Report: California Is One of the Least Charitable States Despite Being One of Wealthiest

Salvation Army volunteer bell ringer San Arnold rings bells as he solicits donations at the Powell Street Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station in San Francisco on Dec. 3, 2019. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

It turns out that California is one of the least charitable states in the union.

When it comes to charitability, California ranks near the bottom among the 50 states, according to the World Giving Index created by WalletHub.

California ranks 42nd among the 50 states in this year‘s rankings. It follows the trend of some border states faring poorly, including Arizona (50th), and New Mexico (48th). While a few border states were near the bottom, the top three most generous states in the ranking are in different parts of the country. Utah was ranked first, followed by Maryland and Minnesota.

California received a 50.97 out of 100 score on the World Giving Index. The state did relatively well in donating money to charitable causes, ranking 10th. Additionally, California was near the top (fourth) in terms of the percentage of the population that donates money to charity.

However, California finished last in the volunteering and service category (50th out of 50 states). The state’s volunteer rate ranked 46th overall.

The World Giving Index shows that California was somewhat of an anomaly in these rankings. California is one of the wealthier states in the union but ranks low in terms of its charitable giving.

Additionally, the rankings found that Democratic states are slightly more charitable than Republican states. The average blue state ranked 24.08 out of 50, while the average Republican state ranked 26.92 out of 50.

By Tom Joyce