Philanthropy in MetroWest: How Does Your Community Rate?

The Chronicle of Philanthropy's "How America Gives" study used 2008 tax returns to determine how much taxpayers give to charity. Released yesterday, the study provides hard data showing the percentage and dollar amounts of discretionary income residents claim on their tax return. 

The Chronicle’s rankings show the percentage of income that households donated from the money they had left after paying their taxes and covering housing, food, and other essential expenses.

With the exception of Framingham, MetroWest-area towns are below the state average of giving 2.8 percent of one's discretionary income to charity. At 2.9 percent, Framingham is just above the average.

On the other side of the spectrum are Grafton and Holliston, with 2.3 percent. All of the MetroWest towns listed in this article, however, aren't far apart, and fall in the 2 percent to just under 3 percent range.

The country's median contribution is 4.7 percent.

The chart below shows a side-by-side comparision of 10 MetroWest towns, organized in order of highest median discretionary income to lowest. 

Percentages and dollar amounts per municipality vary based on income bracket. The Chronicle also broke down giving amounts by three income levels, starting with those in the $50,000 to $99,999 range and ending with those making more than $200,000.

Detailed data is searchable by zip code.