Report: South Whitehall Area Residents Less Generous?

People who live in the South Whitehall area are a bit less generous than many of their fellow Americans. 

That’s according to a new report from The Chronicle of Philanthropy, which looked at the percentage of discretionary income Americans contributed to charity in 2008.

That year, the typical South Whitehall area resident with a 18104 zip code gave 3.9 percent of his or her income to charity, with the median amount of contributions per household at $2,290. That compared with a national median contribution of 4.7 percent.

The Chronicle broke down communities by zip code and looked at the contributions of households that made more than $50,000 a year. The Chronicle counted as discretionary income what taxpayers had left after they paid taxes and paid for food, housing and other essentials.

Most of the households in South Whitehall have a 18104 zip code, but other households in the township have other zip codes as well. You can check out the contribution levels in other zip codes on the interactive map here.

Also, the 18104 zip code not only includes South Whitehall but portions of other neighboring municipalities.

According to the Chronicle’s interactive report for the 18104 zip code:

• The median discretionary income was $58,216.
• The area’s total charitable contributions in 2008 were $26.4 million, which meant it ranked 919 out of 28,725 communities. 
• But as a measure of how much residents gave as a percentage of their income compared to the rest of the country, the community ranked 16,071 out of 28,725.

What do you think of the study's findings? How much do you give to charity? Tell us in the comments.

Nationally, the typical American household gives 4.7 percent of their median discretionary income of $54,783. The median contribution per American household was $2,564 in 2008.

Pennsylvania as a whole gave $4.7 billion to charity that year, which meant it ranked seventh out of 50 states and Washington, D.C., in total amount given. But Pennsylvanians had a median contribution of $2,181 out of discretionary income of $55,661, which put it at 40th out of 51. The median amount Pennsylvanians gave was 4.1 percent of their descretionary income.

The Chronicle found other interesting trends:

• States with large populations of religious people generally give more than those without. “Two of the top nine states – Utah and Idaho – have high numbers of Mormon residents, who have a tradition of tithing at least 10 percent of their income to the church,” a story on the Chronicle website noted. 
• But, the Chronicle noted, “when religious giving isn’t counted, the geography of giving is very different. Some states in the Northeast jump into the top 10 when secular gifts alone are counted. New York would vault from No. 18 to No. 2, and Pennsylvania would climb from No. 40 to No. 4.”
• Red states give more than blue states, the group said. “The eight states where residents gave the highest share of income to charity went for John McCain in 2008,” the story said. “The seven-lowest-ranking states supported Barack Obama.” Red states are Republican dominated and blue states are Democratic dominated.

Here are other findings:

• Those in the middle class give a much larger share of their income to charity – 7.6 percent for Americans earning $50,000-$75,000 – than the wealthy. Americans making more than $100,000 give an average of 4.2 percent.
• Wealthy people who live in places surrounded by other rich people give less of a share of their incomes than well-off Americans in diverse communities.
• Residents from New England states like New Hampshire and Maine gave the smallest share of their discretionary income and those in Southern states gave the most.