Recently, the language learning app Preply surveyed over 1,500 residents of the 30 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. and asked them about the rudeness level in their city.
Inversely, this generated data about the most polite cities, of which Milwaukee ranked ninth. Milwaukee received an average rudeness score of 4.82 on a 1-10 scale.
Milwaukee residents were also asked to rank who is ruder in their experience, natives or transplants. Milwaukee residents said transplants were ruder than natives by a slim margin – 52 percent versus 48 percent.
The top three most polite cities are Austin, Tex.; San Diego, Calif. and Fort Worth, Tex.
The rudest cities in America are Philadelphia, Penn.; Memphis, Tenn. and New York City, N.Y.
The most common rude behaviors in the U.S. include people obsessed with their phones, refusing to let people merge in traffic and being noisy in shared spaces. The rude behavior Milwaukeeans were most bothered by was people being totally absorbed by their phones and not acknowledging others.
Finally, of the total respondents, 76 percent agree that Americans tend to act rudely when traveling abroad, even if it’s unintentional. Ope!
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
