Friendliest State in the US?

[rucky]

Poll question: Friendliest State in the US?

These are mine from personal experience, but feel free to post your own!

[LeftyMom]

1. Minnesota

Random strangers were just too nice to be believed when I was visiting up there. It creeped me out, to be honest.

[rucky]

5. I totally forgot Minnesota!

and illinois.

[Laelth]

13. Completely agree.

Minnesotans are extremely friendly.

-Laelth

[myrna minx]

16. Minn-eah-soooh-ta.

Yah hey. :bounce:

[no name no slogan]

24. Oh yah. We're plenty friendly.

So that's your accomplice in the woodchipper, there?

[Left Is Write]

29. Minnesota Nice, don't you know.

:D

[Patiod]

37. When I interview folks in Minnesota, I discuss "MN Nice"

and tell them I need "NY Blunt"!

Once they have permission to complain and bitch, they're fine!

[terrya]

2. My state, Illinois

I really think that Illinois is a very friendly state.

[Blue-Jay]

52. I agree.

Illinois is a wonderful place filled with wonderful people. (except Decatur. Those people still think mullets are cool.)

[WildEyedLiberal]

58. I have NEVER seen a mullet in Decatur

And I've been to Decatur quite often.

Well, okay, I've seen a few mullets, but the mullet:nonmullet ratio was no more glaring in Decatur than anywhere else I've been. Maybe one mullet every ten days, and that's only if you go to Wal-Mart.

Decatur smells horrid, though, and it's pretty ghetto, so it's unpleasant enough.

[Blue-Jay]

70. C'mon, the mullet is the city mascot.

[noonwitch]

3. Michigan

If we weren't so nice, the riots wouldn't have ended in 1968.

[rucky]

7. Not when they're driving in Ohio.

Unless a raised middle finger means "howdy!"

[noonwitch]

43. It does

Unless you were driving 60 mph in the left lane on I-75 or I-696. Especially on 696-that's our autobahn!

I don't usually notice cars with Ohio plates doing that. Usually, it's someone with Ontario plates, as they are more concerned with their own safety on that side of the river.

[MrScorpio]

79. Not a state, but very friendly

Washington DC

Love that town

Besides, there are more people there than in the entire state of Wyoming

[huskerlaw]

4. Nebraskans

are almost freakishly nice. I never really noticed until I moved to LA and people look at me funny when I smile or help a stranger.

[rbnyc]

6. 1. Wisconsin 2. New York

3. Minnesota

[Fleshdancer]

8. No one will believe me, but my vote is Texas

I know it's fun to dump on Texas because of its politics and I'm truly very sorry about the whole George insanity, but the people down here really are very nice. I promise!

[dr.strangelove]

9. Oregon

Great people out in the pacific northwest. Very friendly.

[Katherine Brengle]

10. I know this will sound crazy...

but mine is New York. And by New York, I mean from my experience in the city.

It doesn't seem like the kind of place where people would be nice, but I have had nothing but good experiences with people there...

I live in MA, and we're meanies. (And there are a lot of snobs... I don't get it, but there it is...)

[rbnyc]

12. New York is very friendly.

We're all here to help each other out.

[WindRavenX]

59. yup

A lot of tourists that have asked me for directionse sometimes mistake NY sarcasm for genuine meaness. When I visit my folks in OR, the same thing happens-- people think I'm mean when I'm just being snarky :o

NYers are friendly really.

[Taverner]

18. People will talk with strangers in the street

You don't find that in LA or SF...

[Patiod]

39. I interview people all over, and I agree

I interview people for a living, and I HATE interviewing New England doctors (and nurses, and patients....) Not a talkative bunch, and you often have to PULL everything out of them. I once told a Boston doctor "You don't get out of here any sooner by giving me short answers. In fact, we'll just be here longer. Tell me what I want to know without me having to pull it out of you, and you can take your check and be done a lot faster."

New Yorkers? Just pull the string, and they're off. You never have to worry "are they sugar-coating it so as not to offend me (or my client?" When a New Yorker tells you something, they're not usually beating around the bush. If anything, you need to rein them in, which is A LOT easier.

[mitchum]

73. It also gets my vote for friendliest state

[NoPasaran]

11. Texas, of course!

We're the Friendship State!

[Richardo]

22. Gotta go with NoPasaran on this one...

I've lived in states in every time zone and Texas people are the friendliest by far.

[nicktom]

Texas, I have only been there once,

and it was 20 years ago but I truly felt welcomed, southern hospitality is what I felt at the time.

[CottonBear]

14. Georgia.

We're really friendly here. We wave to strangers, we say please and thank you and yes m'am/no ma'am and yes sir/no sir.
:hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :)
:hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :) :hi: :)

[WildEyedLiberal]

15. New Mexico

I was in Albuquerque for five days last year and would go back in a heartbeat. What a beautiful, diverse, culturally rich city with amazing, friendly people!

I also think Midwest states are very friendly. I live in downstate Illinois and everyone is friendly to strangers.

I am curious about your mention of Missouri, however. I've been to St. Louis gobs of times and I agree it's an amazing, friendly city (with the best-mannered baseball fans in the nation). But I took a trip to the Missouri Ozarks, down in the hills, and those people were downright provincial and RUDE. Beautiful country, but the people were suspicious and hostile towards "outsiders." What part of Missouri did you go to?

[rucky]

21. I grew up in Albuquerque

and it is a friendly city, but New Mexico has its version of the hill-dwelling xenophobes, as well (up North), and rednecks in the East.

For Missouri, St. Louis & surrounding area is what i was thinking of, but my truck broke down in the Ozarks a few years ago & people were glad to help. Go figure.

[WildEyedLiberal]

25. I was on a geology class field trip in the Ozarks

We stopped several times and pulled off the road to look at rock formations (yes, it was a fascinating trip). People kept honking and yelling at us, and one asshole even threw a CAN at us. The couple times we got food or gas in town, there would be a huddled gang of locals glaring at us suspiciously. I felt like I was an extra in "Deliverance" - this one gas station doubled as a hunting megastore, with mounted deer heads and rifles for sale lined up along the wall behind the actual roadtrip snack foods, and I saw more Confederate flags within this 20 mile radius of the Missouri Ozarks than I have in my various trips to Virginia.

Edit: We were not obstructing the road in any way during our geology sojourns. For some reason, the idea of tourists looking at rocks alongside roads really pissed the locals off.

[Taverner]

17. Iowaaaaaaaay

Seriously, everyone I've met in Iowa and from Iowa has been geniunely friendly.

[SteppingRazor]

19. I voted Missouri...

Certainly the friendliest of the half dozen or so states I've lived in.

[demjuli]

20. Another vote for Minnesota

from a friendly Minnesotan

[AllieB]

23. Massachusetts

if you're not behind the wheel of a car.

[WildEyedLiberal]

28. I agree, I really enjoyed Massachusetts

Some of the friendliest, most hospitable people I know are from MA.

[taught_me_patience]

50. Totally disagree

I've hitchiked through Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Massachusettes was by far the hardest to get a ride. Vermont was the easiest.

[AllieB]

57. Massachusetts is urban; all those other states are rural

it's dangerous to pick up strangers in heavily-populated urban areas. That has nothing to do with friendliness, but more to do with common sense and survival instinct.

[StellaBlue]

26. Texas, of course.

I might be a bit biased.

[Taverner]

30. The bluuuuuuuuue skies of texaaaaaaaaaass

:)

[Radical Activist]

27. Excuse me but where are the southern states?

Those are the friendliest.

[rucky]

34. I haven't found that to be the case.

And i lived in Texas for 5 years. Met the most disgusting people I've ever encountered in my life.

Then again, I look pretty ethnic.

[Radical Activist]

40. Texas really is a whole other country.

Its distinctly different than the rest of the South. Though no doubt ethnicity plays a big part into how friendly people are.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

62. I bet I look more "ethnic" than you.

I would say 99% of people were nice to me in Texas, and I lived there for 12 years.

[imperialismispasse]

42. Huh I haven't found that

They seem pretty intolerant actually. Except of course for the many great DUERs from there. :D

[StellaBlue]

45. Tolerant and friendly are two TOTALLY different things

The people who are so friendly to me everday, bless my heart, would give me the frozen shoulder if they suspected I am an atheist, W-hating, feminist, ACLU member. Which, of course, I am. And I am a native Texan.

But do people commonly wave a 'hello' when they meet oncoming cars in the opposite lane on roads in other states???

[snacker]

31. Wisconsin or Minnesota. n/t

[NewJeffCT]

32. Hawaii?

With the weather, who wouldn't be friendly?

[rucky]

38. Go back to the mainland, Hauli ! (sp?) n/t

[Jamison]

48. I voted Hawaii too.

I never got tired of hearing Aloha and mahalo all the time.

[Initech]

33. Michigan (at least outside of Detroit)

I know quite a few people in Michigan (mostly my parents friends and relatives) but a lot of people there are really friendly, and Michigan is very liberal, too!

[leftofthedial]

35. wherever The Hills Have Eyes happened

Nevada?

[Radio_Guy]

36. Virginia

My father used to live in Virginia. I met some really great people there.

[Jamastiene]

41. New York.

I went there in the summer of 1995. I was only there a couple of weeks, but the people were so nice to me. They treated me to the best time and they appreciated my weird music. The people of Rockingham, NC seem to give me strange looks when they hear it. Anyhoo, I was only there a little while, but I loved the people. I would love to go back sometime. I love New Yorkers.

[TX-RAT]

44. Got to be TEXAS

[Guy Fawkes]

46. Wisconsin

It's all the cheese.

[AngryAmish]

65. I'm with you on that

I'm from Illinois and we get it the worst up there (somehow they are resentful for being Illinois' largest state park).

That said, most folks are really nice.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

47. I'm going to say Oklahoma.

I think we're friendly. Some outwardly and inwardly assholes, but I think that's anywhere. :shrug:
Duckie

[OhioBlue]

49. North Carolina

I haven't traveled that much - but have had several trips to NC and the people there were very friendly (of course politics was never a topic of discussion)

[SiobhanClancy]

51. Maine..

Maine may have a more reserved reputation,but for real friendliness rather than superficial pleasantness,it beats anywhere I know:)

[mainegreen]

66. Ayuh!

[Sonora Nora]

53. Arizona!

Like Texas, Arizona is a whole other country! It is Mexico! :) Verdad, si?

[undeterred]

54. Wisconsin.

No debate!

[Joey Liberal]

55. Have to go with Rhode Island

Friendliest people and the best looking ladies:).

[Redstone]

56. I found Mississippi to be a helluva friendly place back in the 1970s.

Really.

Redstone

[maveric]

60. Iowa

Driving cross country I experienced the friendliest people, from the 20+ states I stopped in, in the state of Iowa.

[jarab]

61. Friendliest people toward "strangers" are West Virginians, imo. n/t

...O...

[rucky]

64. Isn't that where "Deliverance" was set? n/t

[SmileyBoy]

63. North Dakota.

We make Minnesotans look like sadist asshole motherfuckers.;)

[uppityperson]

67. I was just going to add ND in here

Very friendly people. Better than MN for sure.

[Generator]

68. Louisiana

We drove from Houston to Lafayette. (ten years ago)The people at the fast food place called us M'am. They said please and thank you. They smiled. We got offered rides (no we weren't that young or pretty). The people in New Orleans-black and white were also extremely friendly-and it wasn't Mardi Gras. The Cajuns were friendly. I will never forget it. It was like another planet or something. Maybe it's just a southern thing but Louisiana stood out for me. The other places in the south don't stand out. No place like it on earth.

[Benfea]

69. Hawaii by a MILE, man!

Nothin' else comes close.

[Broken_Hero]

71. Alaska!!!...n/t :)

[aaronbees]

72. arkansas...

most unpretentious, straightforward folks I've ever lived amongst. They have their faults, but they are most assuredly friendly down in the 'natural state.'

[Strangefire]

74. Wisconsin

The store I work at gets a lot of out-of-state travelers stopping in. They're always saying how friendly people are here in Wisconsin. :)

[Art_from_Ark]

75. If you want to find out how friendly a state is

take a bicycle trip through it.

My experience, from friendliest to least friendly:

Iowa (Mississippi River)
Minnesota
Illinois (Mississippi River)
Kansas
Wisconsin
Arkansas
Colorado
Kentucky
Nebraska
Louisiana
Mississippi
Tennessee
Texas
and dead last... a tie between Missouri and Southern California :scared:

[specimenfred1984]

76. Excellent Point

Here in Virginia, we'd run you over then start screaming at you to get out of the way. That is, unless your bike looked like it was worth $500+, in that case the hideous classism would shine through and you'd be politely ignored as you lay suffering.

[Art_from_Ark]

78. Well, there go my plans to pedal through the Lovers' State

Although I had kind of abandoned them anyway after experiencing car trouble there

[Robb]

77. Colorado. It's unnerving at first.

Of course, I moved here many moons ago from Oakland... :D