The 15 unfriendliest cities in the US in 2020 indicate that we have a growing problem of intolerance in the country. In a country where the great Donald Trump is president, you would expect nothing less. His election as president may be one of the most unfortunate events in history in terms of race relations. Once closeted racists now share their hatred in the open, with a feeling of safety that hasn’t been seen for a long time.
Some Trump supporters blame illegal immigrants for our problems. The source of our problems isn’t illegal immigrants, though they exacerbate the problem. The problems started in the 80s. Corporations started thinking only about their shareholders and the stock price. In order to increase their profits and boost their stock prices they started moving their operations into Mexico, Canada, and other overseas locations where they could hire employees at a fraction of the U.S. wages. Profits and stock prices skyrocketed over the last 40 years, whereas real wages stagnated and jobs disappeared. Here is what one of our readers wrote to us summarizing how we got here:
“Just ask any of the millions of people who had to move out of the Midwest to find work. I moved out of Illinois nearly 42 years ago because the tree huggers closed up the coal mines and Cat and IH and all the companies working for and supporting them started shipping jobs out of the country. In the mid 70s my dad had 30,000 members just in his union local in East Peoria. Now I doubt if you could find anywhere near that number of union employees in Cat throughout the country. A lot of people bash President Trump but he saw what was happening and he is the only one who is trying to do something about it in 40 years. I was a Democrat until the turn of the century but like a lot of marriages that relationship was over long before I made it official. Now I’m an Independent and told that scumbag cummings (intentional little c) before he died that I would never vote for another Democrat as long as I lived for the way they have treated President Trump. I don’t support him for some of his methods. I support him for what he saw was happening, coming, and now here (begging China for PPE) and trying to change it.”
So, our middle class was hollowed out and can’t find jobs that pay decent wages. Yet, now they have to compete with illegal immigrants for the minimum wage jobs. No wonder they are anti-immigration, feel trapped, and turn to racism. I am certain if we bring back American jobs from Mexico, China, and all the other places, most of the racism will go away.
Racism is just one facet of an intolerant and unfriendly society; plain rudeness can also be seen as a sign of unfriendliness. Someone not replying to your ‘Hello’ or simply pushing past you in an attempt to get somewhere can be considered unfriendly. If you’re curious about the rudest city in the world, it will perhaps not surprise you that Paris often wins that unfortunate race. However, at the end of the day, attempting to specifically define the term ‘unfriendliness’ is an exercise in futility.
welcomia/Shutterstock.com
Keeping in mind how America is getting considerably divided, studies pertaining to the most unfriendly cities in the US have stopped, in order to focus more on improved relations between people and building harmonious relationships. Or at least, that’s the official reason presented by Conde Nast Traveler, which is the premium survey conductor on this topic. Hence, most of the studies are at best a couple of years old, forcing us to rely on them. If you want a more global perspective, you should head on over to the 10 unfriendliest cities in the world. On the other hand, if you’re curious about the nicest cities in America, or perhaps the kindest city in America, moving to the South may be just what you need.
Now, for our rankings, we have considered the last survey conducted by Conde Nast Traveler, which had hundreds of thousands of respondents, which we have combined with a similar survey conducted by Travel + Leisure, another popular website for travelers from all around the globe. Initially, we decided the highest ranking for cities which appeared on both the lists. After that, cities appearing on Conde Nast Traveler’s survey were given preference due to the fact that the survey was more extensive. To complete our article and make a final list of 15 unfriendliest cities in the US in 2020 we have included crime statistics with the help of the FBI, thinking that high crime rates make a city quite unfriendly. Interestingly, a large number of the cities in this list also appeared our list of the most racist cities in the United States. We hope you agree with us! Go ahead take a look at the least friendly cities in the US this year:
