Which cities are prepared for a cashless society?

Taking top spot, with an index score of 7.808 out of 13, we have the Lone Star State of Texas. Specifically, Texas locals are searching for ‘Klarna’ (2,539 times per year) and ‘Samsung Pay’ (823.5) more often per capita than in any other state, though the region only ranks 12th for ‘Apple Pay’ (761.7), 11th for ‘Google Pay’ (1,135.7), and 30th for ‘Venmo’ (3,774.2).

Next up, Alabama comes away with an index score of 7.142, ahead of Florida (7.105), Virginia (6.807), and Nevada (6.695). Of the four, Alabama ranks second among all states for ‘Klarna’ (2,408.3) and ‘Cash App’ searches per capita (8,060.9), Nevada sees the most searches on average for ‘Google Pay’ (1,417.2), Virginia places fourth for ‘Paypal’ (23,287.1), and Nevada (103.1) and Florida (88.2) rank strongly for ‘Samsung Pay’.

Ranking sixth, Maryland scores 6.640, while South Carolina (6.604) and Mississippi (6.6) take seventh and eighth, respectively. Meanwhile, Delaware (6.528) and Louisiana (6.521) round out our top ten.

Interestingly, each of the five above states score strongly across a range of factors. For instance: ‘After Pay’ is popular in Mississippi (3,343.2) and Maryland (2,930.1); ‘Cash App’ sees a lot of searches in Mississippi (7,496.8) and Louisiana (7,106.4); ‘Amazon pay’ comes up a lot in Delaware (212.1) and Maryland (210.5); and ‘Klarna’ sees significant searches in Maryland (2,395.9) and South Carolina (2,364).

Unfortunately, just missing out on a top ten place, we have North Carolina (6.456) – though the Tar Hell state ranks above New York (6.432) and Georgia (6.408), while Kansas (6.373) and California (6.299) take 14th and 15th. Curiously, despite their relatively unimpressive overall rankings, Georgia sees the most searches per capita for ‘Afterpay’ (3,780.8), ‘Cash App’ (8,448.5), and ‘Apple Pay’ (924.2), California ranks above all states for ‘Amazon Pay’ (250.4), and Kansas scores top for ‘Paypal’ (168,488.8).

Going cashless: The worst-prepared US states

At the other end of our table, Michigan locals are the least prepared for the ever-increasing likelihood of a cashless society, with the state scoring just 0.78 out of 13. They’re joined at the bottom by Montana (3.641), South Dakota (3.779), and Alaska (4.193), and Wisconsin (4.298).

Ranking first on our index (by quite some way) with a score of 12 out of 13, we have the Vancouver Island city of Victoria. Incredibly, the British Columbia capital ranks top for each digital payment method, besides ‘Mastercard Click’ – with no Google searches per 1,000 residents for this option, Victoria places behind the likes of Saskatoon, Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto.

Next up, Vancouver scores 5.8, ahead of St. John’s (5.1), Toronto (4.8), and Montreal (3.5). Interestingly each also places second to fifth in various positions for ‘Amazon Pay’, ‘Klarna’, ‘Samsung Pay’, and ‘Skrill’ Google searches.

Taking sixth, with an overall index score of 3.3, Kelowna is trailed by Windsor (3.1) and London (3), while Calgary (2.5) and Oshawa (2.4) round out our top ten. Incidentally, there are few standout results from the above five cities, besides London locals recording the second-most Google searches for ‘Mastercard Click’ – 23.7 per 1,000 residents.

Finally, Ottawa (2.3), St. Catharines (2.3), Saskatoon (2.3), Kitchener (2.3), and Halifax (2.1) round out the 15 Canadian cities best prepared for a cashless society.

Going cashless: The worst-prepared Canadian cities

Meanwhile, at the other end of our table, Winnipeg is officially the Canadian city that’s least prepared for the abandonment of cash, with an index score of just 1 out of 13, joined by Edmonton (1.1) and Quebec City (1.1), while Hamilton (1.5) and Regina (1.9) complete the bottom five.

With cashless spending becoming increasingly popular and common across the US and Canada, it’s never been more important for major states and cities to prepare.

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We used Google keyword planner to determine the search volumes for different digital wallets during the period Aug 2022 - Sept 2023. The phrases used were:

• Visa Checkout
• Venmo
• Skrill
• Samsung Pay
• Paypal
• Meta Pay
• Mastercard click
• Klarna
• Google Pay
• Cash app
• Apple pay
• Amazon pay
• Afterpay

With this data, we’ve been able to reveal which US and Canadian locations have the highest Google search demand for the 13 cashless options. Per capita refers to the number of searches per 1,000 people.

For the US, each state was ranked for each term and assigned an index score between 0-1. All scores were then combined to give a score out of 13. The same method was applied to the Canadian cities.