Participation in political and civic affairs is generally regarded as an important indicator of the vitality of a community. Some of the more important forms of participation, such as volunteerism and involvement in neighborhood organizations, are not readily available in the form of quantitative measures.

Two measures of community involvement, for which data are available, are voting and charitable giving. The table on the percent of the above 18 population voting has not been updated from the 1998 report. In that report, the Baltimore region ranks slightly below the United States average and in the bottom quarter of the 20 metropolitan areas.

The indicator that is most frequently used for charitable giving is per capita donations to the United Way for 1998. While there are certainly other forms of philanthropy, this measure allows a comparison among the 20 regions. While the Baltimore region's per capita giving increased from $15.21 to $15.87, the region slipped to a rank of 17th from its 1996 rank of 15th.

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION CHARTS

• Voting Population, 1996
• Charitable Giving, 1998