Atlanta Tops Coupons.com’s Frugal Cities List

Atlanta retained the number one ranking on the "Most Frugal U.S. Cities" list for the fourth straight year, according to the 2012 Coupons.com Savings Index released today by Coupons.com. Orlando took the number two position, with Tampa, Nashville and Charlotte rounding out the top five.

“305 billion coupons were distributed in the U.S in 2012, giving consumers more than $450 billion in potential savings,” said Jeanette Pavini, Coupons.com household savings expert. “That’s more than the gross national product of most countries. And, while saving money is a priority in every region across the United States, the Midwest dominates the most frugal U.S. cities list, with more than double the number of cities than any other region.”

Sacramento made the biggest jump on the overall list, moving to the number nine spot after not making the top 25 in 2011, while Boston jumped 19 spots, from No. 26 in 2011 to No. 7 in 2012. The overall rankings saw three additional cities crack the top 25 list for the first time, including San Francisco, Detroit and Las Vegas, while five cities dropped off the list this year: Raleigh, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis and Providence.

The South holds the top spots on the list but that still couldn’t keep it from being edged out by the number one region overall – the Midwest. Eleven cities helped the Heartland grab almost half of the spots in the top 25. Ohio remains the country’s most frugal state. The Buckeye state is represented three times on the list – Cleveland (No. 8), Columbus (No. 12) and Cincinnati (No. 13).

The 25 top frugal greater metro areas are Atlanta (No. 1), Orlando (No. 2), Tampa (No. 3), Nashville (No. 4), Charlotte (No. 5), Kansas City (No. 6), Boston (No. 7), Cleveland (No. 8), Sacramento (No. 9), St. Louis (No. 10), Washington D.C. (No. 11), Columbus (No. 12), Cincinnati (No. 13), Dallas (No. 14), Virginia Beach (No. 15), Phoenix (No. 16), Philadelphia (No. 17), Pittsburgh (No. 18), Chicago (No. 19), Milwaukee (No. 20), San Francisco (No. 21), Detroit (No. 22), Minneapolis (No. 23), Denver (No. 24) and Las Vegas (No. 25).

Orlando residents proved they know how to leverage their mobile devices to save in 2012, as the city moved to the top of the "Most On-the-Go Frugal Cities" list, according to the Coupons.com Savings Index, based on usage of Coupons.com’s Grocery iQ and Coupons.com mobile apps. Rounding out the top five are: Nashville, Atlanta, Tampa and Dallas.

“With the number of smartphones and tablets exceeding the number of PCs in the U.S., it’s no surprise American consumers are increasingly looking to their mobile devices to save money and stretch grocery budgets,” added Pavini. “It’s never been easier to access, browse, print and save coupons on-the-go with mobile apps that turn smartphones into savings experts.”

Highlighting that residents of certain cities prefer to click their coupons from smart phones or other mobile devices, 2012 marks the second straight year that Austin (No. 18) has made the mobile list, but not the overall list; Houston (No. 23) joins Austin in this distinction. Denver placed eight spots higher on the mobile list (No. 16) versus its position on the overall top cities, while Sacramento and Minneapolis did not crack the mobile top 25, but ranked No. 9 and No. 23 on the overall list.

The top 25 Most On-the-Go Frugal Cities are Orlando (No. 1), Nashville (No. 2), Atlanta (No. 3), Tampa (No. 4), Dallas (No. 5), Kansas City (No. 6), Cleveland (No. 7), St. Louis (No. 8), Columbus (No. 9), Charlotte (No. 10), Washington D.C. (No. 11), Boston (No. 12), Virginia Beach (No. 13), Pittsburgh (No. 14), Philadelphia (No. 15), Denver (No. 16), Cincinnati (No. 17), Austin (No. 18), Phoenix (No. 19), San Francisco (No. 20), Milwaukee (No. 21), Las Vegas (No. 22), Houston (No. 23), Chicago (No. 24) and Detroit (No. 25).

Mountain View, Calif.-based Coupons.com provides a variety of digital coupon services, including online printable, pure digital and mobile promotions. For consumers, the company’s products include Coupons.com, the 40th largest website 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 tens of thousands of websites 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.

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).