Three weeks ago we utilized the SimmonsLOCAL data set to visualize contiguous America’s mayonnaise brand preference. Staying with the American visualization theme, this week’s report will map the US as it relates to the brand of credit card they own.

To create these maps, we tapped into the Nielsen Financial CLOUT data package. Nielsen Financial CLOUT is a database that contains current year (CY) and five year (FY) projections of market penetration and dollar balances for more than 100 financial products. These modeled estimates and projections include all basic banking products and auxiliary services, such as checking accounts and bill pay, and other services, such as investments and retirement accounts.

The four mapped % Households Owning variables can be found at this path in SimplyMap: Financial CLOUT » Credit Card Products » Bank Credit Card Products

American Express Blue/Clear/Co-branded Card
MasterCard
Discover Card
VISA Card

American Express Blue/Clear/Co-branded

MasterCard

Discover Card

Visa

Some interesting points to note from this data:
1. American Express Blue/Clear, while the least popular card overall has concentrated ownership towards the western US.
2. Visa appears to be the most popular card (using the legend as reference).
3. The rural southern US counties tend to rank among the lowest in credit card ownership.
4. The northeast ranks among the higher counties across all credit cards.

Comparing the data across the US at large reveals the following:

% Households Owning American Express Blue/Clear/Co-branded Card - 14.63%
% Households Owning Discover Card - 21.51%
% Households Owning MasterCard Card - 42.46%
% Households Owning VISA Card - 58.30%

We hope you enjoyed this week’s SimplyMap report - stay tuned for more!