America’s most generous people mostly live in the South where majorities of the population attend Southern Baptist and non-denominational Protestant congregations, according to a Canadian think tank’s latest Generosity Index.
Mormon Utah ranked first on the Index overall and for the percentage of aggregate household or individual income contributed to charity, according to the Fraser Institute. The Index is compiled annually and is subject to peer review.
Idaho, another state with a substantial Mormon population, ranked 16th in the overall index but was sixth when measured by the percentage of aggregate income donated.
But Southern states dominated the top 10, with Georgia second in overall index, followed by Alabama, Maryland, and South Carolina. Seventh was North Carolina, followed by Oklahoma, Mississippi and Tennessee. New York, which tied Mississippi for ninth, was the only other state from outside of Dixie to make the top 10.
Virtually all of the top 10 states in the Index are red states politically, with eight of the 11 (Mississippi and New York tied for ninth) having elected Republican governors in the most recent gubernatorial contests.
In addition most of the highest ranking states in the Generosity Index have Right-to-Work laws and lower aggregate state taxes.
For more from Fraser on the Generosity Index, go here.
