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Nov 6, 2019

From the Archives

The 10 Cities Where the Most Generous Practicing Christians Live

In this article, we’ll look to the Barna FaithView database to find where the most generous practicing Christians currently live. The lists below rank the top 10 giving markets in America, both in terms of nonprofit and church contributions. Note that the number listed beside each location represents the average annual giving of a practicing Christian from that area and that church contributions are included in the nonprofit average.

Nonprofit Giving:

  1. Pocatello / Idaho Falls /Jackson, ID: $17,977
  2. Las Vegas, NV: $10,410
  3. Victoria, TX: $10,375
  4. Ottumwa, Kirksville, IA: $10,000
  5. Jonesboro, AR: $7,999
  6. Twin Falls, ID: $7,636
  7. North Platte, NE: $6,764
  8. Lake Charles, LA: $6,200
  9. Salisbury, MD: $6,125
  10. Wheeling / Steubenville, WV: $5,735

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Church Giving:

  1. Pocatello / Idaho Falls / Jackson, ID: $15,601
  2. Ottumwa / Kirksville, IA: $9,600
  3. Victoria, TX: $8,984
  4. Jonesboro, AR: $7,999
  5. Las Vegas, NV: $5,379
  6. North Platte, NE: $5,235
  7. Scottsbluff / Cheyenne, NE: $5,000
  8. Wheeling / Steubenville, WV: $4,663
  9. Selma / Montgomery, AL: $4,544
  10. Nashville, TN: $4,433

Where does your city fall on the generosity scale? Subscribe to Barna FaithView to discover this and other relevant data points about your area.

About the Research

The data in this study were analyzed by DMA. The label “DMA” stands for Designated Market Area and represents a unique geographic area that also serves as a commonly accepted media market as defined by The Neilsen Company.  DMAs have been configured so that the entire U.S. is assigned to one – and only one – of 210 DMAs in the country and are based on the television viewing habits of the residents in each county. While there are 210 DMAs, this table contains data for the top 50 markets.

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

© Barna Group, 2019

About Barna

Since 1984, Barna Group has conducted more than two million interviews over the course of thousands of studies and has become a go-to source for insights about faith, culture, leadership, vocation and generations. Barna is a private, non-partisan, for-profit organization.

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The State of Generosity

We’ve teamed up with Gloo and a collective of partners to study the who, what, why and how of today’s giving landscape. We’re also looking to the future of giving, both in terms of trends and the next generation.

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