How Charitable are Massachusetts Residents?

By CHARLENE ARSENAULT (Patch Staff)

Nearly a third of all annual giving takes place in December as the holidays approach. And while the U.S. ranks second overall in this year’s World Giving Index, some individual states — including Massachusetts — are not quite so generous.

The personal finance website WalletHub conducted an analysis of 2015’s Most & Least Charitable States. WalletHub shined the spotlight on the most generous of the 50 states in an effort, it said, to “increase their charitable giving this holiday season.”

Massachusetts ranked toward the bottom — at number 40, just behind Maine and just ahead of Wisconsin. The most charitable state, according to WalletHub, is Utah, and the least charitable state is Rhode Island.

WalletHub measured six key metics, including volunteer rate, the percentage of taxpayers who donated to charity, the average percentage of income each donated, the percentage who claim to have donated, growth in charitable giving and number of charities, per capita.

Massachusetts ranked toward the bottom in all but one category. The commonwealth is number 4 in highest number of charities.

The Massachusetts statistics include:

• Percentage of income donated — Rank: 46; 2.43 percent;
• Volunteer rate — Rank: 27; 26.30 percent;
• Percent who claimed to volunteer — Rank: 36; 38 percent;
• Volunteer hours per capita — Rank: 41; 28.3 hours
• Growth in giving — Rank: 31; -5.1 percent:
• Number of charities per 10,000 residents — Rank: 4; 19.08

By comparison, Utah, ranked the most charitable state in the nation, saw its residents give 6.6 percent of income; volunteer at a rate of 45.4 percent; and volunteer 75.5 hours, per capita.

Most Charitable States

1. Utah

2. Maryland

3. Idaho

4. Oregon

5. South Dakota

6. Tennessee

7. Georgia

8. Washington

9. Oklahoma

10. Minnesota

Least Charitable States

41. Wisconsin

42. New Jersey

43. Pennsylvania

44. Michigan

45. New York

46. Kentucky

47. Arizona

48. California

49. Louisiana

50. Rhode Island

Want to determine if you are donating what you should? WalletHub’s Charity Calculator helps donors decide how best to allocate their resources — based on their income and time — in order to maximize philanthropic impact.

What charities do you support? Let us, and readers, know all about them in our comments section below.

Image via WalletHub