Every American city has its own personality. Some places greet you with a warm smile, a held-open door, and patience in the checkout line. Others? Not so much. According to Preply’s widely cited 2024 rudeness study, a total of 2,533 survey participants across 46 of America’s largest cities were asked to recall how often they had experienced fellow residents demonstrating behaviors such as listening to music or watching videos in shared spaces, ignoring strangers, being disrespectful of personal space, and careless driving. The results were eye-opening, and a few cities earned their spots on this list fair and square.
To determine the rankings, Preply surveyed residents about social behaviors they noticed in their city and calculated a city rudeness score based on the answers. On average, when asked to rank their city’s residents’ behavior on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the most rude, locals ranked their city as 4.9. The five cities below blew past that average by a wide margin. Here they are, ranked from fifth to first.
#5: Oakland, California
Rounding out the top five was Oakland, California, with a rudeness score of 8.67. That’s nearly double the national average, which is a striking result for a Bay Area city that many picture as laid-back and progressive. Oakland’s entry into the top five was a new development, reflecting a city whose social climate has noticeably shifted in the eyes of its own residents.
Despite the official rankings, residents shared where they think their neighbors land on the rudeness scale. Locals in Miami, FL, Oakland, CA, and Tucson, AZ, said people in their city are ruder than those in any other city. So it’s not just outsiders saying it. Oakland’s own people are pointing fingers at each other, which tells you something about how the daily social experience feels on the ground there. It’s a city with real passion and culture, but the survey data is clear: the day-to-day public behavior is leaving a lot to be desired.
#4: Louisville, Kentucky
Rounding out the top five included Louisville, Kentucky, with a rudeness score of 8.72. That’s a notable jump for a city that carries a Southern reputation for hospitality. Louisville, Kentucky, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Austin, Texas, all placed at least five spots higher in the rude rankings than they did in 2022, which means things are getting worse, not better, for the Derby City…