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Are Midwesterners Really That Polite?

Steve Artressia

The Midwest has a reputation for being a little more polite than other areas of the country, but is it really true? Someone polled 2,000 Midwesterners to find out. Here are some of the “politeness results” . . .

  • Apologizing when you’ve done nothing wrong: 74% of Midwesterners say we do it regularly.
  • Do you wave to people you don’t know: 64% said YES.
  • Hold doors for strangers: 55% of us claim we do it.

And perhaps the most Midwestern of the questions . . .

  • Bring a shared dish to a party: 73% us have.

The team behind the survey scored each city in the Midwest on how polite it is, and according to the results . . .

  • The nicest city in the Midwest is St. Paul, Minnesota (Akron came in at #6).
  • The nicest state is also Minnesota, with two cities in the top five.
  • The two RUDEST cities in the Midwest are both in Indiana: Evansville and Fort Wayne (Columbus came in at 4th rudest)

Ohio had a few other cities make the list for various reasons, including . . .

  • Cleveland was tops for smiling at or greeting strangers.
  • Toledo was tops for giving a stranger directions.

Check out the entire survey HERE.