Where are the most charitable counties in Mississippi? This top 10 list might surprise you.
Published 1:16 pm Wednesday, December 28, 2022
The holiday season is synonymous with spending money — but it’s more than just buying gifts. Each year, Americans make billions of dollars in charitable donations.
In a recent study, SmartAsset dug into IRS data to find the places where residents were giving the most. They look at all 82 Mississippi counties and ranked the top 10 counties as it relates to how much is given and how many people give in each county.
The study measured how much people donate as a percentage of their net income and the proportion of people in each county who make charitable donations. For a look at how the top counties in Mississippi stacked up, check out the table below:
| Rank | County, State | Contributions as Percentage of Income | Percentage of Returns Itemizing Charitable Contributions | Charitable County Index |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madison County | 2.74% | 13.88% | 60.34 |
| 2 | Lafayette County | 2.35% | 7.94% | 41.28 |
| 3 | Hinds County | 2.37% | 6.81% | 38.50 |
| 4 | DeSoto County | 1.82% | 8.19% | 37.40 |
| 5 | Wilkinson County | 1.89% | 7.33% | 35.74 |
| 6 | Rankin County | 1.76% | 7.27% | 34.39 |
| 7 | Lee County | 2.09% | 5.70% | 33.13 |
| 8 | Oktibbeha County | 1.84% | 6.19% | 32.24 |
| 9 | Lamar County | 1.66% | 6.51% | 31.53 |
| 10 | Warren County | 1.74% | 6.14% | 31.28 |
| Mississippi | 1.26% | 4.03% |
To find the most generous places, Smart Asset compared two factors in each county: the amount of money people donate as a percentage of their net income, and the proportion of people who made charitable donations.
To determine the amount of money that people donate as a percentage of their income, Smart Asset first calculated the net income for everyone in each county. To do this, they looked at tax return data and accounted for federal, state and local taxes paid. They also accounted for deductible entries, including mortgage interest, mortgage points and mortgage insurance payments. Then they divided each county’s total charitable donations by its total net income to see the amount of money residents in each county have donated relative to their income.
Next, Smart Asset measured the total number of individual tax returns that show charitable contributions and divided that by the total number of individual tax returns in each county. This indicated the proportion of people in each county who make charitable donations.
Smart Asset then indexed and equally weighted the two factors to yield it Most Charitable Places Index.
Click here for an interactive map of all 82 counties in Mississippi.
