What Does the Average Family Give?

When it comes to charitable giving, my review of the data says that the average evangelical Christian family gives roughly 2-3% of their income away to churches and charitable causes.  The authors of Courageous Generosity- who have worked with lots of churches throughout different parts of the country- have lots of data that suggest the number to be about 2.8%.

Now, the key here is that most of this research uses median household income- a number you can very easily  obtain from census surveys and other accessible research.

For Sioux Falls, median household income is $51,049 (this is actually an average of 3 figures I found in a quick online search).

So . . .

• A Sioux Falls household giving 1% of their income would give $510.49
• A Sioux Falls household giving 5% of their income would give $2,552.45
• A Sioux Falls household giving 10% of their income would give $5,104.90

Using Sioux Falls household income data and the average donation of 2.8% from the Courageous Generosity authors, and the 'average' amount would be $1,429.

Where does Hillcrest sit?  The average gift for a Hillcrest household is $2,565.54- slightly higher than the 5%  level and much better then the national average of 2.8%.