When it comes to those who give and those in need, Maryland stands toward the top of both lists.
In a WalletHub Survey, Maryland came in second for most charitable states, second only to Utah.
That includes things, such as “volunteering and service and charitable monetary giving as well,” WalletHub Analyst Jill Gonzales said.
The survey considered some 20 different metrics, ranging from volunteer rates to the share of population collecting and distributing food or clothes or fundraising. It also looked at the share of income donated, the number of public charities per capita, charity regulations, and food banks and shelters per capita.
Virginia was also in the top 10 for charitable giving at seventh place.
While Maryland has a charitable heart, one of its cities comes in toward the top of the list of neediest cities in America.
“Baltimore is in the top 10 as far as neediest cities that we ranked,” Gonzales said.
It ranks eighth in the country overall in a two focus point surveys of economic well being and health and safety.
“When it comes to economic well-being, that’s where Baltimore ranked in the top three of neediest cities,” Gonzales said. The city’s child and adult poverty rate ranks very high, as well as the unemployment rate. It’s also facing issues of homelessness and high school dropout rates.
D.C. was not ranked for its charitable nature, as it was considered a city not a state. But it was looked at for how needy it is as a city.
“We looked at almost 200 cities here, and D.C. ranks in the top half, which you don’t necessarily want to be in in this report,” she said. “It had a lot of the same problems as Baltimore in terms of economics, but it’s actually a lot safer right now than Baltimore, which helps rank it a little bit further down on the list.”
One fact Gonzales said should give hope to people is that during the pandemic, they saw Americans doing as much as they could to help their neighbors.
”In 2020 and in 2021, people actually volunteered more, and they gave more money to charities than they did in 2019,” Gonzales said. “Even though these years have been really rough across the country, people are finding it within them to be giving.”
