Study: New England Least Charitable Region in the Nation - How's West Roxbury Stack Up?

If you had to list the 50 states in terms of how much their residents give to charity, where do you think the six in New England would rank? Would the relatively progressive attitudes in the Northeast correspond with a charitable mindset?

Doesn't look like it. In a recent analysis put out by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, New England states huddle at the rock bottom of the rankings, occupying numbers 45 to 50. Southerners give more than twice as much, while people in Utah give almost four times as much. 

According to The Chronicle's number, which were gleaned from tax returns, Bay Staters gave 2.8 percent of their discretionary income to charity, for a median contribution of $1,652.  

However, West Roxbury is slightly above the average while giving 3.2 percent of their income, with a median contribution of $1,839, with a total of $10.9 million.

Beacon Hill's south slope (and portions of Downtown Crossing) give 7.5 percent of their income for a median contribution of $23,800. (Information was not available for the north slope and West End.) See the numbers for zip codes across the United States here. 

In terms of donations to secular charities, the Northeast actually edges out the rest of the country. 

Another interesting finding was that the rich aren't so generous: "Middle-class Amer­i­cans give a far bigger share of their discretionary income to charities than the rich. Households that earn $50,000 to $75,000 give an average of 7.6 percent of their discretionary income to charity, compared with an average of 4.2 percent for people who make $100,000 or more." And those who make more than $200,000 and live around other rich people are the least charitable, giving on average 2.8 percent of their income. 

"Simply seeing someone in need at the grocery store—or looking down the street at a neighbor’s modest house—can serve as basic psychological reminders of the needs of other people," Paul Piff, a postdoctoral scholar in psychology at the University of California at Berkeley, told The Chronicle. "Absent that, wealth will have these egregious effects insulating you more and more."