one of the worst cities in Wyoming. They said that “It seems to have all the negatives of Wyoming (nothing happening, close-mindedness, rudeness of the populace, etc.) with none of the positives of Wyoming.”
11 Montana
If you have watched the series Yellowstone, you probably don’t consider Montana to be a friendly state, and you would be right. Although, not everyone in Montana acts as ruthlessly as the Dutton’s do. Montana started getting a bad reputation when the residents didn’t take Covid-19 mandates seriously. This made it difficult for service workers to be able to do their jobs safely.
One person says, “I used to brag about Great Falls’ hospitality, and lately everyone seems a little tweaky and ruse. As a cashier, for the longest time, I met some pretty amazing and nice people, but there have been times that I met people that just deserved a ‘Dude, Rude.’ They do some low-key dangerous things just to get in front of people.” Could you imagine living in a state where your life could be in danger at any moment? Just because someone wants attention?
12 New Jersey
New Jersey has never been referred to as a kind state. I mean, haven’t you seen Jersey Shore? Sure, not everyone there acts so boldly, but many of the people do. Many of the residents tend to act abrasively due to the fact that the cost of living is so high and the state is overpopulated. That would be enough to make anyone upset. One person said, “There are a lot of selfish people in this area and we are a very concentrated state.”
Another person stated that “small talk can come off as rude, intrusive, and unwelcome.” Sometimes, all you need is someone to talk to and get your feelings out. But make sure you know them because, in New Jersey, you will have a hard time finding someone to vent to. People just don’t care about others the way they used to. And that’s ok if you like being alone. But most of us don’t.
13 North Dakota
Once the mandates started rolling in after the pandemic began, people started to have some pretty strong opinions about it, especially in North Dakota. Many of the North Dakota residents had published extremely angry emails, social media posts, and phone calls to the public health director. They were not happy with any of the mandates set in place, and they were going to voice their opinions on the matter. Opinions which weren’t always very nice.
People refused to wear masks after the pandemic began. Not only were they refusing to do what they were asked to do, but they started to come off as hostile. One person said, “It caught me off guard how rude a lot of people tend to be in ND (North Dakota) when it comes to people you interact with at gas stations and retail stores.” Besides the locals being angry about things out of their control, how could they treat service workers with such disrespect?
14 Delaware
Living in an extremely populated city or state will have perks as well as setbacks. One of those setbacks being the traffic. Consider yourself lucky if you don’t spend the majority of your time in rush hour. In Delaware, it can be hard to avoid the ever so dreaded traffic, but many people like to travel to Delaware due to the fact that it has an immense amount of history. It was the first state, after all.
Since there are so many drivers here that tend to disobey traffic laws, their insurance rates are also 57% higher than the rest of the country. One person on Reddit said, “There are too many people crammed into Northern Delaware. Driving in this state is really annoying and aggravating as well. I almost get killed at least 3 times a day or more while driving because a lot of people ride your butt, cut you off, don’t use turn signals, pull out in front of you, and don’t know how to use a four-way stop, etc. I don’t know how some people got through drivers ed.” Well, to be honest, we don’t know how they would get through driver’s ed either.
15 Wisconsin
You have probably witnessed someone acting hostile to customer service workers at one point in your life. It’s not always easy to watch. They are only trying to do their job when a customer decides this is the moment that they want to get everything off of their chest. In Wisconsin, this happens more often than you would think. It’s not shocking to see someone go off on a cashier or grocery bagger. This is just what Wisconsinites do.
Wisconsin locals are so filled with rage that it can frequently be seen in their driving. The drivers here will run stop signs around 23% higher than anywhere else. You’d have to constantly be looking around you to make sure that no one is running the opposing stop sign. Someone said, “When I am being tailgated, it is almost always a Wisconsin driver. When someone fails to stop at a stop sign, it is almost always a Wisconsin driver. They usually sneak through a stop with the car in front of them rather than wait their turn. They pass unsafely, they almost never signal a turn, they pop out in front of oncoming traffic as if they are afraid of having someone in front of them and they always seem to speed.”
16 California
Ah, California! The state where every celebrity seems to reside. Many people live here in hopes of fulfilling their dreams of becoming famous, and when they get rejected, they might not carry around the best attitude with them. That doesn’t seem to be a trending accessory, ever. But California does have many things that would attract visitors to the state. There are beaches, mountains, and many performances that always seem to be happening.
Even though you might hope to see your favorite celebrity while visiting Hollywood, chances are you probably won’t. But you will see what California traffic is like. When you get to the bigger cities, the traffic only seems to get worse. It makes sense, since there are so many people crammed into this state. One Reddit user said, “People in LA think it’s ok to be a jerk because 99.9% of the time you’ll never see the other person again. It’s like the internet—jerks write things they wouldn’t dream of saying in real life because there aren’t repercussions.”
17 Washington
Do you know what it is like to live somewhere that is nearly impossible to make new friends? Well, if you have lived in Seattle, Washington, chances are you may have experienced something along those lines. There is a term that Washington residents call the “Seattle Freeze.” This term means that many of the residents there do not feel the need to make friends with someone. PEMCO Insurance took a survey where 40% of Seattle residents confirmed the “freeze.”
Someone on Reddit said, “Seattle is like Portland; you need to let people just stare at you. If you say anything while they’re staring at you, then you are the one who has violated your boundaries. So, if you move to Seattle to stay, don’t count on anyone, and if you find someone staring at you, don’t say anything at all because then, you are the one overstepping your bounds.” It would be hard to live in a place where you feel like you’re constantly being stared at and you can’t do anything about it because it’s a social norm. It could get especially lonely.
18 New York
Possibly one of the most ill-mannered states in the U.S. is New York. Is that shocking to learn? No. Of course it isn’t. We all know that you do not go to New York in hopes of meeting friendly people. That just is not what people expect from New York. One person even said that “rude” isn’t the way that she would describe this state. She said, “Most of the population is highly narcissistic, highly judgemental, first-rate bullies, and they can be downright evil.” Does this sound familiar?
She also said the people of New York are “only nice to those exactly like them, or to look good in front of certain people so they’ll gain something.” The people of New York typically disregard others, unless they get something out of it. Of course, not everyone is like this, but the majority of the people do tend to have some of these traits. Best Life said 15% of the population is considered rude. That is a lot of people when you think about the fact that New York’s population is over 8 million. 15% of that would be 1.2 million people that have to concern for those around them.
19 Rhode Island
Since Rhode Island is the smallest state in the U.S., you would think that everyone would know each other and get along, but you would be wrong. People there do not care about who you are or where you are going. If you are driving and you are in their way, they will make sure that you know they are angry. Whether that means they are going to cut you off or give you the bird, they want you to know how you made them feel.
Besides the chaos of the roads, the residents here aren’t very kind to service workers either. Especially fast food workers. They expect to get what they want when they want, and they do not want to wait. If you happen to work at a fast food restaurant in this state, you have probably experienced the kind of hate that everyone seems to have towards them. And what are they to do? It’s not like they can just walk out, they have bills to pay. So, most of the workers end up just dealing with it. Except for one person who told National Public Radio that he was “done” with fast food after he dealt with so many rude customers.
20 Virginia
While the people here may not be very approachable, there is something much worse when it comes to Virginians. Their driving is subpar, to say the least. These drivers have no compassion when it comes to anyone else on the road. Sure, road rage can be found in every state, but it seems to be more prevalent in Virginia. NBC Washington released a report with the top 10 cities that have the rudest drivers, with three of those cities being located in Virginia.
People have reported that others will frequently tend to take out their frustrations on everyone else, instead of dealing with it personally. If you were driving in Virginia and noticed another driver getting angry, you should probably do your best to get away from them. You never know what someone else can be capable of, especially when they might be operating a large vehicle.
