Ogden, Salt Lake City are the most charitable places in country, study says

(KUTV) — Utah has two of the most charitable cities in the country, according to a recent study.

MagnifyMoney, a personal finance website created by LendingTree, released a study on Oct. 3 that measured the most and least charitable places in the country. And, it turns out that Ogden and Salt Lake City were ranked in the top 10.

According to the study, Ogden was ranked as the most charitable city in the country and Salt Lake City was ranked not too far behind in sixth place overall.

Utah was considered to be a "standout state" when it came to charitable giving because the rest of the top 10 places were from states in the South:

1. Ogden, UT
2. Birmingham, AL
3. Memphis, TN
4. Atlanta, GA
5. Augusta, GA
6. Salt Lake City, UT
7. Greenville, SC
8. Wichita, KS
9. Little Rock, AR
10. Winston, NC

The study suggested that these areas were in the top 10 because religious centers tended to be more charitable than their non-religious counterparts. While the South and Utah tended to be more charitable, the Northeast - considered to be less religious than the other areas - tended to score the worst based on MagnifyMoney's metrics.

According to the study, Ogden received its top ranking because it was reported to have 87% of its residents reportedly itemized returns with charitable donations on their tax returns and those donations made up about 6.9% of its residents' income, where the average itemized charitable donation was around $9,219.

Meanwhile, Salt Lake City was reported to have 83.6% of its residents reporting itemized returns with charitable donations and those donations made up about 5.9% of its residents' income with the average donation of $9,274.

Compared nationally, about 81.9% of people itemized charitable deductions on their tax returns and those donations made up only 3.4% of their income.

When it comes to income levels, 91% of those who made $200,000 or more annually claimed charitable deductions, while 58.5% of those who made less than $10,000 did so. However, those with lower incomes were reported to give the largest portion of their income to charity. According to the study, those who made less than $10,000 annually gave the biggest portion of their earnings at 14%, while those who made between $100,000 and $199,000 only gave just 2.7% of their income.