These are the 10 most charitable states

The U.S. routinely ranks among the world’s most charitable countries. In the 2015 Charities Aid Foundation World Giving Index, the U.S. came in second (to Myanmar). But which states do the most to uphold America’s reputation for generosity? SmartAsset crunched the numbers to find the most charitable states.

Methodology

To find out which states are the most charitable, SmartAsset looked at data for four factors: charitable contributions per 1,000 people, the value of volunteer time per capita, the number of non-profits per 10,000 people and the median charitable contribution.

We gave each state and the District of Columbia a rank on each of the four factors. Next, we averaged those ranks and gave each state a score based on its average rank. The state with the highest average rank got a score of 100 and the state with the lowest average rank got a score of 0. The ten states with the highest average rank appear on the map below.

1. District of Columbia

The most charitable state in the Union isn’t actually a state. Washington, D.C. ranked highest in our study, in part due to the high number of non-profits headquartered there.

Charitable contributions per 1,000 residents are a high $1,253.17, the highest in our study. (These are charitable contributions used as tax deductions on federal income tax returns).

The median charitable contribution in D.C. is $3,734. That’s not the highest in our study, but D.C. boasts some big-ticket donors. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, 2015 saw 11 charitable gifts of a million dollars or more from D.C. residents.

2. Wyoming

Wyoming came in second in our study. It boasts the fourth-highest charitable contributions per thousand people, at $1,054.24. Wyoming’s median charitable contribution is $4,088 and there are 75.9 non-profits per 10,000.

The nation’s least populous state is doing its part to uphold America’s reputation for a charitable disposition. It’s also one of the best states for an early retirement, in part because it lacks a state income tax.