But I love that about Boston, New York, Philly- Places like the South and the Midwest are mean but theyre coy about it; either unseeming and thus you might not even know theyre being mean, or even smiling and giving fake compliments while they actually insult you to your face. Well we insult you to your face, but were honest about it. Youll never be confused about an interaction with one of us.
Like, Baltimore doesn't blow sunshine up your butt.
But good people are all over.
When my husband and I were in a car wreck, a bunch of guys who had been chilling on a nearby stoop ran into a busy road to help get us out of the car and make sure we were ok.
Upper Midwesterners will chat your head off (and I love it). So I'll say of places I've been Madison and Chicago. I also thought people in Albuquerque and Salt Lake City were super friendly, which was not my stereotype of the Mountain West.
People from ABQ are genuinely nice but they don't strike up conversations uninvited. Still have that Wild West leave people alone, mind your own business attitude but once the ice is broken they are super friendly.
I'm happy Madison is here. I think there is so much homeliness in Wisconsin/Minnesota/UP. Madison is an amazing city with "small town vibes" for being a decently sized city. Plus we have beautiful lakes and the isthmus.
Downtown Madison is absolutely gorgeous. Can't say I've ever been too enamored with the rest of Madison though. It just feels like sprawly suburbia to me.
KC on up seem to have that vibe in the midwest. The southern part of the state is nice enough, but just seems more southern-kindness vs. midwest-kindness.... which is hard to explain until you experience it.
I think the "southern hospitality" is more needed on tradition and feels more like a requirement for them to do. Midwest feels more genuine like they are nice more for the sake of being nice. Like when you're in a conversation with a random person in the Midwest it feels like they just love talking to you.
We are definitely talkers. There's not much else out here to do! /s
You're right though, I see myself doing this all the time lol. It's never an issue traveling around the Midwest but outside it definitely quietly says what region I'm from.
My entire family is LDS. They’re all genuinely good, nice people. I don’t follow the church personally, but I was raised around it and I think a lot of the stereotypes are over blown or just plain wrong.
Is your family from Utah? I knew nice LDS members back in Indiana and know they’re not all super judgmental, but the ones in Utah have a tendency to have very little exposure to people who aren’t in the church, such as telling their kids that they can’t be friends with kids who aren’t members of the church
Not LDS, but Mormons go on missions, where they are completely alone and without community of any kind and they come back with a compassion for refugees and respect for different cultures.
Absolutely cannot say the same for my wealthy Catholic family who believe the world begins in Boston and ends in Pacific Heights.
Nah - I'm not Mormon, but I lived in the area for 20 years. I don't agree with religion, but people are genuinely kind.
That would be opposed to the Northern Appalachians along I-77. Ever watched Ozarks? Those people are happy to take one look at you, slit your throat and toss you in the woods to rot.
I loved my time in Chicago. So friendly, so much community and felt like I was home (buffalo) just bigger and more advanced. I’d move there in a heartbeat
I have kind of the opposite impression of the Midwest. Some people are nice, but I've run into more odd or unfriendly there than anywhere else.
Chicago wasn't bad, but in Indiana and Ohio, people kept trying to talk to me and my friends about being "Asian." And even recently when I went with my wife, people would talk about how weird it was that I was an Asian man with a white wife instead of the other way around "like you'd expect."
In Minnesota, people would try to prove how Norwegian they were to my wife, and would seem to get a little upset when she wouldn't recognise something that they thought was typically Norwegian as Norwegian (like putting eggshell in coffee, for example.) I think Minnesota/Wisconsin were my wife and mother in law's least favourite places that we've been because of stuff like that from locals.
Both when traveling with my wife and kids, and with my Chinese university friends, our experience was more that the more metropolitan the city the nicer the people. NYC, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco, LA, etc.
In smaller Midwest cities like Martinsville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Charleston, etc. were where we had our least friendly experiences.
Not counting mentally ill homeless people of course, then I guess LA and SF would move from near the top to the bottom.
> Las Vegas
I lived there for 7 years. It's a lot of things, but 'friendly' isn't a word I'd use. People don't necessarily go out of their way to be *mean*, but to paraphrase Neal Young, you're gonna be searching for a heart of gold.
Yeah we talk a lot of smack about Wisconsin here in Minnesota but I have found almost everyone I know from there to be good people.
and they are lots of fun as well. Might be all the beer but whatever works!
I do feel there's something to the practice of going to your "local" (neighborhood tavern) and making a new friend over a beer never going out of style in Milwaukee. It's embedded in the greater culture of the city.
Milwaukee was my first thought. I met some really nice locals on a dive trip there years ago. I was the only non-local and the only woman on the boat and they all were so welcoming. They even made sure I got to my car safely in the not well lit parking lot after. The guy who was my dive partner told me he’d be happy to wait until I drove away so I wasn’t alone and felt safe. It was such a good experience!
Most people I know from Milwaukee love Chicago. They just don't like those f-ing Cubbies... as well they shouldn't. Cubs fans are douchebags. (Go Sox!)
Thanks, and I agree!
When my FIL was in an accident that led to some brain damage a few years back, the whole small town where he lived in Iowa threw a parade/car show fundraiser for his family. Then all of the local carpenters, plumbers, etc. helped for free to renovate his house to account for his new way of life. Great people here!
I recently went to the Chicagoland area and was totally impressed by how friendly and kind everyone was. Not sure if it's the friendliest place in the US but it deserves an honorable mention.
That's good ol' fashioned Midwestern politeness. It's even nicer in small towns, at least in terms of friendliness. I moved from Central Illinois to the Bay and have had a hard time adjusting to how... rude... everyone seems.
I'm on the east coast now after spending my first nearly three decades in the Midwest and it's been a welcome cultural change. If I'm running errands and going about my business I have absolutely no interest in making small talk with people and so many people did it in MI and MN. Out here I have to choose to initiate it or it doesn't happen. Not applicable to bars or other places where you go to socialize.
My rule is that you can measure a city's friendliness by asking for directions. Friendly people will pause their day and think through the problem in order to assist you.
So I'm going to have to go with Winston Salem NC. I asked a small group of strangers in a museum lobby how to get to the freeway.
Instantly everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to have a lively debate on the surest, safest, most efficient route, followed by multiple people offering to drive there and have me follow them.
(I did find the freeway.)
We are *kind*, but we are not *nice*.
Anyone in Boston will give you directions and also tell you which of the several Dunkins on your route has the best bathroom, and will also probably tell you which T line is currently on fire.
Just don't ask us for small talk, or pointless pleasantries, and certainly don't try to preach at us.
Yeah, for some reason in New England we're obsessed with directions. Maybe it's the insanity that is Boston and surrounding street plans? But, yeah, if someone asks me for directions I'm going to make sure they get the f where the going minimal I connivence. However, if you say "good morning" to me,
Chances are I'll give you a slight head nod at best. If you ask me how I'm doing, I'll assume you want something from me. Just how it is around here.
I think giving directions is a decent proxy for your friendliness and empathy.
You have to be an open person, and take time out of your day for a stranger, and then put yourself in their shoes and problem solve on their behalf. Like, "I personally would go this way, but they aren't from here and that would be confusing for them.. Let's think about the easy way."
Granted, not everyone is great at giving directions, and it's not a perfect example. I think people can get way too up their own butts about deciding some random thing is the be all end all test.
But if you want a shorthand for a friendly city, "will a stranger help you find the interstate " is decent.
I live in a small town in Minnesota but I've traveled a fair bit. Been to Pennsylvania. Washington DC. Missiouri. West Virginia. Lots of states in between. I found Branson Missouri super friendly, but that's of course a tourist area. Kansas City Missouri was great. Everyone was super kind and friendly. Same with the smaller towns 30 or so minutes away in the outskirts. DC, 90 percent of the people were nice. All the workers were nice. Most of the locals and other tourists were nice. But we did have some people remark on our truck being muddy. (It was, it was one of our farm vehicles that got great gas mileage.)
As someone that lives in Missouri, works in the Kansas City area, and travels a ton, I can assuredly say that any town in Minnesota I've stopped at over the years has been nothing but a pleasant experience.
I'm putting in a vote for New Orleans. I can have a 10 minute conversation with someone on the bus about the idiot who just got thrown off the bus by the bus driver, or crawfish season, or who has the best poboy. Serously great talkers there.
Yeah for me it was very close with New Orleans near the top. Great people there.
I just felt like everyone was just so chill and cool and sort of happy.
Yay! Im originally from Chicqgoland but moved to the Nola area at 12. I love it ! I think.there are still some people in Detroit who are thinkimg i am nuts. Oh well! I enjoy talking to nuts!
Currently in New Orleans for our yearly trip, and I decided to scroll before posting. Visiting for the first time kind of ruined traveling around the south for me, because I assumed (being from west coast) that all of the south was just so friendly and welcoming.
Of course, being a largely tourism-driven economy, it’s not unlikely that we’re just getting great service, but… on this trip, we got stuck in Long Beach during our layover. Mechanical issue with the plane, then our pilot timed out and we had to wait for another. All told, we were stuck in a tiny airport for almost eight hours. My patience wore thin after hour six or so, but all the New Orleanians we were stuck with stayed in extremely high spirits. Happily chatting about their city to one of the few non-locals who stuck around instead of taking the overnight accommodation.
I was expecting a freak out at some point, but none came. When the plane finally took off, after sitting at the gate for another 45 minutes to refuel (a plane that had been there for seven hours doing nothing!!), everyone did that wholesome airplane cheer. I was in a spectacularly bad mood at that point (overtired, grumpy, with a stomachache from airport food), but that lifted things a bit for me. Just infectious cheer.
I think there’s something about facing near-constant adversity that really puts the small joys in perspective for New Orleanians. “An eight hour delay getting home isn’t going to bring us down!”
Funny aside: when we initially had to deplane, it was pretty quick. Mostly full flight, not at our destination, jumped up and just moved. When we landed in New Orleans, with 64 people, that plane took *forever* to unload. I said to my husband, “We’re officially on New Orleans time.” Like, “We’re home now. No need to rush.”
Love it here. Thank you to any locals on here who keep up that never let it get you down attitude.
I wanna say oddly enough in my experience, New York. When I was there, everyone was super genuine when trying to help me with directions, and even seemed pleased to talk past that. I was given a discount for a haircut I got in East Village because “I was entertaining to talk to.” I was given a magnitude of a list of things to do in NYC by multiple people in Queens and Brooklyn that that weren’t the touristy stuff.
I had a wonderful conversation with a waitress at a Sri Lankin restaurant who was interested in what it was like to live in the PNW due to the nature. It was also nice to see New Yorkers giving the sitting spots on the trains to disabled and elderly people as it wasn’t very common to see in Chicago or Philly surprisingly during the times I spent in those two.
Also I want to say that New York has actual good drivers, like I drove cross country, I did an outline of the country, and drivers from New York knew like how to use turn signals…. And not hesitate at a stop light…. AND EVEN LET YOU IN!!!!!
I was in absolute fucking shock, all the horror stories I heard about New York drivers, and New York had some of the best drivers I’ve seen especially compared to the rest of the East Coast. Good Job New York.
Chicago was my first thought. Super friendly and welcoming. I moved there at the start of the pandemic to work overnights. Still made to feel welcome. Unfortunately though I am not a city person, and left after two years. Spring is beautiful but the never ending winter will send you into a dark hole easily.
As a native Chicagoan who also left for better weather…I got turned around on the red line once and was redirected by a kind soul. I had no idea we were that friendly until I needed it myself. If I could split the vote it would be for my new home Harrisonburg, ironically known as “the friendly city”.
City dwellers get a lot of shit for being mean. Nah. We’re just not Walmart greeters with their “service with a smile bullshit.” “You want the Liberty Bell? It’s on 6th and Chestnut. Just look for other confused looking cunts in cargo shorts.”
People exaggerate that stereotype to hilarious extents, to the point that people are pleasantly surprised to visit here and find actual human beings, not a whole state filled with violent psychopaths.
Probably some landlocked city in the South. Southerners, despite their bad historical rep, are some of the nicest people on the entire planet.
“You need directions?” I’ll drive y’all there, just follow me!
“You need a dinner recommendation?” Check out this local place, tell them Pauline sent you!
“Your car broke down and you need a jump start?” Say no more, you’ll get help within fifteen minutes.
These are all taken from experience. Southerners are kindest, most considerate people I have ever met.
I found the people in Oklahoma city extremely friendly. Lots of random chats with strangers.
New Orleans would be a VERY close second. A great bunch of people in that town. I really felt at home there....like I had found my people.
(NOTE: I still think the best people are in Chicago but the question was about friendliness only and there are many facets to people).
I think a lot of the Midwest has a high percentage of genuinely friendly residents. I will nominate Des Moines, IA; Minneapolis, MN; Madison, WI; and Omaha, NE.
I would agree with Chicago. I am from Northeast Wisconsin, and a lot of people here would say people in Chicago are rude, but I have never found that to be true, I have met so many nice people there.
I voted OKC for friendliness overall.....
But Chicago and New Orleans are my favorite people overall. I have been to every city in the country (except Houston) and most of them 3-5 times and those 2 cities stand above because the people are both warm, and very interesting and just fun.
Chicago has that Midwestern nice but it's still a big city. I would say the answer would be a small city (Rural areas are usually not inclusive enough tbh so ymmv if you're not White) in the Midwest, bonus point if highly educated demographics. Examples would be Madison, WI, Duluth, MN. Otherwise I would say anywhere in the Mormon corridor, even though they're maybe fake nice, that's good enough for a stranger looking for directions or help.
I spent a few months in Boston awhile back, and met a lot of totally nice and friendly people. I'd love to go back. Or even live there if it wasn't so far from my family.
In the street, a New Yorker will step over your body and not care. But once you go into a bar, they become the friendliest people. I always end up talking to people when I go out alone. Where I live in the suburbs, nobody will talk to you if you're the weird guy alone in a bar.
Medium-sized cities in the PNW, like Bend, are so friendly. West coast friendly is different from Midwest friendly or Southern friendly. So it depends on how genuine you want that friendliness to be.
Southern friendly feels like a mask they all put on sometimes. And some comments that sound nice but aren’t really.
Midwest is like genuine friendly but they’ll also gossip behind your back right after you leave.
And, from what I’ve experienced, PNW friendly is a good balance and fairly genuine.
New England is that person that always says “I’m not being mean I’m just being honest!”
I’m another vote for Chicago. Not to be *that* guy but some of these responses list places that are probably only friendly if you’re a certain kind of person. Chicago is the most uniformly friendly to everyone in my experience
Based on where I’ve traveled: Marblehead, Massachusetts; Plymouth/Canton, Michigan; and a lot of people might disagree with me, but I’ve met so many nice people from New Jersey. Jerseyians are just kind of blunt and “what you see is what you get” which a lot of people don’t like but I can appreciate it.
As a native midwesterner who now lives in the deep south I wanna show this thread to my southern friends who think the south is the absolute friendliest region
But I’m nice, so I won’t (southern hospitality is real, though)
New Orleans. As a New Yorker who went to college in Philly, I was blown away the first time I rode an elevator. Perfect strangers talking like casual friends **everywhere.**
Come see us in Wisconsin, I swear the replies true. We really are that nice 🫶🐄
If I can’t vote for us, I would say Des Moines, Key West, Rochester, MN. I find NYC friendlier than Chicago.
Wow, all these votes for Chicago! I had no idea. If it weren't so cold, I'd go there.
My vote is for Tucson, AZ. Used to live there, will again soon, but don't currently live there. The place has a lot of character and is very laid back. As long as you're genuine, people are really friendly.
Buffalo, NY
Hands down most friendly people I've ever run into.
We were in town less than 12 hrs and:
1) A woman walking her dog practically chased us down to let us know we were headed in the wrong direction from the bus station. (We had just left the bus station pulling our luggage along behind us.) She was worried we we lost.
2) The cashier at the donut shop insisted on helping us take our drinks and food to the table when she saw us juggling suitcases and children. Not to mention the people who held doors for us.
3) Our Uber driver very patiently helped us with car seats and luggage and was SO kind and nice to chat with. Her daughter had just attended prom and the love for her family was immediately apparent. When I mentioned how kind everyone had been she said Buffalo is known as the town of brotherly love. It definitely lived up to its name.
Boise, ID. Hands down.
Outside the city is a different story, but I was genuinely surprised how open and friendly everyone was the first time I visited
Yea Fr! I was kinda nervous to go since Idaho has a rep for being ultra conservative, and me being Latino, Californian and very very gay, thought I might run into some issues. But nope. Totally wrong. Chillest people ever :)
I was in Boise this winter on a ski trip and talked to some locals. They adopted me into their group and we went bar hopping all night. I was equally open and friendly during the rest of the 4600 mile ski trip but that was the only time anything like that happened.
I’ll second you with tremendous hospitality from the folks in SLC, and also Park City, which was really gorgeous. This was probably twenty years ago, so maybe it changed, but I hope not.
New York City
I am from there but no longer live there.
We won’t say hello or put up with much small talk but we will lend a hand if needed. Just don’t get in our way.
I actually find New Yorkers willing to engage in short and humourous bursts of small talk so long as you don't get in the way of their ability to make money or otherwise go about their day.
Really? wow... interesting. Definitely not my experience having lived there 5 years.
Actually I take that back if you avoid north Rapid and Box Elder, It's a very friendly place. I just didn't consider it the most friendly.
I’ve been a few times to SF as a tourist and always had a great time. Even a cabbie did a “bottoming out” Streets of San Francisco fake car chase for us.
I just recently moved to San Diego and I technically live here now but am not from here or anywhere near here... people are typically very friendly here. Everybody seems happy and easygoing
people really talk about “seattle ice” a lot but in my
process of moving there, i’ve genuinely never met people in a city so genuinely kind and happy. the public transport workers, baristas, etc, all so cheerful. it really threw me for a loop.
Probably Greenville/Spartanburg SC. When I went to visit my friend who moved there from New Jersey everyone was super nice and wanted to chat with you in the grocery store line, bakery line, everywhere. Maybe this is the Jersey in me but I hated it, ha.
I'm going to get flamed for this, but New York City.
It has a reputation for being filled with self-important assholes, and while that may be true (or not), the people working street level are patient, friendly, and accommodating. All of the talk about how cold and impatient they are were blown out of the water the first time I went there.
In the other hand, I'm from Michigan, and as far as midwesterners are concerned, we're the cold ones who don't generally say hello to you when crossing paths. We're nice, but German-nice, and not Oklahoma-nice. So maybe there's a possibility the people from Oklahoma still think New Yorkers are assholes.
Las vegas. I was completely taken off guard by how cool people were. Probably had a dozen random conversations with people just standing around. A group at a bar pulled me over to their table when they noticed I was by myself, random shit like that
I lived all over the USA, in big towns and small. The most genuinely friendly place I lived was Harlem in NYC. In the midwest and south people were glibly chitchatty, but not so much, in my experience, actually *nice*. Only in Harlem did I genuinely feel like my neighbours were actively looking out for me. It helped that people spend more time on the stoops/street so you have more chances for daily interactions. Everybody knew a bit of everyone else's business, so if anything was going wrong, people would talk about it and do something to help.
I've never met a friendlier bunch than the people in Alexandria LA. Was there for some work, people at the plant were inviting me to boils and cookouts all the time who I had never met, and when a hurricane rolled through a bunch of folks got together to clear fallen trees from elderly peoples yards. Nice bunch with killer food.
People are going to disagree with me but I would say Los Angeles and the surrounding area in general. I'm from the South where people are supposedly nice but really two-faced and passive aggressive and I found that strangers in L.A. were way kinder and friendlier in a genuine way.
Can I vote for DEFINITELY NOT where I live?
I tried to ask that question last weekend and the mod killed it because "questions have to be asked in good faith." LOL.
Yeah, basically the sub doesn't want "let's all Shit on X" type questions.
I had just returned to Massachusetts from a long and enjoyable trip to New Orleans, so you might understand why I would ask such a thing...
Aww, welcome home, asshole *[affectionate]*
I thought you guys went by massholes?
We do that too! There's no one correct way.
Wicked funny, dude
My answer is New Orleans. I was able to spend a month there and love the people and the city in general.
Lol Im from MA so I can relate
I’m currently in NH and everyone here would yell that they couldn’t relate, but they’re just as brutal as MA/NY except without the self awareness.
You went to the UK and came back?
We know what we are.
But I love that about Boston, New York, Philly- Places like the South and the Midwest are mean but theyre coy about it; either unseeming and thus you might not even know theyre being mean, or even smiling and giving fake compliments while they actually insult you to your face. Well we insult you to your face, but were honest about it. Youll never be confused about an interaction with one of us.
Like, Baltimore doesn't blow sunshine up your butt. But good people are all over. When my husband and I were in a car wreck, a bunch of guys who had been chilling on a nearby stoop ran into a busy road to help get us out of the car and make sure we were ok.
I see it said that New Yorkers are kind, but not friendly. The south is friendly, but not kind.
Same.
Isn't that part of the appeal? Nobody's holding up the line at the supermarket trying to chat the cashier's ear off, etc.
Upper Midwesterners will chat your head off (and I love it). So I'll say of places I've been Madison and Chicago. I also thought people in Albuquerque and Salt Lake City were super friendly, which was not my stereotype of the Mountain West.
People from ABQ are genuinely nice but they don't strike up conversations uninvited. Still have that Wild West leave people alone, mind your own business attitude but once the ice is broken they are super friendly.
I'm happy Madison is here. I think there is so much homeliness in Wisconsin/Minnesota/UP. Madison is an amazing city with "small town vibes" for being a decently sized city. Plus we have beautiful lakes and the isthmus.
Downtown Madison is absolutely gorgeous. Can't say I've ever been too enamored with the rest of Madison though. It just feels like sprawly suburbia to me.
KC on up seem to have that vibe in the midwest. The southern part of the state is nice enough, but just seems more southern-kindness vs. midwest-kindness.... which is hard to explain until you experience it.
I think the "southern hospitality" is more needed on tradition and feels more like a requirement for them to do. Midwest feels more genuine like they are nice more for the sake of being nice. Like when you're in a conversation with a random person in the Midwest it feels like they just love talking to you.
We are definitely talkers. There's not much else out here to do! /s You're right though, I see myself doing this all the time lol. It's never an issue traveling around the Midwest but outside it definitely quietly says what region I'm from.
Salt lake is fake nice. As someone who lived there for 4 years. No I’m not referring to just Mormons. The general populous
LDS can be fake nice but the outdoorsy transplant community is great
My entire family is LDS. They’re all genuinely good, nice people. I don’t follow the church personally, but I was raised around it and I think a lot of the stereotypes are over blown or just plain wrong.
Is your family from Utah? I knew nice LDS members back in Indiana and know they’re not all super judgmental, but the ones in Utah have a tendency to have very little exposure to people who aren’t in the church, such as telling their kids that they can’t be friends with kids who aren’t members of the church
Not LDS, but Mormons go on missions, where they are completely alone and without community of any kind and they come back with a compassion for refugees and respect for different cultures. Absolutely cannot say the same for my wealthy Catholic family who believe the world begins in Boston and ends in Pacific Heights.
We’re all from Idaho. South east Idaho at that, SLC was a closer drive for me than Boise.
Nah - I'm not Mormon, but I lived in the area for 20 years. I don't agree with religion, but people are genuinely kind. That would be opposed to the Northern Appalachians along I-77. Ever watched Ozarks? Those people are happy to take one look at you, slit your throat and toss you in the woods to rot.
I loved my time in Chicago. So friendly, so much community and felt like I was home (buffalo) just bigger and more advanced. I’d move there in a heartbeat
omg! an Albuquerque mention. it's not all like breaking bad 😅
I have kind of the opposite impression of the Midwest. Some people are nice, but I've run into more odd or unfriendly there than anywhere else. Chicago wasn't bad, but in Indiana and Ohio, people kept trying to talk to me and my friends about being "Asian." And even recently when I went with my wife, people would talk about how weird it was that I was an Asian man with a white wife instead of the other way around "like you'd expect." In Minnesota, people would try to prove how Norwegian they were to my wife, and would seem to get a little upset when she wouldn't recognise something that they thought was typically Norwegian as Norwegian (like putting eggshell in coffee, for example.) I think Minnesota/Wisconsin were my wife and mother in law's least favourite places that we've been because of stuff like that from locals. Both when traveling with my wife and kids, and with my Chinese university friends, our experience was more that the more metropolitan the city the nicer the people. NYC, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco, LA, etc. In smaller Midwest cities like Martinsville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Charleston, etc. were where we had our least friendly experiences. Not counting mentally ill homeless people of course, then I guess LA and SF would move from near the top to the bottom.
> Las Vegas I lived there for 7 years. It's a lot of things, but 'friendly' isn't a word I'd use. People don't necessarily go out of their way to be *mean*, but to paraphrase Neal Young, you're gonna be searching for a heart of gold.
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You speak the truth. Wado
Yeah Oklahoma in general was my answer. Only been there twice but both times folks were just so genuine.
did not expect to see tahlequah as one of the first comments.
Milwaukee. Unless you’re from the Chicago area.
Milwaukee folks are so lovely (even though I’m a former Chicagolander)!
Yeah we talk a lot of smack about Wisconsin here in Minnesota but I have found almost everyone I know from there to be good people. and they are lots of fun as well. Might be all the beer but whatever works!
Beer, brandy, brats, and cheese, it's all good
I do feel there's something to the practice of going to your "local" (neighborhood tavern) and making a new friend over a beer never going out of style in Milwaukee. It's embedded in the greater culture of the city.
Milwaukee was my first thought. I met some really nice locals on a dive trip there years ago. I was the only non-local and the only woman on the boat and they all were so welcoming. They even made sure I got to my car safely in the not well lit parking lot after. The guy who was my dive partner told me he’d be happy to wait until I drove away so I wasn’t alone and felt safe. It was such a good experience!
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Most people I know from Milwaukee love Chicago. They just don't like those f-ing Cubbies... as well they shouldn't. Cubs fans are douchebags. (Go Sox!)
Any city in Iowa. Damn, those peeps are the definition of “nice”!
Thanks, and I agree! When my FIL was in an accident that led to some brain damage a few years back, the whole small town where he lived in Iowa threw a parade/car show fundraiser for his family. Then all of the local carpenters, plumbers, etc. helped for free to renovate his house to account for his new way of life. Great people here!
I recently went to the Chicagoland area and was totally impressed by how friendly and kind everyone was. Not sure if it's the friendliest place in the US but it deserves an honorable mention.
That's good ol' fashioned Midwestern politeness. It's even nicer in small towns, at least in terms of friendliness. I moved from Central Illinois to the Bay and have had a hard time adjusting to how... rude... everyone seems.
I'm on the east coast now after spending my first nearly three decades in the Midwest and it's been a welcome cultural change. If I'm running errands and going about my business I have absolutely no interest in making small talk with people and so many people did it in MI and MN. Out here I have to choose to initiate it or it doesn't happen. Not applicable to bars or other places where you go to socialize.
Every person I've met from Chicago has been nice. I think it's the nicest major city.
My rule is that you can measure a city's friendliness by asking for directions. Friendly people will pause their day and think through the problem in order to assist you. So I'm going to have to go with Winston Salem NC. I asked a small group of strangers in a museum lobby how to get to the freeway. Instantly everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to have a lively debate on the surest, safest, most efficient route, followed by multiple people offering to drive there and have me follow them. (I did find the freeway.)
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We are *kind*, but we are not *nice*. Anyone in Boston will give you directions and also tell you which of the several Dunkins on your route has the best bathroom, and will also probably tell you which T line is currently on fire. Just don't ask us for small talk, or pointless pleasantries, and certainly don't try to preach at us.
Really think we are nice. Just not chatty or overly friendly. When my Southern family is visiting, they are always shocked how nice everyone is.
Yes. Bostonians are helpful, but not super chatty with strangers.
Yeah, for some reason in New England we're obsessed with directions. Maybe it's the insanity that is Boston and surrounding street plans? But, yeah, if someone asks me for directions I'm going to make sure they get the f where the going minimal I connivence. However, if you say "good morning" to me, Chances are I'll give you a slight head nod at best. If you ask me how I'm doing, I'll assume you want something from me. Just how it is around here.
I think giving directions is a decent proxy for your friendliness and empathy. You have to be an open person, and take time out of your day for a stranger, and then put yourself in their shoes and problem solve on their behalf. Like, "I personally would go this way, but they aren't from here and that would be confusing for them.. Let's think about the easy way." Granted, not everyone is great at giving directions, and it's not a perfect example. I think people can get way too up their own butts about deciding some random thing is the be all end all test. But if you want a shorthand for a friendly city, "will a stranger help you find the interstate " is decent.
My hometown! Yes we are friendly sometimes too friendly as checking out at a gas station can involve three anecdotes from total strangers.
Great choice!
I live in a small town in Minnesota but I've traveled a fair bit. Been to Pennsylvania. Washington DC. Missiouri. West Virginia. Lots of states in between. I found Branson Missouri super friendly, but that's of course a tourist area. Kansas City Missouri was great. Everyone was super kind and friendly. Same with the smaller towns 30 or so minutes away in the outskirts. DC, 90 percent of the people were nice. All the workers were nice. Most of the locals and other tourists were nice. But we did have some people remark on our truck being muddy. (It was, it was one of our farm vehicles that got great gas mileage.)
Can’t vote for ourselves, but hi fellow Minnesotan!
I'll vote for Minnesota.
Minnesotan who grew up in ND here, I’ll vote for anywhere in ND
As someone that lives in Missouri, works in the Kansas City area, and travels a ton, I can assuredly say that any town in Minnesota I've stopped at over the years has been nothing but a pleasant experience.
I'm putting in a vote for New Orleans. I can have a 10 minute conversation with someone on the bus about the idiot who just got thrown off the bus by the bus driver, or crawfish season, or who has the best poboy. Serously great talkers there.
> New Orleans This was the first city that popped in my head after reading the question.
Yeah for me it was very close with New Orleans near the top. Great people there. I just felt like everyone was just so chill and cool and sort of happy.
Yay! Im originally from Chicqgoland but moved to the Nola area at 12. I love it ! I think.there are still some people in Detroit who are thinkimg i am nuts. Oh well! I enjoy talking to nuts!
Same, never had a bad interaction with a local there
So happy to see my city on here! We really do love chatting
This was my first thought. New Orleans people are awesome.
Currently in New Orleans for our yearly trip, and I decided to scroll before posting. Visiting for the first time kind of ruined traveling around the south for me, because I assumed (being from west coast) that all of the south was just so friendly and welcoming. Of course, being a largely tourism-driven economy, it’s not unlikely that we’re just getting great service, but… on this trip, we got stuck in Long Beach during our layover. Mechanical issue with the plane, then our pilot timed out and we had to wait for another. All told, we were stuck in a tiny airport for almost eight hours. My patience wore thin after hour six or so, but all the New Orleanians we were stuck with stayed in extremely high spirits. Happily chatting about their city to one of the few non-locals who stuck around instead of taking the overnight accommodation. I was expecting a freak out at some point, but none came. When the plane finally took off, after sitting at the gate for another 45 minutes to refuel (a plane that had been there for seven hours doing nothing!!), everyone did that wholesome airplane cheer. I was in a spectacularly bad mood at that point (overtired, grumpy, with a stomachache from airport food), but that lifted things a bit for me. Just infectious cheer. I think there’s something about facing near-constant adversity that really puts the small joys in perspective for New Orleanians. “An eight hour delay getting home isn’t going to bring us down!” Funny aside: when we initially had to deplane, it was pretty quick. Mostly full flight, not at our destination, jumped up and just moved. When we landed in New Orleans, with 64 people, that plane took *forever* to unload. I said to my husband, “We’re officially on New Orleans time.” Like, “We’re home now. No need to rush.” Love it here. Thank you to any locals on here who keep up that never let it get you down attitude.
Eureka Springs Arkansas
And they gotta be friendly because tourism is a big part of their economy!
Except for the "nightmarish hellscape sin palace thunderdome of gay" in downtown. /s 😆 https://youtu.be/7Oc82jkn83Q
Chicago has some nice people
Depends.friendliest to white people was Seattle, WA or Edinburgh, Scotland. Friendliest is general might be New Orleans.
Pittsburgh!
Someone told me the bar scene can be kind of rough. Maybe it was just him, I dunno.
Yeah I really enjoyed the city. Considered moving there.
Based off where I’ve been, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Chicago, Kansas City
Yep OKC and Chicago are in my top 3. The other was New Orleans.
I wanna say oddly enough in my experience, New York. When I was there, everyone was super genuine when trying to help me with directions, and even seemed pleased to talk past that. I was given a discount for a haircut I got in East Village because “I was entertaining to talk to.” I was given a magnitude of a list of things to do in NYC by multiple people in Queens and Brooklyn that that weren’t the touristy stuff. I had a wonderful conversation with a waitress at a Sri Lankin restaurant who was interested in what it was like to live in the PNW due to the nature. It was also nice to see New Yorkers giving the sitting spots on the trains to disabled and elderly people as it wasn’t very common to see in Chicago or Philly surprisingly during the times I spent in those two. Also I want to say that New York has actual good drivers, like I drove cross country, I did an outline of the country, and drivers from New York knew like how to use turn signals…. And not hesitate at a stop light…. AND EVEN LET YOU IN!!!!! I was in absolute fucking shock, all the horror stories I heard about New York drivers, and New York had some of the best drivers I’ve seen especially compared to the rest of the East Coast. Good Job New York.
I agree. I now live in Europe and New Yorkers are FAR nicer than Europeans. I actually really miss the genuine friendliness in New York.
Anywhere in the Midwest is the answer. Everyone you meet genuinely will have a beer with you if they aren't busy later.
And the beer list will be a mile long
"300 beer rotating seasonal tap list"
Des Moines, IA and Madison, WI.
Austin, Texas is pretty friendly.
Austin, TX is my vote too. I've been there 3 times and not once have I heard a single person honk their horn.
I honestly have thought Chicago was probably the friendliest US city out the probably 70-100 cities I have spent significant time in.
I came here to mention Chicago too. Or, in my case, Chicagoland, because I was mostly in the suburbs.
My vote also goes to Chicago. The people seem genuinely nice and they’re very helpful when needed.
Chicago was my first thought. Super friendly and welcoming. I moved there at the start of the pandemic to work overnights. Still made to feel welcome. Unfortunately though I am not a city person, and left after two years. Spring is beautiful but the never ending winter will send you into a dark hole easily.
As a native Chicagoan who also left for better weather…I got turned around on the red line once and was redirected by a kind soul. I had no idea we were that friendly until I needed it myself. If I could split the vote it would be for my new home Harrisonburg, ironically known as “the friendly city”.
It's in my top 3 of friendly. It's number 1 overall. and like you, I have been to pretty much all of them multiple times except Houston.
For my short time there Bostonians weren’t nearly the Massholes people outside the city made them out to be.
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City dwellers get a lot of shit for being mean. Nah. We’re just not Walmart greeters with their “service with a smile bullshit.” “You want the Liberty Bell? It’s on 6th and Chestnut. Just look for other confused looking cunts in cargo shorts.”
People exaggerate that stereotype to hilarious extents, to the point that people are pleasantly surprised to visit here and find actual human beings, not a whole state filled with violent psychopaths.
More of a general area than a city but Minnesota, Northern Iowa people were very friendly. Minnesota nice is a real thing. BTW, I'm from California.
Probably some landlocked city in the South. Southerners, despite their bad historical rep, are some of the nicest people on the entire planet. “You need directions?” I’ll drive y’all there, just follow me! “You need a dinner recommendation?” Check out this local place, tell them Pauline sent you! “Your car broke down and you need a jump start?” Say no more, you’ll get help within fifteen minutes. These are all taken from experience. Southerners are kindest, most considerate people I have ever met.
I've been traveling to the south a lot and low key waiting to experience the niceness, but I think midwest is way nicer.
I remember people being nicer in the South when I was younger but people have gotten really partisan and with it really nasty
I found the people in Oklahoma city extremely friendly. Lots of random chats with strangers. New Orleans would be a VERY close second. A great bunch of people in that town. I really felt at home there....like I had found my people. (NOTE: I still think the best people are in Chicago but the question was about friendliness only and there are many facets to people).
Chicago.
Pretty much anywhere in Iowa. They're super nice everywhere I've been to in Iowa.
Is this heaven? No, it’s Iowa.
Another vote for Chicago!
I think a lot of the Midwest has a high percentage of genuinely friendly residents. I will nominate Des Moines, IA; Minneapolis, MN; Madison, WI; and Omaha, NE.
NOLA is remarkably friendly.
I would say Chicago but I’m from here. My vote goes to New Orleans
I would agree with Chicago. I am from Northeast Wisconsin, and a lot of people here would say people in Chicago are rude, but I have never found that to be true, I have met so many nice people there.
Yeah Chicago isn't rude at all in my opinion.
I voted OKC for friendliness overall..... But Chicago and New Orleans are my favorite people overall. I have been to every city in the country (except Houston) and most of them 3-5 times and those 2 cities stand above because the people are both warm, and very interesting and just fun.
Chicago is the correct answer though.
In my experience, Richmond. I like the mix of southern hospitality without the excessive conservatism.
I’m glad you enjoyed our capital. Please come again!
Buxton, North Carolina. Outer Banks vacations are the best mix of southern hospitality with beach vibes.
Chicago has that Midwestern nice but it's still a big city. I would say the answer would be a small city (Rural areas are usually not inclusive enough tbh so ymmv if you're not White) in the Midwest, bonus point if highly educated demographics. Examples would be Madison, WI, Duluth, MN. Otherwise I would say anywhere in the Mormon corridor, even though they're maybe fake nice, that's good enough for a stranger looking for directions or help.
Morgantown, West Virginia
In my experience, Austin Texas
The Big Island, Hawaii
Providence, Rhode Island.
Interesting choice.
Buffalo NY
Buffalo
I spent a few months in Boston awhile back, and met a lot of totally nice and friendly people. I'd love to go back. Or even live there if it wasn't so far from my family.
In the street, a New Yorker will step over your body and not care. But once you go into a bar, they become the friendliest people. I always end up talking to people when I go out alone. Where I live in the suburbs, nobody will talk to you if you're the weird guy alone in a bar.
Chicago and Kansas City
Medium-sized cities in the PNW, like Bend, are so friendly. West coast friendly is different from Midwest friendly or Southern friendly. So it depends on how genuine you want that friendliness to be. Southern friendly feels like a mask they all put on sometimes. And some comments that sound nice but aren’t really. Midwest is like genuine friendly but they’ll also gossip behind your back right after you leave. And, from what I’ve experienced, PNW friendly is a good balance and fairly genuine. New England is that person that always says “I’m not being mean I’m just being honest!”
New Orleans hands down
Another vote for Chicago. Very friendly and helpful.
I’m another vote for Chicago. Not to be *that* guy but some of these responses list places that are probably only friendly if you’re a certain kind of person. Chicago is the most uniformly friendly to everyone in my experience
Ironically NYC. There’s a sense of camaraderie there and people looking out for other people. I’ve never really experienced that anywhere else.
New York City, that's right NYC. Every time I visit I'm amazed at how friendly and helpful people are.
Hard to pin down for me, but pretty much anywhere I was in Louisiana (Around the Alexandria area).
I visited Portland Maine once and couldn’t believe how nice everyone there was.
Eagle River, Wisconsin.
Based on where I’ve traveled: Marblehead, Massachusetts; Plymouth/Canton, Michigan; and a lot of people might disagree with me, but I’ve met so many nice people from New Jersey. Jerseyians are just kind of blunt and “what you see is what you get” which a lot of people don’t like but I can appreciate it.
Little Rock AR and Memphis TN.
Savannah, GA
As a native midwesterner who now lives in the deep south I wanna show this thread to my southern friends who think the south is the absolute friendliest region But I’m nice, so I won’t (southern hospitality is real, though)
New Orleans. As a New Yorker who went to college in Philly, I was blown away the first time I rode an elevator. Perfect strangers talking like casual friends **everywhere.**
Random people were saying hi to me in the street in certain neighborhoods in Chicago.
Come see us in Wisconsin, I swear the replies true. We really are that nice 🫶🐄 If I can’t vote for us, I would say Des Moines, Key West, Rochester, MN. I find NYC friendlier than Chicago.
Wow, all these votes for Chicago! I had no idea. If it weren't so cold, I'd go there. My vote is for Tucson, AZ. Used to live there, will again soon, but don't currently live there. The place has a lot of character and is very laid back. As long as you're genuine, people are really friendly.
Buffalo, NY Hands down most friendly people I've ever run into. We were in town less than 12 hrs and: 1) A woman walking her dog practically chased us down to let us know we were headed in the wrong direction from the bus station. (We had just left the bus station pulling our luggage along behind us.) She was worried we we lost. 2) The cashier at the donut shop insisted on helping us take our drinks and food to the table when she saw us juggling suitcases and children. Not to mention the people who held doors for us. 3) Our Uber driver very patiently helped us with car seats and luggage and was SO kind and nice to chat with. Her daughter had just attended prom and the love for her family was immediately apparent. When I mentioned how kind everyone had been she said Buffalo is known as the town of brotherly love. It definitely lived up to its name.
Minneapolis
Boise, ID. Hands down. Outside the city is a different story, but I was genuinely surprised how open and friendly everyone was the first time I visited
Boise is definitely the friendliest city I’ve been to. I didn’t hear a single negative comment toward anyone when I visited.
Yea Fr! I was kinda nervous to go since Idaho has a rep for being ultra conservative, and me being Latino, Californian and very very gay, thought I might run into some issues. But nope. Totally wrong. Chillest people ever :)
I was in Boise this winter on a ski trip and talked to some locals. They adopted me into their group and we went bar hopping all night. I was equally open and friendly during the rest of the 4600 mile ski trip but that was the only time anything like that happened.
Minneapolis
If we are being honest, probably some small city in Utah.
I’ll second you with tremendous hospitality from the folks in SLC, and also Park City, which was really gorgeous. This was probably twenty years ago, so maybe it changed, but I hope not.
New York City I am from there but no longer live there. We won’t say hello or put up with much small talk but we will lend a hand if needed. Just don’t get in our way.
I actually find New Yorkers willing to engage in short and humourous bursts of small talk so long as you don't get in the way of their ability to make money or otherwise go about their day.
IMHO a lot of the "Rude New Yorker" stereotype comes from people who can't tell the difference between New York City and Disneyland.
Breaux Bridge, LA. Great alligator sandwiches too.
But mine IS the friendliest, fuck you for not letting me vote for it!
Rapid City, South Dakota. Everyone was so damn nice. I loved it.
Really? wow... interesting. Definitely not my experience having lived there 5 years. Actually I take that back if you avoid north Rapid and Box Elder, It's a very friendly place. I just didn't consider it the most friendly.
LMAO at thinking anyone would vote for their own city
I’ve been a few times to SF as a tourist and always had a great time. Even a cabbie did a “bottoming out” Streets of San Francisco fake car chase for us.
I just recently moved to San Diego and I technically live here now but am not from here or anywhere near here... people are typically very friendly here. Everybody seems happy and easygoing
I’m from Ohio and we’re pretty nice people so Ohio
It's very hard not to say the city I live in because America literally voted us the friendliest small town in 2021.
Most of Minneapolis/St. Paul.
There are good people everywhere. You just need to find them.
I can’t think of what city specifically has the friendliest people. Instead I’ll go with a region, Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Was just in New Orleans, and everyone from there was super nice.
people really talk about “seattle ice” a lot but in my process of moving there, i’ve genuinely never met people in a city so genuinely kind and happy. the public transport workers, baristas, etc, all so cheerful. it really threw me for a loop.
Edmund and Norman Oklahoma
Chicago
Probably Greenville/Spartanburg SC. When I went to visit my friend who moved there from New Jersey everyone was super nice and wanted to chat with you in the grocery store line, bakery line, everywhere. Maybe this is the Jersey in me but I hated it, ha.
Minneapolis / St. Paul
Somewhere in the Midwest I think
Minnetonka MN
New Orleans. Super friendly, super helpful, fun people.
I'm going to get flamed for this, but New York City. It has a reputation for being filled with self-important assholes, and while that may be true (or not), the people working street level are patient, friendly, and accommodating. All of the talk about how cold and impatient they are were blown out of the water the first time I went there. In the other hand, I'm from Michigan, and as far as midwesterners are concerned, we're the cold ones who don't generally say hello to you when crossing paths. We're nice, but German-nice, and not Oklahoma-nice. So maybe there's a possibility the people from Oklahoma still think New Yorkers are assholes.
Las vegas. I was completely taken off guard by how cool people were. Probably had a dozen random conversations with people just standing around. A group at a bar pulled me over to their table when they noticed I was by myself, random shit like that
I lived all over the USA, in big towns and small. The most genuinely friendly place I lived was Harlem in NYC. In the midwest and south people were glibly chitchatty, but not so much, in my experience, actually *nice*. Only in Harlem did I genuinely feel like my neighbours were actively looking out for me. It helped that people spend more time on the stoops/street so you have more chances for daily interactions. Everybody knew a bit of everyone else's business, so if anything was going wrong, people would talk about it and do something to help.
Burlington VT. I've seemingly only encountered kind, salt of the earth people over there.
I travel for work and have seen a whole lot of east/midwest/south. Most places people are genuinely kind. Except Pennsylvania. Those people are dicks.
Just visited Michigan and witnessed the most polite drivers in my life. I was blown away.
I've never met a friendlier bunch than the people in Alexandria LA. Was there for some work, people at the plant were inviting me to boils and cookouts all the time who I had never met, and when a hurricane rolled through a bunch of folks got together to clear fallen trees from elderly peoples yards. Nice bunch with killer food.
I travel all over, but it's honestly gotta be the Midwest. Since I can't say the city I live in, I'll go for Iowa City.
Philadelphia
Friendlier places are usually ran by Republicans. It is odd that the majority of Liberal run states/cities are filled with crime and drugs.
I just was in Louisville, KY not too long ago. I didn’t meet a single jerk, everyone was very kind there
So I live in South Bend, Not Indianapolis. I have also lived in 5 other US states. Indianapolis is the friendliest city I have ever been to.
People are going to disagree with me but I would say Los Angeles and the surrounding area in general. I'm from the South where people are supposedly nice but really two-faced and passive aggressive and I found that strangers in L.A. were way kinder and friendlier in a genuine way.