Angelenos Looking Out for No. 1
Los Angeles residents have no time to help neighbors, communities
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Nov. 21, 2007: Volunteers carve freshly roasted turkeys in San Francisco.
When it comes to volunteering, Los Angeles is at the bottom of the list.
According to a new study, LA ranks 45th out of 51 large U.S. cities for the percentage of people who volunteer their time to help their neighbors or communities.
The study -- performed by Corporation for National and Community Service -- ranked Minneapolis-St. Paul as No. 1.
Statewide, California was also scraping bottom, with a rank of 42.
Between 2006 and 2008, the average national volunteer rate was 26.4 percent per year. LA scored a 20.5 percent for 2008.
Volunteers were defined as "adults ages 16 years and older who performed unpaid volunteer activities for or through an organization at any point during the 12-month period from September 1 of the prior year through the survey week in September of the survey year," according to volunteeringinamerica.gov.
How Calif.'s Major Cities Stack Up in the Volunteering Department:
No. 15 -- San Francisco (29.5 percent)
No. 23 -- San Jose (27.8 percent)
No. 28 -- San Diego (26.1 percent)
No. 33 -- Sacramento (25.3 percent)
No. 45 -- Los Angeles (20.5 percent)
No. 48 -- Riverside (18.5 percent)
