For the second straight year, Utah was the most charitable state in the nation in 2020, according to an analysis by WalletHub.com, which has ranked the state among the top two in giving time and money to charitable causes for at least the past five years.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic may have disrupted some volunteer opportunities last year and this year, it hasn’t stopped people from giving,” an announcement of the annual rankings stated.
The financial planning tools website cited data from the National Philanthropic Trust that found last year’s total giving nationwide was 5.1% more than in 2019.
Utah achieved its top rank by coming in second behind Oregon in giving monetary donations and fifth in volunteer service. Three Western states were among the top 10 with Oregon fourth and Colorado eighth overall.
Also among the most charitable in the West were Wyoming (12), Washington (13), Idaho (21), Montana (27) and California (39.) Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico ranked among the 10 least charitable states.
Oregon was No. 1 in volunteering and service, while New York topped all states in charitable giving.
WalletHub scores each state by measuring 19 key indicators of charitable behavior, including volunteer hours per capita, population share in collecting/distributing food and clothing, population share donating money, share of income donated and public charities per capita.
Churches were included among the public charities, which has long explained Utah’s perennial high ranking in the WalletHub analysis. Salt Lake City is the global headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and more than 60% of the state’s population identifies as Latter-day Saints, who not only pay tithes and other offerings but volunteer their time to run their local congregations.
Utah was most charitable in 2019, 2017, 2016 and 2015, and was second in 2018, behind Minnesota.
The Beehive State bucked a trend WalletHub identified in its 2020 analysis: Blue states are more charitable than red states. The political color label was based on the 2020 presidential election. Incumbent President Donald Trump won Utah, which has long been considered one of the most Republican states in the nation.
