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SmartAsset Study finds Watauga County Residents Donate Among the Most Money Relative to Their Income in North Carolina

By Harley Nefe

The financial technology company SmartAsset does an annual study on the most generous counties in the U.S. For North Carolina, Watauga County ranked fourth, as residents donate among the most money as a percentage of their income according to the study.

The study used IRS data and measured the amount of money donated in each county, relative to income, to arrive at the rankings. To determine the amount of money that people donate in comparison to their incomes, SmartAsset looked at tax return data and divided each county’s total charitable donations by its total net income of every person in each county. 

SmartAsset also found the proportion of people in each county who make charitable donations by measuring the total number of tax returns that show charitable contributions and dividing that number by the total number of tax returns in each county.

The two factors including how much money people donate as a percentage of their income and the proportion of people who make charitable donations helped establish the final rankings. 

Chowan County came in first as the most generous county in North Carolina with its contributions as a percentage of income being 3.30%. Macon County was second with 2.39%, Mecklenburg County was third with 2.27%, and Watauga County was fourth with 2.03%.

For a look at how the top counties in North Carolina ranked, check out the table below. More information can also be found at https://smartasset.com/retirement/financial-advisor#northcarolina/contribindex.

Table and information courtesy of SmartAsset