Chicagoans are apparently pretty honest people, according to a new report.
The city was observed as part of a nationwide social experiment conducted by Honest Tea, which set up unmanned racks of Honest beverages and asked for $1 using the honor system.
The test was conducted from July 17 to Aug. 10, with thousands of interactions monitored at 27 locations across the country to “see how honest people are when no one appears to be looking.”
The experiment found that 95 percent of people in Chicago were honest, above the 94 percent average for Americans across the country.
The most honest city was Atlanta, where 100 percent of people were honest. Indianapolis closely followed, with a 99 percent honest rating. The least honest cities in the test were Providence, Tampa and Boston.
According to researchers, one person paid for a beverage in Providence using a fake $1 million bill and, for the first time in the history of the experiment, someone in the nation’s capital stole money from the collection box.
The experiment also found that women were more honest than men and people with brown hair were honest most often, a change from last year when blondes were most honest. According to the study, bald people were the least honest.
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“It’s always refreshing to see that Americans are more honest than most people assume,” Seth Goldman, co-founder and TeaEO of Honest Tea, said in a statement. “During these election cycles we are reminded that we have different views across the country, but that doesn’t mean people are dishonest.”
The company said all funds collected during the social experiment will be donated to FoodCorps, a nationwide team that connects kids to real food and promotes better nutrition.
See the full rankings here.
