St. Johns County named among Florida’s most generous

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There continues to be a lot going for St. Johns County, as it is not only a popular destination for people moving to the state due to its proximity to the coast and excellent schools and way of life, but a recent study also found that it is one of the most generous counties in Florida.

For years now, St. Johns County has been known as a very affluent county throughout the state, but a study done by SmartAsset, an online option for consumer-focused financial information and advice, labeled the county among the top-10 most generous Florida counties.

The study listed St. Johns as sixth statewide among counties with a generosity index score of 45.82. In comparison, topping the list was Collier County in southwest Florida with a score of 56.62. Other counties just ahead of St. Johns included Monroe, Walton, Palm Beach, and Martin.

The counties St. Johns was ahead of on the list were Indian River, Sarasota, Nassau and Broward.

SmartAsset methodology used in determining the generosity score was factoring in a combination of how much money county residents donate as a percentage of their net income and the proportion of people who made charitable donations.

Tax return data gathered from the Internal Revenue Service was used to account for federal state and local taxes paid and combined with the net income of all the people in each county.

Each county’s total charitable donations were then divided by its total net income to determine how much a county’s residents donate in relation to their income.

Despite being sixth on the list overall, St. Johns County was second with a mark of 12.97% of returns itemizing charitable contributions, only behind Collier at 13.40%.

SmartAsset did not stop there and did the same study but for the United States as a whole.

St. Johns County’s generosity score wound up being ranked 183rd nationally among 3,000-plus counties.