ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis area is often credited with uncommon philanthropic generosity. But what do the statistics show?
It appears to be a pretty accurate claim, according to an analysis by financial technology company SmartAsset.
St. Louis County is the most generous county in Missouri, according to a SmartAsset index that looks at contributions as a percentage of income and the proportion of taxpayers that made a charitable contribution of any amount in any given county.
Annual charitable contributions by St. Louis County residents last year totaled 2.62%, the second highest rate in the sate, after Stoddard County in southeast Missouri, at 3.11%.
In addition, 12.16% of the county's residents itemize charitable contributions, the highest figure in the state. That compares with an average of 1.59% as a percentage of income and 6.54% itemizing in the state as a whole and 1.69% and 9.86% nationwide. The analysis was based on Internal Revenue Service data.
Also in the St. Louis area, St. Charles County ranks third in Missouri based on the SmartAsset index, with 1.14% charitable contributions as a percentage of income and 10.13% itemizing. St. Louis city ranks eight in the state, with 1.74% as a percentage of income and 5.99% itemizing.
Other Missouri counties in the top 10, in rank order were: Platte, Stoddard, Boone, Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Clay and Christian.
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