The 5 Rudest Cities in the U.S., Ranked

Every American city has its own personality. Some feel like a warm handshake the moment you step off the plane. Others? Well, let’s just say the welcome mat seems to have been put away permanently. Rudeness in public spaces is not just a vibe, it’s now something researchers are actively measuring, city by city, behavior by behavior.

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. Some cities confirmed what travelers had been whispering for years. Others were genuine surprises. So let’s get into it.

5. Oakland, California – The City That Doesn’t Even Pretend to Be Nice

Oakland rounding out the top five is, honestly, not the biggest shock to anyone who has spent time in the Bay Area. The survey by online language learning platform Preply found Oakland was the fifth-rudest city in America. That’s a significant title, especially when you’re sitting right next door to San Francisco.

The analysis found that in places including Oakland, those who lived in the city felt their fellow residents were ruder than those in any other city. While Oakland ranked among the top 10 rudest, the East Bay city didn’t even make the list in Preply’s 2022 rankings. That’s a dramatic rise in the wrong direction, and a sign that things are heading the wrong way fast.

Lack of awareness in public, loudness in shared spaces, and rudeness to service staff define the Oakland experience. Locals admit their city ranks among the rudest according to Preply’s survey. Here’s the thing though – some of this may have more to do with the city’s rapid growth, shifting demographics, and mounting social pressures than with any individual resident being a bad person. Still, the data says what it says.

4. Louisville, Kentucky – So Much for Southern Hospitality

If there’s one entry on this list that might genuinely surprise people, it’s Louisville. This is a city traditionally wrapped in Derby charm, bourbon trails, and that celebrated Southern warmth. 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. That kind of upward momentum in a rudeness ranking is the kind of streak no city wants. Think of it like a sports team on a losing streak, except instead of losing games, they’re losing common courtesy.

The study, conducted by language learning platform Preply, focused on several factors, including lack of awareness in public, noisiness in shared places, and rudeness to service staff. Some of the most common behaviors named in the survey were lacking self-awareness, talking on speakerphone in a shared space, being loud, and a lack of care for others, among many others. For a city long associated with Southern charm, that’s a pretty rough verdict from the people who actually live there.

3. Tampa, Florida – A Sunshine State With a Stormy Attitude

Tampa coming in at number three might raise some eyebrows, but the numbers back it up hard. Floridians in Tampa come in as the third-rudest residents in the U.S. The area scored a point lower than Miami, with 8.88 out of 10 points. A full point behind Miami sounds reassuring until you realize an 8.88 out of 10 on a rudeness scale is still breathtakingly bad.

In their initial 2022 study, Tampa didn’t even make the top 12. The only Florida city to be ranked two years ago was Jacksonville at No. 12, with Philadelphia, Memphis, and New York City taking the top three spots, respectively. So Tampa went from not even being on the radar to snagging the bronze medal for rudeness in just two years. That’s quite the glow-up, in the worst possible sense.

The most common rude behaviors Americans saw others doing included being loud in public or on the phone, having little self-awareness, and not caring for others. Other behaviors included not acknowledging strangers, not respecting personal space, and being rude to service staff. Sound familiar? It really does seem like a theme across all of these cities, and Tampa has it in spades.

2. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – The City of Brotherly “Love”

Philadelphia has been a fixture on rudeness rankings for years. Although Philadelphia, PA, ranked as the second rudest, the city’s residents have actually gotten kinder since 2022, when they ranked number one. I mean, credit where it’s due, Philly. Progress is progress. Though dropping from first to second on a rudeness list is a pretty modest achievement.

Philadelphia earned a score of 9.12 in 2024, putting it in second place. Although nicknamed the “City of Brotherly Love,” Americans typically stereotype Philadelphians as rude, but locals tend to attribute their behavior to a feeling of insularity in the city. Reluctant to incorporate outsiders, many residents have learned to keep to themselves while growing up in a busy city. That’s a generous reading of it, honestly.

Participants were asked to recall how often they experienced their fellow residents demonstrate “rude” behaviors like lack of awareness, closed-off body language and disrespect toward service staff. What’s particularly striking is that Philadelphia consistently shows up across multiple major surveys spanning years. It’s hard to argue with that kind of consistency.

1. Miami, Florida – America’s Reigning Rudeness Champion

If rudeness were an Olympic sport, Miami would be on a podium of its own. Miami ranked as the most inconsiderate city in 2024, with a rudeness score of 9.88. Out of 10. That is nearly a perfect score for imperfect behavior. It’s actually kind of impressive, in the most deflating way possible.

Lack of awareness in public, loudness in shared places, and rudeness to service staff members are just some of the behaviors that branded Miami, FL, as having the rudest residents. Locals in Miami, FL, Oakland, CA, and Tucson, AZ, said people in their city are ruder than those in any other city, which means even the residents are admitting it. That self-awareness about a lack of public awareness is, at minimum, something.

In July 2024, a total of 2,533 survey participants in 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. Miami led the pack on virtually all of these metrics. According to Preply, only 11.49 percent of respondents said they would confront troublemakers about their behavior, meaning most people are simply silently stewing, which in its own way, tells you everything about the mood in these cities.

It’s worth noting that the national average rudeness self-rating sits right at the middle of the scale. 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 rank their city as 4.9. Miami blows that number out of the water, and it’s not particularly close. For a city that markets itself as a glamorous, sun-soaked paradise, the reality of day-to-day interactions paints a pretty different picture.

Does your city make the list? Or maybe you’ve visited one of these places and found yourself nodding along the entire time. What do you think – are these rankings fair, or is your city getting a bad rap? Tell us in the comments.