It's 'Giving Tuesday.' How does Pa. give?
All 50 states are rated on a charity scale. Guess where Pa. falls.
And so on #Giving Tuesday, a global effort encouraging charity, we get a new study on giving in all 50 states.
And Pennsylvania, birthplace of American democracy, cradle of the nation? As in oh so many things, we rank in the bottom third.
Wallet Hub, an Internet personal finance service, ranked states on the basis of volunteerism, median contributions to charity and more.
The most generous states, first through fifth? Utah, South Dakota, Idaho, Kansas and Nebraska.
(An interesting aside: Forbes this year ranks Idaho the seventh poorest state in America. And yet it's people give. That's no small potatoes.)
The least generous states, last through 46th? Nevada, West Virginia, Kentucky, New Jersey and Arizona.
(Interesting aside: Forbes ranks New Jersey as America's richest state. Does that make NJ the Scrooge of the nation?)
And Pennsylvania? Ranked 35th, but higher than neighbors Delaware (37th), New York (40th) and Jersey (47th).
You can read the full Wallet Hub rankings here. And you can read the Forbes 10 richest and 10 poorest states here.
Not surprisingly, the richest states are in the Northeast and the poorest are in the South.
And a fun fact for political junkies -- especially those who buy the stereotype that Democrats are all about helping people and Republicans are not -- Red States are ranked more generous than Blue States.
Just thought I'd given you something to think about -- since it's Giving Tuesday.