Most Caring Cities In America 2019: Boston Earns A Spot

BOSTON — With the holiday season fully upon us in New England, there’s more of an emphasis on caring for friends, family and strangers in our lives, which is why the personal finance website WalletHub recently released its report on 2019’s Most Caring Cities in America.

Boston finished 9th overall, scoring near the top among the nation's 100 largest cities in two of three criteria used to create the list:

• Caring for the Community: 15th
• Caring for the Vulnerable: 37th
• Caring in the Workforce: 3rd

The ranking compared the 100 cities on 39 relevant metrics, including care for the environment, share of income donated to charity and “disability-friendliness” of employers. Each relevant metric was then listed with its corresponding weight, and the cities were graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most caring possible city.

Virginia Beach, Virginia, ranked as the most caring city in America, according to the folks at WalletHub, followed by Madison, Wisconsin, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The least caring city in the United States? That dubious honor went to Birmingham, Alabama. The bottom five were rounded out by San Bernardino, California, Laredo, Texas, Houston, Texas, and Corpus Christi, Texas.

Jacksonville, Florida, finished with the highest percentage of neighbors who do favors for one another. Boston tied with Lincoln, Nebraska, for the most residents working in the community and for social services per capita, and it was in the top five for the most teachers caring for students’ well-being.

Americans donated over $427 billion in 2018, which is a decrease of 1.7 percent from 2017 when adjusted for inflation but still an overall 0.7 percent increase from the previous year, according to Giving USA.

Here are WalletHub’s 15 most caring cities in America:

1. Virginia Beach, Virginia: 66.48
2. Madison, Wisconsin: 65.48
3. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: 65,36
4. Lincoln, Nebraska: 64.85
5. Minneapolis, Minnesota: 64.63
6. St. Paul, Minnesota: 64.63
7. Fremont, California: 64.61
8. Chesapeake, Virginia: 64.59
9. Boston, Massachusetts: 63.89
10. Scottsdale, Arizona: 63.07
11. Aurora, Colorado: 61.88
12. New York, New York: 61.73
13. Denver, Colorado: 60.87
14. Plano, Texas: 60.80
15. Gilbert, Arizona: 60.65

The full report on caring is available at WalletHub.