Who’s the Most Generous of All? The Findings May Surprise You

Included with the study are a ranking of the 50 states and giving by metropolitan areas. In addition, an interactive tool enables searches of charitable giving down to the neighborhood level.

Among the study's key findings:

• Middle-class Americans—households that earn $50,000 to $75,000—give an average of 7.6% of their discretionary income to charity, compared with an average of 4.2% for people who make $100,000 or more.
• Rich people who live in neighborhoods with many other wealthy people give a smaller share of their incomes to charity than those who live in more economically diverse communities.
• The eight states where residents gave the highest share of income to charity voted for John McCain in 2008. The seven lowest ranking states supported Barack Obama.
• State policies that promote giving can make a big difference. Some 13 states now offer special tax benefits to charity donors.

The study found that religion strongly influences giving patterns. Two of the nine most generous states—Utah and Idaho—have high numbers of Mormon residents, who have a tradition of tithing to the church. The remaining states in the top nine are all in the Bible Belt.

Take religion out of the equation and count only secular gifts, however, and the geography of giving shifts. New York, for example, jumps to No. 2 from No. 18.