Australians appeared to dig deeper for others in the past year, with solid jobs growth and a resilient economy contributing to a significant jump in charitable donations.
However, the data, from National Australia Bank, shows some suburbs were more generous than others 
While people in affluent suburbs of Middle Park in Melbourne and Mosman in Sydney made the biggest average donations in dollar terms, it's a different story when suburbs are ranked by charitable giving as a share of income. 
By this measure, Castlemaine in Victoria, parts of the Blue Mountains in NSW, and Melbourne's Brunswick and Fitzroy were among the most generous areas.
NAB on Tuesday said its charitable giving index, based on customer transaction data, jumped to 6.5 per cent growth in the year to   February, more than twice the pace of 2.4 per cent growth a year earlier.
The average donation size grew by $12 to $348, the bank said.
  Bright spot in the economy  
NAB chief economist Alan Oster explained the strong growth by highlighting that household spending had been a bright spot within the economy in recent months, alongside solid growth in employment.
"The economic environment looks to have provided some solid support for the charity sector, with recent GDP growth figures providing reassurance that the Australian economy has remained resilient against an uncertain global backdrop and weak commodity prices," Mr Oster said.
The bank also has an index that measures consumer anxiety, and this has shown households are less anxious than the long-term average in all states except Western Australia.
"With overall anxiety levels easing, consumers appear to have responded positively in their charitable spending behaviours with fewer consumers cutting back on their charitable spending this past year," Mr Oster said.
The data on charitable donations is based on the bank's electronic transaction records, and also measures charitable giving by state and postcode. 
When measured in raw dollars, Melbourne's Middle Park had the highest average donation amount of  $327 a person, followed by Mosman, with an average amount of $295 a person. Hunters Hill in Sydney was next, with $279, and Toorak in Melbourne was fourth, with $267 a person.
However, the list changes when postcodes are ranked by charitable giving as a share of income.
By this measure, NAB said the Victorian town of Castlemaine was the most generous postcode in the country, with 0.36 per cent of average taxable income of $42,650 being donated. 
Blaxland, in the Blue Mountains in NSW, was next in line with 0.35 per cent of average income given to charity. Households in Melbourne's Fitzroy North donated an average of 0.33 per cent of their incomes, NAB said, followed by Brunswick East, O'Connor in Canberra, and Sturt in South Australia, where the proportion was 0.32 per cent.
NAB declined to provide figures on which suburbs donated the lowest proportion of their incomes to charity.
Growth in charitable giving was strongest among people over 65, with 12 per cent growth, NAB said. The only age group where giving declined was among younger Australians aged 15-24. Younger people tended to earn less than older people and had higher rates of unemployment and job uncertainty, it said.
"Unemployment rates in this age group have remained elevated over the past year and significantly above the Australian average," the report said.