How Charitable Are the People of Hasbrouck Heights?

With an abundance of charitable organizations in town, the people of Hasbrouck Heights have been known to give to many area causes.

Have you ever wondered how Hasbrouck Heights compares to other cities when it comes to charitable giving?

According to report, “How America Gives” put together by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Hasbrouck Heights comes in at 6,867 out of 28,725 towns across the country. People of Heights gave a combined total of $5.1 million last year.

The study was based on Internal Revenue Service records of Americans who itemized their deductions, provides ZIP-code level detail about the percentage of discretionary income that people in states, cities, and towns are giving to charity.

Chronicle of Philanthropy has published an interactive map which can be used to find the charitable contributions of towns across the entire U.S. 

One of the major findings of this study shows that lower income households tend to give more.  This is true in Hasbrouck Heights.

The most contributions – 5.4 percent – came from households with a median income in the $50K to $100K range; 2.6 percent came from those making between $100K and $200K and 2.3 percent from those with household incomes of $200K or higher.

The average contribution in Hasbrouck Heights was about $1,796, roughly 3 percent of income based on the average income of $49,232. 

Heights comes in below average on the national level, as the median contribution of $2,564 compared to an average income of $54,783; also below on the state level with $2,181 as the median contribution compared to a median income of $59,113.

In Bergen County, Heights is also below the average as the median contribution across the county was $2,413 compared to the average median income of $52,114.

The study found that both religious and political factors may have contributed to the giving of people across the country.  Utah, a red state, came in at the top of states with contributions, at 10 percent.

In fact Salt Lake City, Utah came in as the number one metro city with contributions totaling $834,481,870 New Hampshire, a blue state, ranked lowest among the 50 states with 2.5 percent contributions.  Providence, Rhode Island ranked the lowest of 50 metro states with contributions of $469,322,023.

New Jersey, also a blue state, ranked near the bottom among the 50 states.

According to the findings the parts of the country that tend to be more religious, tend to give more.  Donors in Southern states, for instance, give roughly 5.2 percentof their discretionary income to charity—both to religious and to secular groups—compared with donors in the Northeast, who give 4.1 percent, the report states.

Have a question or news tip? Contact editor Alana Quartuccio at alana.quartuccio@patch.com, or follow Hasbrouck Heights Patch on Facebook or Twitter. For news straight to your inbox sign up for the daily newsletter.