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Most cities in the south have the friendliest people. Not passive aggressive friendly like the midwest. Definately not as impatient as the east coast. Not as snobbish as the west coast. They are truly "down home"
They are not all hicks either. Some of our country's best sciences and technology was developed by southerners.
Also forgot to mention that the Philly/New york area is far more friendly that given credit for...impatient yes. But those people will go out of their way to help you in Philly. New York also seems changed since the massive attacks of 9-11
Pittsburgh? I've lived in Pittsburgh all my life and want out. According to my own experiences, Pittsburghers (and according to what I've read, the entire northeast) are very "closed off" with who they give their friendship to. On a broader note, everyone here is impatient and cares only about themselves. They think the world owes them. The general populace is extremely rude. I never once remember hearing a member of the general public say "please" and "thank you" to someone, say, working behind a deli counter. They say "give me half a pound of that," they get it, and then they walk away without saying another word. I'm glad I have an office job, because I wouldn't be able to tolerate that.
If your definition of friendly is helping someone with directions, I doubt you'll find a city in America where someone would refuse to help you. "Visiting" friendly and "living here" friendly are two very different things.
Unless there's an organized campaign by the cities of Denver, Nashville and Milwaukee to spam message boards to build up their image, it seems that those cities are genuinely friendly. I seem them mentioned quite consistently. This is the first time I've seen Pittsburgh mentioned. I saw Denver mentioned so much that I started researching it in greater depth, but have crossed it off my list of possible places to move to because its Wikipedia page says it has Mexican gangs basically running around all over the place.
The only cities I've lived in are Louisville, KY and Cincinnati (at present). I don't find either city friendly. zibbr's description of Pittsburgh would be my description of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and at least the upper-end east end of Louisville.
So, I can only use places that I've visited. Surprisingly, I've found many L.A. and Orange Co. residents to be quite friendly, although I did NOT find West L.A. and Burbank, although different from one another, to be friendly AT ALL.
I've met friendly and rude, polite and impolite from every city I've been to. My list of ten, in no particular order, goes like this:
Birmingham, AL (although their 20-somethings and suburban soccer mom-types can be really snotty and unfriendly)
Nashville
Atlanta
Los Angeles
San Luis Obispo, CA
Houston
Galveston, TX
Fort Worth
Des Moines, IA (never been there but have interacted with a lot of its citizens working in customer service. Almost always left good impression.)
Seattle (same explanation as Des Moines)
Honorable mentions: Charleston (WV), Owensboro (KY), Minneapolis/St. Paul
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