MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Attention, shoppers: Atlanta residents are saving more money than you are. When it comes to whittling down that grocery bill and tackling rising food prices, Atlantans are doing it best by using coupons.
For the second year in a row, Atlanta takes the top spot on the ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list, according to the 2010 Savings Index1 released today by Coupons.com, the premiere Web destination for coupons and savings. On average, regular users of Coupons.com in Atlanta printed more than $1000.00 dollars in coupon savings from the site in 2010. That is almost twice as much as during 2009, when they printed $531 in savings.
Tampa cashed in with coupons and maintained its position as the city with the second most savings. On average, regular users of Coupons.com in Tampa printed $863.00 in savings. Following on the savings heels of Atlanta and Tampa are, in order, Cincinnati, Saint Louis and Minneapolis, according to the Index.
“Across the country Americans are incorporating couponing into their shopping routine to alleviate rising food costs and keep their grocery bill in check,” said Jeanette Pavini, Coupons.com household savings expert. “Especially in the South and Midwest, shoppers know how to keep their pennies in their pockets, racking up substantial savings throughout the year.”
The South is a mega-saver: more than one-third of the top 20 frugal cities are in the Southern region of the United States. In addition to Atlanta and Tampa, other Southland cities on the list include Charlotte (#6), Nashville (#7), Raleigh (#10), Oklahoma City (#13), Miami (#13) and Dallas (#14).
Once again, Ohio is the country’s most frugal state. The Buckeye state is represented three times on the ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list – Cincinnati (#3), Cleveland (#8) and Columbus (#19).
North Carolina is Ohio’s biggest challenger, climbing the penny-pinching ladder with two cities in the top 10: Charlotte and Raleigh.
For the first time it was raining green in the Pacific Northwest as Seattle (#18) joined the list. Seattle is the only city on the West Coast that made the cut.
In 2010, regular users of Coupons.com hailing from the top 20 most frugal cities printed or added more than $1023.00 in savings to their store loyalty cards, which is almost twice the amount from 2009 of $535.00. Nationwide, more than $1.2 billion in savings was printed or saved to loyalty cards from Coupons.com and the Coupons.com network during 2009.
The Top 20 couponing cities are below.
| 2010 Rank | Change Since 2009 | City | State | Savings Index | ||||||||
| 1 | — | Atlanta | GA | 997 | ||||||||
| 2 | — | Tampa | FL | 569 | ||||||||
| 3 | — | Cincinnati | OH | 497 | ||||||||
| 4 | — | Saint Louis | MO | 420 | ||||||||
| 5 | — | Minneapolis |
MN |
329 | ||||||||
| 6 | ↑ 1 | Charlotte | NC | 303 | ||||||||
| 7 | ↓ 1 | Nashville | TN | 291 | ||||||||
| 8 | — | Cleveland | OH | 289 | ||||||||
| 9 | — | Pittsburgh | PA | 250 | ||||||||
| 10 | ↑ 1 | Raleigh | NC | 235 | ||||||||
| 11 | ↓ 1 | Kansas City | MO | 233 | ||||||||
| 12 | ↑ 3 | Washington | DC | 207 | ||||||||
| 13 | ↓ 1 | Miami | FL | 202 | ||||||||
| 14 | ↑ 4 | Dallas | TX | 198 | ||||||||
| 15 | ↓ 2 | Oklahoma City | OK | 198 | ||||||||
| 16 | ↓ 4 | Boston | MA | 192 | ||||||||
| 17 | — | Denver | CO | 170 | ||||||||
| 18 | ↑ 5 | Seattle | WA | 153 | ||||||||
| 19 | ↑ 1 | Columbus | OH | 147 | ||||||||
| 20 | ↓ 1 | Wichita | KS | 146 |
Table 1: Top 20 Frugal U.S. Cities
Most On-the-Go Frugal U.S. Cities
Super-savers are tapping into savings via mobile apps for their cell phones, including Coupons.com’s Grocery iQ and the Coupons.com mobile apps.
When it comes to saving on-the-go, the citizens of Atlanta have the most frugal fingertips, based on use of the Coupons.com apps according to the Index2, which is reflected in the city’s top position on the Most On-the-Go Frugal Cities list in Table 2. The rest of the South is also smart when it comes to cellular savings. In fact, the South is home to 10 cities represented on the top 20 cities using mobile apps to access, browse, print and save coupons.
“More and more, people are taking advantage of coupons using mobile devices,” comments Pavini. “People are not just clicking for coupons from their computer, they are accessing them on-the-go and even at the supermarket.”
Some cities have a higher propensity to access coupons via mobile phones. For instance, savers in Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Las Vegas and Philadelphia are quick to look to their mobile device to maximize savings and advance on the On-the-Go list relative to their position on the ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list.
While they’re on the couponing wagon, Minneapolis, Cleveland and Seattle missed the mobile train: these cities ranked high on ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list, but each moved down several pegs on the On-the-Go list.
Top 20 Most On-the-Go Frugal Coupon Cities are below.
| 2010 Rank | City | State | Savings Index | ||||||
| 1 | Atlanta | GA | 906 | ||||||
| 2 | Tampa | FL | 531 | ||||||
| 3 | Saint Louis | MO | 490 | ||||||
| 4 | Cincinnati | OH | 374 | ||||||
| 5 | Oklahoma City | OK | 363 | ||||||
| 6 | Dallas | TX | 282 | ||||||
| 7 | Charlotte | NC | 280 | ||||||
| 8 | Pittsburgh | PA | 246 | ||||||
| 9 | Tulsa | OK | 241 | ||||||
| 10 | Miami | FL | 238 | ||||||
| 11 | Minneapolis | MN | 235 | ||||||
| 12 | Washington | DC | 232 | ||||||
| 13 | Nashville | TN | 226 | ||||||
| 14 | Raleigh | NC | 222 | ||||||
| 15 | Wichita | KS | 219 | ||||||
| 16 | Kansas City | MO | 214 | ||||||
| 17 | New Orleans | LA | 198 | ||||||
| 18 | Cleveland | OH | 196 | ||||||
| 19 | Denver | CO | 177 | ||||||
| 20 | Memphis | TN | 165 |
Table 2: Top Frugal U.S. Cities - Mobile
About Coupons.com Incorporated
Coupons.com Incorporated is the recognized leader in digital coupons, including online printable, save to loyalty card and mobile promotions. For consumers, the company’s products include Coupons.com, the 51st largest Web property and No. 1 in the Coupons/Rewards category in the U.S.†, as well as Grocery iQ and Coupons.com mobile applications. For brand marketers, the company distributes digital coupons to millions of consumers through Coupons.com and thousands of Web sites comprising the Coupons.com digital coupon network. The company also powers digital coupon initiatives in 1-to-1 online marketing campaigns—including display advertising, email and social media programs. For publishers, the company offers solutions to monetize Web site traffic, including branded microsites, and Brandcaster, a self-service coupons syndication platform. Clients include hundreds of top consumer packaged goods brands (including Clorox, General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg’s, Kimberly-Clark, and Kraft Foods), leading restaurant, toy and entertainment companies, as well as top retailers (such as A&P, CVS, Duane Reade, H-E-B, Kmart, Kroger, Safeway and Walgreens). Founded in 1998, the company is based in Mountain View, CA. To start printing coupons, visit www.coupons.com. To learn more about the company visit www.couponsinc.com. Visit Coupons.com on Facebook at www.facebook.com/couponscom.
1 Savings Index ranks cities (with a population of 300,000 or more) based on each city’s total printed coupon savings on Coupons.com and the Coupons.com network in 2010 relative to its population size. With an index of 997, Atlanta residents are ten times more likely to print coupon savings than the average American city dweller, as shown in Table 1.
2 Savings Index ranks cities (with a population of 300,000 or more) based on each city’s total printed coupon savings on Coupons.com and the Coupons.com network in 2010 relative to its population size. With an index of 906, Atlanta residents are nine times more likely to access coupons via a mobile app than the average American city dweller, as shown in Table 2.
† Nielsen, October 2010