NEW YORK — If you think honesty is the best policy, then you might want to steer clear of the U.S. cities topping an unfortunate new list. A new survey is revealing America’s most “dishonest” cities — especially when it comes to pocketing money that doesn’t belong to them.
Imagine yourself walking down the street, and something catches your eye. It ends up being a wad of cash someone accidentally dropped on the sidewalk. You scan the scene and realize no one is around. Do you keep the cash or call the authorities to tell them what you found? The survey reveals nearly half of Americans would pocket the money.
BestCasinoSites.net conducted a survey of 6,610 Americans nationwide to understand who would take the chance and keep $1,000 found on the street and who would opt to turn it into the authorities. They found that 47 percent of people would choose to keep the money if no one witnessed them picking it up.
Breaking down the demographics, a fractionally higher percentage of women (47.4%) leaned towards keeping the cash compared to the 46.6 percent of men who shared the same inclination.
Which Cities Do People Choose To Pocket The Cash?
A staggering 62 percent of respondents from Detroit, Memphis, and New Orleans showed a tendency to pocket found money instead of reporting it to the police.
Following closely behind, Baltimore residents exhibited a substantial 59 percent inclination to keep cash found on the street. Notably, several Texas cities made it to the top five, with San Antonio leading at 58 percent, followed by El Paso (57%), and Austin and Arlington (53% each).
Cities like Boston, Fresno, Minneapolis, San Jose, and Denver showed an even split, with 50 percent of respondents either way on the decision.
Which Cities Value Honesty Over Cash?
In contrast, the survey highlighted that Jacksonville, Florida, had the lowest number of respondents (38%) willing to keep found money.
Los Angeles emerged as the second city, with a commendable 61 percent claiming they’d be willing to turn in discovered cash, sharing second place with Tulsa and Atlanta.
Rounding up the top three, Miami, Houston, and Phoenix were hailed as the most trustworthy cities, with a notable 59 percent prepared to surrender the money if claimed by the rightful owner.
| City | Hand it over % | Keep it % |
|---|---|---|
| Detroit, Michigan | 38% | 62% |
| Memphis, Tennessee | 38% | 62% |
| New Orleans, Louisiana | 38% | 62% |
| Baltimore, Maryland | 41% | 59% |
| San Antonio, Texas | 42% | 58% |
| Las Vegas, Nevada | 42% | 58% |
| El Paso, Texas | 43% | 57% |
| Oakland, California | 43% | 57% |
| Austin, Texas | 47% | 53% |
| Arlington, Texas | 47% | 53% |
| Washington, D.C. | 47% | 53% |
| Louisville, Kentucky | 48% | 52% |
| Tucson, Arizona | 48% | 52% |
| Mesa, Arizona | 49% | 51% |
| Milwaukee, Wisconsin | 49% | 51% |
| Sacramento, California | 49% | 51% |
| Virginia Beach, Virginia | 49% | 51% |
| Boston, Massachusetts | 50% | 50% |
| Fresno, California | 50% | 50% |
| Minneapolis, Minnesota | 50% | 50% |
| San Jose, California | 50% | 50% |
| Denver, Colorado | 50% | 50% |
| Albuquerque, New Mexico | 51% | 49% |
| Kansas City, Missouri | 51% | 49% |
| Nashville, Tennessee | 51% | 49% |
| Seattle, Washington | 51% | 49% |
| San Francisco, California | 51% | 49% |
| Portland, Oregon | 52% | 48% |
| Tampa, Florida | 52% | 48% |
| San Diego, California | 52% | 48% |
| Indianapolis, Indiana | 53% | 47% |
| Omaha, Nebraska | 55% | 45% |
| Raleigh, North Carolina | 55% | 45% |
| Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | 56% | 44% |
| Charlotte, North Carolina | 57% | 43% |
| Colorado Springs, Colorado | 57% | 43% |
| Long Beach, California | 57% | 43% |
| Fort Worth, Texas | 57% | 43% |
| Columbus, Ohio | 58% | 42% |
| Chicago, Illinois | 58% | 42% |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 58% | 42% |
| Dallas, Texas | 58% | 42% |
| New York City, New York | 58% | 42% |
| Phoenix, Arizona | 59% | 41% |
| Houston, Texas | 59% | 41% |
| Miami, Florida | 59% | 41% |
| Atlanta, Georgia | 61% | 39% |
| Tulsa, Oklahoma | 61% | 39% |
| Los Angeles, California | 61% | 39% |
| Jacksonville, Florida | 62% | 38% |
“The results certainly demonstrate an extremely interesting insight into whether Americans would or would not keep money found on the street, but I think this has raised a bigger question: do people know this is an offense? Whilst pocketing money on the street has parallels to winning the jackpot, it can be classed as theft and unfortunately, ‘finders keepers’ won’t hold up in a court of law,” says Kiera Miller, online slots and statistics expert at BestCasinoSites.net, in a statement.
“To avoid being guilty of theft, the law requires the finder to make inquiries as to who the owner is and make efforts to return it where possible. The most obvious way of discharging this responsibility is to simply hand the money in at a police station.”
Methodology
BestCasinoSites.net conducted a uStats.org survey which surveyed 6,610 Americans in 50 different U.S. cities between Aug. 1 and Aug. 3, 2023. Respondents were asked, “You find $1,000 on the street. No one sees you picking it up. What do you do?” and to choose one of the following responses:
- I hand it over to the police in case someone claims it.
- I keep it.
Responses were recorded city by city, as well as broken down by gender and age.
