Jackson Free Press

When looking for statistics, sometimes you have to go farther afield to find the good stuff.

Crime stats to make a splash? No sweat. Just ask WAPT, which a few days ago put out a "10 most dangerous cities" list based on a CNN Money list making the rounds in all kinds of media. And no—Jackson isn't on it, in case you're wondering. (Never mind that the http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/fbi-releases-2011-crime-statistics">FBI warns not to use their statistics to rank cities, few media outlets pay attention.)

We ran across a much less sensational, more positive list on a website called http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/2013/most-generous-cities/">Nerd Wallet. OK, it's not exactly CNN, but it looks as if the author did some homework. Here's the intro:

The U.S. is a generous country – the World Giving Index ranks the United States as the fifth most generous in the world. We wanted to see which places in the U.S. were the most generous by looking at the following factors. 1. Is there a culture of volunteerism in the area? We looked at the percentage of residents that volunteered to see how many people in the city were volunteering. 2. Do volunteers make strong commitments to their service? We looked at the number of hours volunteered in a year to see how much residents were volunteering. 3. Do residents donate money as well as time? We looked at the median percentage of income that was donated to see how much people were contributing financially.

The author compiled the list of most generous cities from the Corporation for National & Community Service and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Jackson is ranked at No. 6, only one of two southern cities in the top ten (the other is Asheville, N.C.).

Jackson is the most populous city in Mississippi and its residents are among the most generous in the nation. 32.2 percent of its residents volunteered in the past year, and they volunteered an average of 45 hours. Residents additionally donated 8.1 percent of their median income to charity. Mississippi College’s Alumni Association provides volunteering opportunities for alumni and students alike in Jackson, and Millsaps College makes community service a key component of the 1 Campus, 1 Community program.

See the entire list at the http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/2013/most-generous-cities/">Nerd Wallet website.