SALT LAKE CITY — Tennessee might have to change its nickname from the "volunteer state" as Utah is now ranked as the state with the highest volunteer rate in the nation.
The U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps released new data Tuesday about volunteering rates across the nation. They found that around 28% of people in the U.S. volunteered with a nonprofit between September 2022 and September 2023.
That marks a return to volunteering for the nation, which had a steep decline during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, only 23% of people volunteered. In 2019 those levels were at 30%.
The Beehive State was the most engaged in volunteering according to the new data in both formal and informal volunteering. The groups defined formal volunteering as that done with a nonprofit while informal volunteering is that of getting medications for elderly neighbors or driving a friend's kid to school.
According to the Census data, 46.6% of Utahns volunteered formally through that time period. That is an increase from 2021 when only 40.7% of the state spent their time giving back.
Utah led the formal volunteer ranking with Vermont, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Kansas rounding out the top 5. Rhode Island, Nevada, Alabama, New Mexico, and Florida were in the bottom 5 in terms of formal volunteering. Rhode Island scored the worst with only 18.5% giving their time. That's down from 20.1% in 2021.
An even larger sum of the state spent their time with informal volunteer work. 68.2% of Utahns claimed to have volunteered informally an increase from the 61.6% recorded in 2021.
While Utah was at the top of the informal volunteering rates, 36 states had more than 50% of their residents spending time helping others. Montana, Colorado, Vermont, and Delaware rounded out the top 5 in this category. Nevada, Georgia, Hawaii, Florida, and New York were at the bottom of the list.
The hard volunteer work is having a big impact as well. The Census Bureau and AmeriCorps estimated that for every hour a Utahn spends volunteering formally, they add $33.46 to the local economy. In total that means Utah's volunteering is valued at more than $3.8 billion.
The data also provides insights into the demographics of those most likely to volunteer, be it formally or informally. Nationally, 16 to 17-year-olds are the most active in volunteering with 34.1% reporting some hours spent doing so. 45 to 54-year-olds came in second place with 32.8% reporting spending some time volunteering.
And women, according to the data, are more likely to spend time giving back. 30.9% of women gave some time to a nonprofit in the last year compared to only 25.6% of men.
