The Top 20 Most Frugal Cities of 2010 Revealed

(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.

“Especially in the South and Midwest, shoppers know how to keep their pennies in their pockets, racking up substantial savings throughout the year.”

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

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG @FayetteFP