Photo by ssteege1.

According to 2008 IRS figures collected and analyzed by Chronicle of Philanthropy, D.C. residents ranked second in the nation in terms of the percentage of their income given to charitable causes, giving 7.7 percent a year. Utah topped the list at 10.6 percent—no surprise, given that Mormons tithe—and the national average was 4.7 percent.

That year, D.C. residents gave $482 million to charitable groups, and came in thirteenth for the size of the median contribution—$2,995. Interestingly, D.C. households of modest means generally gave more than those of higher incomes. In households making between $50,000-99,000 a year, the percentage of income given hit 18.5 percent, while in those making more than $200,000 a year it averaged 4.9 percent.

Broken down by zip code, some of the highest percentages of giving relative to income were east of the river. Zip code 20019, encompassing Ward 7, hit 21.1 percent, while 20020, which includes Ward 8, reached 19.9 percent. In the 20007 Zip Code, which includes Georgetown and Glover Park, residents only gave 5.5 percent of their income to charity.

Of course, given the disparities in income between Georgetown and neighborhoods east of the river, the overall size of the contributions differed greatly: while 20019 gave $18.1 million to charity, 20007 gave $56.1 million.

One interesting conclusion, according to NPR—wealthy individuals who live in mixed neighborhoods tend to give more than the wealthy living in wealthy areas:

The Chronicle found that it’s the same across the country. High-income people who live in economically diverse neighborhoods give more on average than high-income people who live in wealthier neighborhoods.

Paul Piff, a social psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, says that’s consistent with what he’s found in years of research on income and giving.

“The more wealth you have, the more focused on your own self and your own needs you become, and the less attuned to the needs of other people you also become,” he says.