Anyone in Wyoming will tell you if you ask that life in a remote, rural state requires a fair bit of self-sufficiency, and Wyomingites pride themselves on it. But another thing you’ll hear is that no one person can do everything alone, and neighbors helping neighbors is one of the great characteristics of the state.
And a recent study by WalletHub, a Washington, D.C. based consumer finance firm, confirms what a lot of people in Wyoming already knew; people in the Equality State give a lot to help out others, both in terms of money and time.
According to the study, Wyoming ranked fourth in the nation in terms of giving in 2017.
For the study, the firm looked at 14 economic indicators and developed an index it used to ranked states. The firm divided the scores into two broad categories: charitable giving—the donation of money, food, goods and other tangible assets—and volunteering and service.
Once combined, the two scores were used to determine a state’s ranking.
Wyoming was ranked no.4 overall. The state ranked eighth in both charitable giving and volunteer and service. Overall, the state’s total score was 71.23, according to the study.
The first ranked state in the U.S., Utah, returned a score of 76.90. Utah scored first in charitable giving and seventh in volunteering and service.
Maryland came in second with a score of 74.14 and Minnesota came in third with its score of 72.83.
Some of the individual indicators that made up the scoring index were also informative. When it came to the highest percentage of donated income, Wyoming tied for first place with Utah and Georgia, with Alabama and Maryland right behind.
In terms of the percentage of the population that donated time, Utah scored first with Wyoming not in the top five. Utah also tied with Illinois and New Hampshire for having the highest percentage of population who donated money.
And since no comparison between states would be complete without the introduction of political controversy in today’s hyper-partisan climate, the study authors also compared charitable giving based on states’ political alignment.
It turns out when it comes to putting their charitable money where their mouths are, both red states and blue states do it in about the same amount. According to the study, the average score for red states is 25.7 and the average for blue states is 25.2, with lower numbers indicating a more generous state.
In the end, despite whatever political differences there may be, the message seems pretty clear: America is a generous nation, being ranked fifth in the world according to one international study.
Here in the Cowboy State, the data show people are happy to lead by example.
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