A new study reveals that Memphis and Salt Lake City are the most generous cities in the U.S. and rich Americans are donating less toward charitable causes when compared to the poor.
The results of the study conducted by the Chronicle of Philanthropy released on Monday, Oct. 6, sheds light on the fact that Americans who earn higher are less benevolent than individuals who earn moderately. People who earn $200,000 or more decreased the percentage of their income donations drastically by 4.6 percent from 2006 to 2012. By contrast, Americans whose income was less than $100,000 donated 4.5 percent more in 2012 than in 2006. Individuals whose annual income was less than $25,000 increased their share of donations by almost 17 percent - the highest difference.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy based its analysis on the filed tax returns or IRS data, where Americans itemize their deductions, which includes gifts given to charities. The study compiled rankings for the different states and cities on the basis of the ratio of contributions and adjusted total income.
According to the study, people in New York -- one of the wealthier states -- showed a decrease in donations of 8.77 percent in 2012 when compared to 2006. New York City ranked 28th in the generosity list.
Utah ranked first with the state's tax payers donating 6.56 percent of their income toward charitable causes to become the most generous state.
"The Mormon tradition of tithing is a primary reason residents of (Utah) well outpace those in every other place in America," noted The Chronicle.
Mississippi ranked second as the most charitable state with Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia rounding up the top five.
Salt Lake City was the numero uno charitable city with residents donating 5.4 percent of their income. Memphis, Birmingham, Atlanta and Nashville were the next most charitable cities.
Residents of cities like Hartford, Providence and San Jose were the least generous and donated the smallest percentage of their income to charity.
