It's funny, I've spent significant time living in both Minnesota and eastern PA and there is a stark contrast to how people interact with one another (I've now lived in AZ for 13 years but there isn't really any sort of comprable significance to how people act towards one another).
In Minnesota, my experience is that people are incredibly nice to one another (including strangers) when they directly interact, but they're more prone to be critical of each other behind their backs.
In Pennsylavnia, my experience is that people are blunt and rude to one another (and would never think of acknlowedging a stranger) directly, but don't really talk much #### about each other behind closed doors.
I'm not sure which is better. In PA it's certainly less pleasant being on the roads and in public, but you're never left wondering about how somebody actually thinks of you whereas in Minnesota you could find out years later that somebody didn't like you all along and you never knew it.