County Index
Every U.S. county and Puerto Rico municipio ranked by the count of active IRS 501(c) exempt organizations per 100,000 residents. Click any county to open its full spotlight — election history, demographics, and the complete list of nonprofits headquartered there.
Counties indexed
3,202
U.S. counties + PR municipios with at least one IRS-active exempt org.
Rural avg (RUCC 4–9)
625
Active exempt orgs per 100k pop, population-weighted.
Urban avg (RUCC 1–3)
500
Rural counties have ~25% more nonprofits per capita than urban ones.
Pop-weighted, by USDA Rural-Urban Continuum Code
Each bar is the population-weighted average of nonprofits per 100,000 residents across all U.S. counties at that USDA Rural-Urban Continuum Code. RUCC 1–3 are metro counties (largest to smallest); 4–9 are nonmetro, with 9 being the most remote rural counties. Registered-agent addresses excluded.
Per 100k pop, RA-excluded, RUCC × category
NTEE major category — what the org does
| Category | RUCC 1 | RUCC 2 | RUCC 3 | RUCC 4 | RUCC 5 | RUCC 6 | RUCC 7 | RUCC 8 | RUCC 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AArts/Culture/Humanities | 34 | 27 | 29 | 30 | 34 | 32 | 42 | 36 | 45 |
| BEducation | 54 | 45 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 46 | 52 | 46 | 52 |
| CEnvironment | 6.6 | 7.0 | 8.8 | 10 | 13 | 9.8 | 15 | 12 | 16 |
| DAnimal-Related | 9.9 | 12 | 13 | 16 | 13 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 18 |
| EHealth | 13 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 13 | 17 | 15 | 21 |
| FMental Health | 8.0 | 7.0 | 7.5 | 6.9 | 8.0 | 6.7 | 8.5 | 5.9 | 6.1 |
| GDiseases/Disorders | 4.5 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 1.9 | 2.2 |
| HMedical Research | 2.3 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.80 | 0.67 | 0.63 | 0.83 | 0.60 | 0.53 |
| ICrime/Legal | 4.3 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 3.5 |
| JEmployment | 4.2 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 5.4 | 3.4 | 4.0 |
| KFood/Ag/Nutrition | 4.7 | 5.0 | 6.3 | 7.5 | 8.2 | 9.4 | 11 | 12 | 14 |
| LHousing/Shelter | 8.7 | 7.0 | 6.8 | 7.3 | 8.1 | 7.2 | 9.1 | 6.6 | 7.7 |
| MPublic Safety/Disaster | 4.2 | 6.0 | 7.7 | 12 | 8.4 | 14 | 14 | 18 | 19 |
| NRecreation/Sports | 27 | 31 | 35 | 39 | 43 | 39 | 50 | 40 | 50 |
| OYouth Development | 16 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 22 | 21 | 25 | 30 |
| PHuman Services | 47 | 37 | 36 | 36 | 37 | 37 | 41 | 38 | 45 |
| QInternational | 7.6 | 4.3 | 3.8 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 2.1 | 1.9 |
| RCivil Rights/Social Action | 3.7 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 1.0 |
| SCommunity Improvement | 19 | 17 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 27 | 28 | 37 |
| TPhilanthropy/Voluntarism | 31 | 21 | 19 | 18 | 20 | 18 | 26 | 18 | 22 |
| UScience | 2.1 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.76 | 1.2 | 0.73 | 0.86 |
| VSocial Science | 0.62 | 0.40 | 0.31 | 0.19 | 0.29 | 0.23 | 0.21 | 0.18 | 0.18 |
| WPublic/Society Benefit | 9.0 | 9.3 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 16 |
| XReligion | 64 | 49 | 43 | 43 | 42 | 46 | 41 | 46 | 45 |
| YMutual/Membership Benefit | 3.4 | 4.3 | 5.1 | 6.3 | 6.4 | 10.0 | 9.9 | 11 | 14 |
| ZUnknown | 2.4 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 2.3 | 2.9 |
IRS subsection — tax-exempt classification
| Category | RUCC 1 | RUCC 2 | RUCC 3 | RUCC 4 | RUCC 5 | RUCC 6 | RUCC 7 | RUCC 8 | RUCC 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01Govt instrumentality | 0.13 | 0.26 | 0.39 | 0.40 | 0.43 | 0.31 | 0.53 | 0.18 | 0.09 |
| 02Title-holding corp | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 0.99 | 0.69 |
| 03501(c)(3) charitable | 450 | 392 | 404 | 430 | 464 | 472 | 547 | 515 | 604 |
| 04501(c)(4) civic/social welfare | 12 | 14 | 19 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 34 | 33 | 44 |
| 05501(c)(5) labor/ag | 8.1 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 20 | 18 | 22 |
| 06501(c)(6) business league | 14 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 14 | 19 | 15 | 20 |
| 07501(c)(7) social/recreational | 9.2 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 13 | 9.5 | 12 |
| 08501(c)(8) fraternal beneficiary | 6.0 | 8.5 | 11 | 16 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 18 | 23 |
| 09501(c)(9) employee benefit | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.72 | 0.64 | 0.65 | 0.69 | 0.86 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| 10501(c)(10) domestic fraternal | 2.3 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 5.9 | 5.6 | 7.1 | 8.4 | 9.2 | 9.2 |
| 11501(c)(11) teachers' retirement | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 12501(c)(12) co-op | 0.47 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 5.8 | 6.6 | 6.4 | 10 |
| 13501(c)(13) cemetery | 1.2 | 2.3 | 3.7 | 5.4 | 5.7 | 9.9 | 9.0 | 13 | 14 |
| 14501(c)(14) credit union | 0.31 | 0.43 | 0.57 | 0.53 | 0.72 | 0.36 | 0.55 | 0.16 | 0.49 |
| 15501(c)(15) mutual insurance | 0.08 | 0.07 | 0.17 | 0.17 | 0.12 | 0.26 | 0.21 | 0.50 | 0.62 |
| 17501(c)(17) supplemental unemployment | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 19501(c)(19) veterans | 3.9 | 6.4 | 9.6 | 13 | 11 | 17 | 19 | 26 | 36 |
| 23501(c)(23) pre-1880 veterans | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 25501(c)(25) title-holding pension | 0.15 | 0.07 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.07 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.04 |
| 924947(a)(2) split-interest trust | 0.23 | 0.26 | 0.36 | 0.55 | 0.53 | 0.44 | 0.33 | 0.50 | 0.62 |
Each cell is the population-weighted nonprofits per 100,000 residents within that RUCC, in that category. Cell shading is normalized within each row, so the darkest cell on a row is where that category is most concentrated relative to population. Read down a column to see the category mix at one rurality level; read across a row to see how a category varies with rurality. Registered-agent addresses excluded throughout.
NTEE major category share, RA + zombie excluded
RUCC 1–3
808,960 active nonprofits (RA + zombie excluded)
What's different between metro and nonmetro
Public Safety/Disaster
volunteer fire depts, EMS auxiliaries
metro 1.18% · nonmetro 2.65%
Mutual/Membership Benefit
fraternal lodges (Elks, Eagles, Masons)
metro 0.91% · nonmetro 1.75%
Food/Ag/Nutrition
ag co-ops, food banks, growers' assocs.
metro 1.14% · nonmetro 1.81%
Environment
conservation, watershed, land trusts
metro 1.60% · nonmetro 2.22%
Animal-Related
livestock, sportsman, humane societies
metro 2.40% · nonmetro 2.97%
Recreation/Sports
youth leagues, hunting clubs, snow-sport assocs.
metro 6.72% · nonmetro 7.79%
International
diaspora, refugee, dev't aid orgs
metro 1.53% · nonmetro 0.49%
Diseases/Disorders
MS, cancer, ADA, advocacy/research foundations
metro 0.95% · nonmetro 0.42%
Philanthropy/Voluntarism
private foundations, donor-advised funds
metro 6.69% · nonmetro 3.79%
Religion (NTEE-coded)
Catholic charities, Jewish federations, denominational HQs
metro 5.94% · nonmetro 3.92%
Human Services
multi-service nonprofits, family services
metro 10.08% · nonmetro 7.21%
Education
universities, K-12 foundations, PTAs, alumni assocs.
metro 11.35% · nonmetro 8.66%
The pattern. Nonmetro civic stock concentrates in the categories of community life that run on volunteers and physical proximity: fire / emergency response, fraternal lodges, agriculture, recreation, environment, animals. Metro civic stock concentrates in the categories of the knowledge economy and formal philanthropic infrastructure: international, disease-research and patient-advocacy foundations, private philanthropy, denominationally-organized religion, professionalized human services, and education infrastructure (universities and their attached foundations). Education, Human Services, and Recreation/Sports are top-5 in both — they show up everywhere — but the composition within each cohort is very different.
Note: "Religion (NTEE-coded)" here counts only orgs that self-classified under NTEE category X — typically Catholic charities, Jewish federations, mosques, denominational HQs, and larger mainline-Protestant institutions. It does not count individual congregations, which are tagged via the IRS classification code "1000" (church) instead. By that count, nonmetro counties have ~136k churches vs 650k in metro — a number that matters for civic infrastructure but doesn't show up in the NTEE pies above.
Methodology. Top 15 NTEE major categories among active IRS-registered nonprofits, RA + zombie excluded. Metro = RUCC 1–3, Nonmetro = RUCC 4–9. Smaller categories and orgs without an NTEE code (~22% of metro orgs, ~31% of nonmetro orgs) are not displayed; percentages reflect each category's share of the top-15 total. Same colors map to the same NTEE category in both views. Share differences in the analysis above are computed against each cohort's full org count (including uncategorized) so the ratios are honest.
Methodology. Active 501(c) and 4947(a)(2) entities from the IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File (irs.gov/pub/irs-soi), joined to county FIPS via the Census ZCTA-county relationship file (each ZIP routed to its largest-share county). Population denominator is Census 2020 county population. Registered-agent / commercial-mail-receiving addresses are excluded from the per-100k count: any street address with 25 or more organizations registered to it (e.g. Foundation Source in Wilmington DE, 770 Augusta Rd in Edgefield SC) is treated as a service address, not a local nonprofit. Per-100k rates for very small counties (pop < 1,000) remain noisy by construction — use the population filter to focus on the cohort that matters to you.