The Cities with the Rudest Kids (According to Their Residents)

Rude people come in all shapes, sizes, and even ages. Whether they’re disobeying rules or dropping “please” and “thank you” from their vocabulary, young kids to teens sometimes do things that leave a negative impression on residents of their city. In fact, many of our users play our free solitaire games to escape the ruckus

We were curious to know what factors Americans used to classify a kid as rude and find out which U.S. cities were home to the rudest kids. For our research, we surveyed respondents in 28 cities, and asked them about three different age ranges: young kids 5 to 8 years old, older kids 9 to 12 years old, and teens 13 to 17 years old.

Read on to find out what makes a rude kid and how age plays a role in what behavior you’re likely to see.

Key Takeaways

• Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New York City are the U.S. cities with the rudest kids, according to their own residents.

• Being absorbed in their phone, cursing, and playing music or videos too loud are the rudest behaviors among kids.

• Kids are most rude to their parents, according to 49% of people.

• Teens 13 to 17 years old scored as the rudest age group.

The Cities with the Rudest Kids

While rude kids can be found in every city, some cities have more than others. We asked respondents to rate the rudeness of the kids in their city on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the rudest. According to residents, the cities with the rudest kids — with rudeness scores well over the average of 5.90 — are Philadelphia (7.21), San Francisco (6.78), and New York City (6.55).

The cities with the kindest kids are Nashville, San Antonio, and Portland. These cities scored well below the average rudeness with scores like 5.04, 5.11, and 5.12, respectively.

Kids’ Rudest Behaviors

Although there are endless actions that can be categorized as rude, the most common rude behaviors residents notice in kids of their city are being absorbed in their phones, cursing, and playing music or videos too loud. It’s interesting to note that two out of the top three rudest behaviors involve a cell phone.

When it comes to who feels the brunt of kids’ bad behavior the most, almost half of our respondents agreed that kids are most rude to their parents, followed by their peers 28%, and strangers 23%.

We wondered if kids’ rudest behaviors would change depending on age. We asked our respondents to score a set of behaviors from one to five for each age range with five being the rudest, and found which rude behaviors were the most common within each age group.

The rudest behavior in young kids 5 to 8 years old is disobeying rules, and in both older kids 9 to 12 years old and teens 13 to 17 years old, it’s being absorbed in their phone.

The cities with the kids most likely to display the top rudest behavior in each age range are:

• 5 to 8 year olds disobeying rules:

  • Philadelphia

  • San Francisco

  • Columbus

• 9 to 12 year olds being absorbed in their phones:

  • Phoenix

  • Philadelphia

  • Milwaukee

• 13 to 17 year olds being absorbed in their phones:

  • Milwaukee

  • Dallas

  • Denver

Rudest kids by age

Out of the three age ranges we asked respondents about, teens 13 to 17 years olds ranked as the rudest, with an average rude score of 6.71 on a 10-point scale.

In terms of geographic location:

• The rudest young kids 5 to 8 years old can be found in San Francisco, Columbus, and Philadelphia.

• The rudest older kids 9 to 12 years old can be found in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Las Vegas.

• The rudest teens 13 to 17 years old can be found in Philadelphia, New York, and Las Vegas.

Conclusion

If you’re ever stuck in public near a rude behaviors and searching for some joy, Solitaire Bliss can offer the relief you need. By playing a game of solitaire or FreeCell, you can transport yourself out of the situation and into a more mentally stimulating activity.

Methodology

In April 2023, we surveyed 1,402 Americans about rude kids in their city. Overall rudeness for each city and age group was measured on a scale from 1 to 10. Each specific behavior was scored on a scale from 1 to 5. Respondents ranged in age from 18 to 76 years old, and were 49% female, 49% male, and 2% nonbinary.