The Great Recession caused everyone to tighten their belts, but the Americans who make just enough to pay the bills have found a little extra to donate to charity.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy analyzed IRS data to find those making less than $100,000 a year increased their charity donations by 4.5 percent between 2006 and 2012, according to the New York Daily News. Wealthier Americans who made more than $200,000 a year decreased their charity donations by 4.6 percent over the same time frame.
The eighth wealthiest zip code in America did have the most charitable residents in the country. Residents in the zip code 10021, located in Manhattan's Upper East Side, donated $478 million from 2006 to 2012. The entire city of New York ranked 21st of the 50 most charitable cities.
The Chronicle, a Washington, D.C.-based newsletter that covers non-profits, found wealthier Americans tend to donate more to the arts and higher education as opposed to social service charities. Middle- to lower-income Americans also donate to services that they may one day need to depend on for survival.
"It hits closer to home. Any day, they, too, could become homeless," Tami Phillips of Los Angeles' Midnight Mission, which provides services to homeless people, told the Chronicle (via the Daily News).
The most giving state was Utah, whose residents donated an average of 10.6 percent of their discretionary incomes to charity. The state also had five of the six most charitable U.S. cities with Provo, Utah, ranking No. 1. The city gave an average of 13.9 percent of their incomes.
"The Mormon tradition of tithing is a primary reason residents of (Utah) well outpace those in every other place in America," The Chronicle noted in its survey.
Some southern hospitality helped Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina round out the top five most charitable states in the country.