The Post brings news today of a new study study by the Corporation for National and Community Service — the federal agency that administers volunteer programs such as AmeriCorps — that gives a first meaningful look at volunteering rates in U.S. cities since the Census Bureau began gathering this sort of data in 2002.

Overall, the Washington metro area ranked 15th in the nation for volunteering and community service work, though that figure doesn’t tell the whole story: the study found that among the nation’s 50 largest metro areas, those with well-educated, affluent homeowners had higher volunteer rates (we have the most of those) while those with long commutes (we’ve got the second longest commutes in the country) had much less participation. Despite their long commutes and long workdays, Washington area residents are more community-oriented than most major metropolitan areas.

The region has an average annual volunteer rate of 32 percent, compared with 28 percent nationally. It’s interesting to learn that living in the suburbs means your more likely to volunteer: the typical suburban volunteer in the area does an average of 60 hours volunteer work a year, compared with 48 hours in the District and 50 hours nationally. The actual study can be found here, and allows you to select a metro area to get a full profile of each city’s volunteering habits. Minneapolis/St. Paul had the highest volunteer rate, at 40.5 percent. Las Vegas had the lowest, at 14.4 percent (New York was third to last, with 18.7 percent).

The Post article quotes a few experts who say that D.C. area residents volunteer more both because they tend to be naturally more civic-minded, and because there are so many non-profits located here that there are many more opportunities to get involved in a cause. That sounds about right to us, but do you agree?

Photo by of the DCist Team at this year’s Servathon by enviziondotnet