Benton County ranked as most generous U.S. county

Benton County moved up two spots to become the most generous county in the United States, according to a new report.

New York-based financial technology company SmartAsset recently released its third-annual report showing the counties that make the most charitable contributions. Benton County rose from third to No. 1 since the previous report. The study is based on how much county residents donate as a percentage of their net income and the proportion who make charitable donations.

SmartAsset uses tax return data from the IRS to determine those who make charitable donations and created an index to show the most generous counties in the United States.

“Benton County ranks No. 1 in the donation index, which measures how much money residents of a county donate as a percentage of their income,” said Steve Sabato, public relations manager for SmartAsset. “Additionally, Benton County ranks as the top county in Arkansas for the number of donations as a percentage of the tax-filing population. These factors combined to place Benton County atop the national rankings in this year’s Most Generous Counties study.”

In Benton County, contributions as a percentage of income were 11.3%, while 9.1% of returns had itemized charitable contributions. Morgan County, Utah, fell to the second most generous U.S. county, with 5.3% of contributions as a percentage of income and 24.4% of returns with itemized charitable contributions, the study shows. Nationwide, the average contributions as a percentage of income were 1.6%, and 9.8% of returns had itemized charitable contributions.

Pulaski County was No. 267 on the list but No. 2 in Arkansas. Its contributions as a percentage of income were 2.2%, and the percentage of returns with itemized charitable contributions was 9.6%. Washington County was No. 3 in Arkansas, with contributions as a percentage of income at 1.6%, and 6.7% of returns had itemized charitable contributions.