Nevadans least likely to volunteer, donate to charity

Nevadans are the least likely out of all Americans to both donate to charity and volunteer their time, according to a new Gallup poll.

Gallup asked whether people have donated to charity or volunteered their time to an organization within the past month. Among Nevadans, 57 percent said they had donated money, making the state fourth-lowest in the nation, and 32 percent said they had volunteered their time (second-lowest). The state came in last in the nation — tied with Kentucky — for percentage of residents who said they had done both (24 percent). Here’s the full bottom 10 for combined charitable giving:

Nevada (24%)
Kentucky (24%)
New York (26%)
Mississippi (26%)
Arizona (28%)
Arkansas (28%)
North Carolina (28%)
West Virginia (28%)
Rhode Island (29%)
Louisiana (29%)

Gallup noted that states with low amounts of charitable giving also tend to have lower well-being index scores, but Nevada was an outlier here: The Silver State has an index score of 66.6, compared to a national average of 66.2. The index score measures emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors, basic access and life evaluation.

Among U.S. states, Nevada also has the highest year-over-year improvement to its well-being index: 2.4 points between 2010 and 2013.

Two of the least-charitable states scored above average (Nevada and Arizona), as well as all of the top-10 most charitable states:

Utah (48%)
Minnesota (41%)
Hawaii (39%)
South Dakota (39%)
New Hampshire (38%)
Kansas (38%)
Illinois (37%)
Montana (36%)
Idaho (36%)

The individual state numbers are lower, but Americans as a whole are the most civically engaged people in the world, based on a 2011 Gallup poll. At the time, 65 percent had donated money to charity in the year prior, 43 percent had volunteered their time and 73 percent had helped a stranger.

Contact Stephanie Grimes at sgrimes@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @stephgrimes