Discover the Most Compassionate Cities in America: How Does Florida Rank?

It’s the season of giving, but not everyone is necessarily in the spirit of things.

WalletHub released its list of the “most caring cities in America” on Monday, examining which places are most concerned with others’ well-being.

“There are various ways to demonstrate caring — whether it’s assisting an elderly individual with crossing the street or extinguishing a house blaze,” the study states. “Some individuals choose a more active role by selecting jobs or volunteering opportunities that reflect their compassion, while others contribute financially to support initiatives that benefit those in need.”

To figure out which areas “care the most,” WalletHub analysts compared the 100 largest cities using the following factors:

• “Caring for the Community” (50%)

  • Includes violent crime rate; property crime rate; alcohol-impaired driving fatalities per capita; driving fatalities per capita; pedestrian fatality rate; care for the environment; WalletHub’s “Energy Efficiency” ranking; civic engagement; favors for neighbors; presence of “built for zero” communities; food and clothing distribution to the needy; share of residents who fundraise or sell items to raise money; share of income donated to charity; online giving per capita; volunteer hours per capita; share of registered volunteer fire departments; and Google search interest for “Charitable Donations”

• “Caring for the Vulnerable” (40%)

  • Includes child poverty rate; adult poverty rate; adoption rate; availability of paid family leave; share of sheltered homeless people; rehabilitation centers per capita; pet shelters and rescue services per capita; animal protection laws ranking; disability-friendliness of employers; and the uninsured rate

• “Caring in the Workforce” (10%)

  • Includes residents who work in community/social services per capita; physicians per capita; nurses per capita; special-education teachers per school-age people with disabilities; teachers’ care for students’ well-being; counselors’ care for students’ well-being; childcare workers per total number of children; substance abuse, behavioral disorder and mental-health counselors per capita; personal-care aides per capita; firefighters per capita; and paramedics per capita

After factoring in all those measures, WalletHub analysts determined that America’s most caring city was Virginia Beach, which came in No. 1 overall and for the “Caring for the Community” ranking more specifically.

“Virginia Beach is the most caring city in 2024, in large part because its residents rank first in the nation for volunteering hours. The city also has the fourth-highest share of residents who fundraise or sell items to raise money for charity.

Despite its status as a party city, Virginia Beach actually does a great job keeping residents safe. It has the second-lowest violent crime rate in the country and the eighth-lowest property crime rate. This indicates that people care about their neighbors. The city also has the seventh-lowest adult poverty rate and 12th-lowest child poverty rate.

Finally, people in Virginia Beach search Google for terms like ‘volunteer,’ ‘nonprofit organizations,’ ‘charitable organizations,’ and ‘charitable donations’ more frequently than people in most other cities. This shows that people are actively seeking ways to help others.”

WalletHub, “Most Caring Cities in America”

Next up were Scottsdale, Arizona and Boston at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.

But the Sunshine State didn’t fare too well, with the first Florida city appearing on the list down at No. 51: Tampa.

Below that were St. Petersburg (No. 55), Jacksonville (No. 57), Hialeah (No. 74), Orlando (No. 85) and Miami (No. 86).

The full ranking is as follows:

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