"Generosity Index" Rates Alabama Highly

Alabama is ranked as the 5th most generous state by the Catalogue for Philanthropy.

Of the 50 states, Alabama taxpayers rank 38th in average adjusted gross income, but report the 7th largest average itemized charitable contributions.

According to the Catalogue for Philanthropy's formula, the top ten "most generous" states are Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, South Dakota, Utah, South Carolina, and Idaho.

The bottom ten are New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Connecticut, Colorado, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

From the technical notes:

The Generosity Index, with its "catchy" name, publicizes that fact and provides a way to monitor progress against the problem. We arrive at it by ranking each state's Average Adjusted Gross Income (AAGI) and Average Itemized Charitable Contribution (AICD or AICC), then subtracting the second rank from the first to get a single plus or minus number for each state indicating the favorable or unfavorable gap separating the ranks, and then ranking those numbers. Thus:

AAGI rank - AICD rank = Gap; Rank of Gap = Generosity
Index