Community volunteering participation is measured in several ways: formal service through an organization, informal help for neighbors, and the number of hours people contribute. In the United States, 28.3% of people age 16 and older formally volunteered through an organization between September 2022 and September 2023, representing an estimated 75.7 million residents. In Canada, 79% of people aged 15 and older volunteered formally, informally, or both in 2018. The figures below keep those different definitions and measurement periods separate.
Table of contents
- U.S. participation and recovery
- Time, virtual service, and neighbor help
- U.S. state differences
- Canada’s formal and informal contribution
- Generational participation in Canada
- Activities, sectors, provinces, and work
U.S. participation and recovery
The U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps measured formal volunteering in the 2023 Civic Engagement and Volunteering survey for September 2022 through September 2023. The result was 28.3% among people age 16 and older, or an estimated 75.7 million people. This measure counts volunteering through an organization, so it does not represent every kind of community help.
The comparable U.S. formal volunteering rate was 23.2% in 2021. Across those two survey waves, the rate rose 5.1 percentage points. The 2021–2023 rebound represented a reported growth rate of 22.1%. Even after that increase, the 2023 rate remained 1.7 percentage points below its pre-pandemic level.
Recovery was uneven across places. Formal volunteering rates in 14 states matched or exceeded their 2019 levels in the 2023 survey. At the other end, formal volunteering remained more than 5 percentage points below pre-pandemic levels in 11 states and the District of Columbia metropolitan area. These comparisons use the U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps results for September 2022–September 2023 against the relevant earlier periods.
The headline rate therefore describes a broad national recovery, but it does not mean that every state returned to the same level at the same time. It also should not be compared directly with Canada’s broader 79% measure, which combines formal and informal volunteering and covers people aged 15 and older.
Time, virtual service, and neighbor help
Participation and time contributed are different dimensions of community volunteering. The U.S. average service time per formal volunteer fell from 96.5 hours in 2017 to 70 hours in September 2022–September 2023. The median formal volunteer served 24 hours in 2023, down from 40 hours in 2017. The average and median describe different parts of the distribution: the average is pulled upward by people who serve many hours, while the median identifies the midpoint volunteer.
The 2023 survey also recorded online service. More than 13.4 million U.S. formal volunteers performed at least some online service during September 2022–September 2023. Virtual and hybrid volunteers reported an average of 95 service hours, compared with 64 hours for volunteers serving only in person. The virtual or hybrid group was not identical to the full volunteer population: six in ten were younger than 55, and 10% reported having a disability.
Formal service is only one part of community participation. The U.S. informal neighbor-helping rate was 54.2% in 2023, up 3.4 percentage points from the previous Civic Engagement and Volunteering waves. An estimated 137.5 million people helped neighbors informally between September 2022 and September 2023. Informal neighbor help can therefore reach far more people than the formal organization-based measure, even though the two statistics describe different activities.
U.S. state differences
The 2017–2023 Civic Engagement and Volunteering state-level rates show a wide spread in formal participation during 2023. Utah recorded the highest rate among U.S. states at 46.6%. Vermont followed at 40.5%, while Nebraska and Minnesota each recorded 40.3%.
The lowest rates in the supplied state-level results were 18.5% in Rhode Island and 18.6% in Nevada. Alabama recorded 19.9%, and New Mexico recorded 20.3%. The difference between Utah’s 46.6% and Rhode Island’s 18.5% was 28.1 percentage points, so a national average alone would conceal substantial geographic variation.
| U.S. state | Formal volunteering rate, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Utah | 46.6% |
| Vermont | 40.5% |
| Nebraska | 40.3% |
| Minnesota | 40.3% |
| New Mexico | 20.3% |
| Alabama | 19.9% |
| Nevada | 18.6% |
| Rhode Island | 18.5% |
Source: 2017–2023 CEV Findings: State-Level Rates of All Measures, 2023. These are state formal-volunteering rates, not estimates of informal neighbor helping.
Canada’s formal and informal contribution
Statistics Canada reported a broader picture for 2018. Among Canadians aged 15 and older, 24.496 million people volunteered formally, informally, or both, equal to a 79% participation rate. Across formal and informal activities, Canadians contributed 5,035 million hours. Using the published conversion, those hours were equivalent to 2,622,296 full-time, year-round jobs. The average Canadian volunteer contributed 206 hours when formal and informal hours were combined.
Under the International Labour Organization definition, Canada’s volunteer rate was 66% in 2018. This lower figure reflects a different definition from the 79% measure, which includes the broader set of formal and informal contributions reported by Statistics Canada.
Formal volunteering alone involved about 12.678 million Canadians volunteering for charities, non-profits, or community organizations in 2018, a 41% participation rate. Formal volunteers contributed 1,657 million hours, equivalent to 863,240 full-time, year-round jobs under the published conversion. Their average was 131 hours of service.
Informal volunteering was also widespread. Almost 22.7 million Canadians participated in informal volunteering in 2018, equal to 74% of people aged 15 and older. The formal and informal counts overlap because some people participated in both. For that reason, they should not be added together as separate people.
Sources: Volunteering counts: Formal and informal contributions of Canadians in 2018 and Volunteering in Canada: Challenges and opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Generational participation in Canada
Canadian 2018 data show that participation rates and hours varied by generation. iGen respondents had the highest formal volunteering rate at 52%. The rate was 44% among Gen X respondents, 40% among Millennials, 39% among Baby Boomers, and 32% among Matures.
Average annual formal volunteer hours moved in the opposite direction across some of these groups. iGen volunteers averaged 82 hours, while Matures averaged 222 hours. A participation rate indicates how many people took part; annual hours indicate how much time participating volunteers contributed. The two measures can therefore produce different rankings.
The concentration of high-volume formal volunteering also differed. Forty percent of Canadian Matures and 31% of Baby Boomers were top formal volunteers in 2018, compared with 18% of iGen volunteers. The supplied Statistics Canada source uses “top formal volunteers” as its category label.
Informal participation was high across every listed generation: 78% for iGen, 77% for Millennials, 76% for Gen X, 73% for Baby Boomers, and 58% for Matures. Baby Boomers contributed 1,342 million informal volunteer hours, the largest total among the five generations listed. Their average was 197 informal hours, compared with 99 hours for iGen volunteers.
| Canadian generation | Formal participation | Informal participation |
|---|---|---|
| iGen | 52% | 78% |
| Millennials | 40% | 77% |
| Gen X | 44% | 76% |
| Baby Boomers | 39% | 73% |
| Matures | 32% | 58% |
Source: Statistics Canada, 2018. The generation categories and participation measures come from the cited formal and informal contributions report and volunteering challenges and opportunities report.
Activities, sectors, provinces, and work
The Canadian figures also show what volunteering looked like. In 2018, 18% of people aged 15 and older reported organizing, supervising, or coordinating events. Sixteen percent helped with fundraising for an organization. Among formal volunteers, average service time was 111 hours for hospital organizations and 110 hours for religious organizations. The average formal contribution was 51 hours for education and research organizations.
Formal participation varied by province. Saskatchewan had Canada’s highest formal volunteering rate in 2018 at 55%, while Quebec had the lowest at 33%. Informal participation was 80% in Saskatchewan and 71% in Quebec. These provincial measures are from the same 2018 Canadian period, but formal and informal rates should still be read as distinct indicators.
Workplace support was present for a substantial minority of employed Canadians. About 34% had an employer program or policy encouraging formal volunteering in 2018. Among workers with access to such a program or policy, 53% participated during the 12 months before the 2018 survey. Employer-supported volunteering accounted for 1% of Canada’s total reported formal volunteer hours in 2018.
Together, these measures describe several routes into community service: organizational volunteering, direct help for neighbors, online and hybrid participation, event coordination, fundraising, service through specific sectors, and workplace-supported opportunities. The rates are most useful when their age ranges, geographies, definitions, and measurement dates remain explicit.