GOBankingRates Study Shows Atlanta, Jacksonville, Honolulu are Best U.S. Cities for Saving Money

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Feb 26, 2014, 08:14 ET

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Atlanta placed No. 1 on GOBankingRates' ranking of the best and worst cities for saving money due to its low median home price and high average savings account rate. Other large metropolises New York City, Los Angeles and Houston ranked No. 44, 77 and 7, respectively.

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GOBankingRates.com Study Shows the Best Cities for Saving Money in 2014. (PRNewsFoto/GOBankingRates) (PRNewsFoto/GOBANKINGRATES)

The study surveyed the 100 most populated U.S. cities and scored each according to five key factors: unemployment rate¹, sales tax², median household income³, median home price³ and average savings account rate⁴.

In terms of savings accounts, New Orleans, Birmingham and New York boasted the highest average rates among the cities examined.

In addition to high average savings account rates, key characteristics of the top-ranking cities included low rates of unemployment and sales tax.

"Even the most frugal family will struggle to grow a savings fund if they can't get a decent job, earn a sufficient income or afford to pay taxes," said Casey Bond of GOBankingRates. "These rankings show that if Americans want to stop living paycheck-to-paycheck and start saving money, they might have to move to a city with greater opportunity."

Other highly-populated cities ranked as follows:

Dallas: No. 12
San Antonio: No. 51
Phoenix: No. 72
Chicago: No. 76
Philadelphia: No. 92

For details on what factors affected your city's ranking, go to http://bit.ly/1fCJVc2.

To view an infographic of the study's findings, go to http://bit.ly/NvPSg9.

About GOBankingRates

GOBankingRates is a personal finance website that connects consumers with the best interest rates nationwide from more than 6,000 national, local and online financial institutions. GOBankingRates editors are regularly featured on top media outlets such as U.S. News, Yahoo! Finance, Forbes, The Street, Huffington Post and more.

Study Details: Each criterion was weighed equally and rankings were determined by overall score.

¹ Bureau of Labor Statistics (February 2014)
²Municipal websites' sales tax information
³ Forbes' and City-Data.com (August 2013; 2011)
⁴ GOBankingRates' interest rate database, powered by Informa Research Services Inc. (January 2014)

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Contact:

Connie Lundegard
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SOURCE GOBankingRates