US Counties With the Highest Returns Claiming Charitable Contributions
3,143 US counties ranked by returns claiming charitable contributions, from highest to lowest. First are Charles County, MD (23.8%), Marin County, CA (22.5%) and Prince George's County, MD (21.7%). The middle one of the 3,143 has 3.22%.
What this measures
The percentage of tax returns claiming a deduction for gifts to charity. Only people who itemize their deductions can claim it, and the 2017 tax law cut their number roughly in half. So this tracks who finds itemizing worth it as much as who gives. Source: IRS Statistics of Income.
For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.
The 100 highest counties
Every state, highest first
Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.
| Rank | State | % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 15.7% |
| 2 | Maryland | 15.6% |
| 3 | California | 11.8% |
| 4 | Utah | 11.2% |
| 5 | Virginia | 10.4% |
| 6 | New Jersey | 10.2% |
| 7 | Georgia | 9.47% |
| 8 | Massachusetts | 8.77% |
| 9 | Oregon | 8.33% |
| 10 | Washington | 8.33% |
| 11 | Connecticut | 8.32% |
| 12 | Hawaii | 8.21% |
| 13 | Colorado | 7.96% |
| 14 | New York | 7.72% |
| 15 | Delaware | 7.26% |
| 16 | Arizona | 6.82% |
| 17 | Nevada | 6.6% |
| 18 | Idaho | 6.48% |
| 19 | Minnesota | 6.44% |
| 20 | Illinois | 6.44% |
| 21 | Alabama | 6.43% |
| 22 | North Carolina | 6.4% |
| 23 | South Carolina | 6.14% |
| 24 | Texas | 6.05% |
| 25 | Florida | 6.02% |
| 26 | Montana | 5.81% |
| 27 | Rhode Island | 5.78% |
| 28 | Mississippi | 5.44% |
| 29 | New Hampshire | 5.39% |
| 30 | Pennsylvania | 5.21% |
| 31 | Oklahoma | 5.2% |
| 32 | Kansas | 5.1% |
| 33 | Tennessee | 5.01% |
| 34 | Louisiana | 4.77% |
| 35 | Missouri | 4.76% |
| 36 | Arkansas | 4.67% |
| 37 | Nebraska | 4.63% |
| 38 | Michigan | 4.49% |
| 39 | Iowa | 4.44% |
| 40 | Wisconsin | 4.3% |
| 41 | New Mexico | 4.21% |
| 42 | Indiana | 4.15% |
| 43 | Kentucky | 4.12% |
| 44 | Wyoming | 4.06% |
| 45 | Maine | 3.91% |
| 46 | Ohio | 3.86% |
| 47 | Vermont | 3.86% |
| 48 | Alaska | 3.76% |
| 49 | South Dakota | 3.47% |
| 50 | North Dakota | 3.29% |
| 51 | West Virginia | 2.33% |
More on returns claiming charitable contributions
- US Counties With the Lowest Returns Claiming Charitable Contributions
- Returns claiming charitable contributions by US county: map by year and what it goes with
A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.