U.S. Consumer Banking Statistics 2023 (2024)

Banking plays a pivotal role in most U.S. households, allowing Americans to manage their money, make purchases and save for the future. But as technology continues to evolve, so do our banking habits and our expectations of financial institutions.

Here’s a closer look at the current state of banking and financial trends among consumers.

Quick Banking Stats

What Is the Median Bank Account Balance?

In 2019, the median bank account balance was $5,300.^{[ ]} This number represents a 10.6% increase over the 2016 median balance. Bank accounts include all checking, savings, money market and call deposit accounts, as well as prepaid debit cards.

What Percentage of Americans Are Unbanked?

Nationwide, 6% of households are unbanked, meaning no member of the family unit has a bank account.^{[ ]} While the percentage of Americans without a bank account remains low, this number increased a full percentage between the 2020 and 2021 analyses.^{[ ]}

Do Americans Prefer To Bank Digitally or Traditionally?

The tides have shifted, and the majority of Americans are now on board with digital banking. As of 2022, 78% of adults in the U.S. prefer to bank via a mobile app or website. Only 29% of Americans prefer to bank in person.^{[ ]}

How Do Americans Primarily Pay for Purchases?

Despite the prevalence of credit cards, consumers prefer to pay for purchases with debit cards. According to our poll, 57% of Americans use debit cards as their primary payment method.^{[ ]}

How Many Americans Have Opened a Certificate of Deposit (CD)?

According to our survey, only 48% of Americans have opened a certificate of deposit account. However, with rising CD rates, this number will likely increase.^{[ ]}

Most Important Banking Features for Americans

Gone are the days when consumers merely accepted the stipulations their banks doled out. Today, Americans have higher expectations when it comes to banking.

Our tracking poll asked Americans what features they value most when shopping for new checking and savings products. The following tables list the most important features that came up in their responses.

Read More: Best Checking Accounts Of January 2024

Read More: Best Savings Accounts Of January 2024

What Are the Average Bank Balances, Rates and Fees?

As the economy and consumer trends change, so do interest rates and bank fees. It’s wise to evaluate how your bank compares to national norms.

Median and Average Bank Account Balances

The Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances reports data on transaction accounts, which include savings, checking, money market and call deposit accounts, as well as prepaid debit cards.

The most recent data, which comes from 2019, estimates the median transaction account balance at $5,300 per family. The average transaction account balance by family is $41,600. The data shows 98.2% of American families hold a balance in some type of transaction account.^{[ ]}

Current Bank Interest Rates

Beginning in March 2022, the Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time since December 2018. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) continued to raise interest rates in each successive committee meeting that year, hiking rates a total of seven times in 2022. Rate hikes occurred several times throughout 2023 as well, until the Fed began holding rates steady toward the end of the year. As a result, interest rates for savings and money market accounts have gone up significantly over the past couple of years. Certificates of deposit (CDs) also saw a tremendous increase across the board.^{[ ]}

Many traditional savings accounts still pay a low annual percentage yield despite rising federal interest rates. For instance, savings accounts at Bank of America pay 0.01% to 0.04% APY depending on the customer’s status with the bank.^{[ ]} Chase also only offers 0.01% to 0.02% APY depending on the type of savings account and the customer’s relationship with the bank.^{[ ]}

Typical Bank Fees

In December 2021, following the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's report on banks’ dependence on fees for revenue, Capital One became the first major bank to eliminate overdraft fees. Several other banks have since followed suit.

Today overdraft and insufficient funds (NSF) fees are down 40% from late 2019. But bank fees aren’t limited to overdraft charges. Consumers should review their bank's fee schedule and keep an eye out for monthly service fees and ATM fees among other charges.

Forbes Advisor analyzed monthly maintenance, overdraft and third-party ATM fees at financial institutions, including some of the largest national banks and credit unions by assets. The average fees are as follows:^{[ ]}

• Overdraft fee: $24.93
• Monthly maintenance fee: $5.14
• ATM fee (third-party): $1.77

Source: Forbes Advisor: Checking Account Fees Survey, Sept 2021

Read More: Best No-Fee Checking Accounts Of January 2024

What Are Consumers’ Banking Preferences?

In 2019, the FDIC’s Household Survey asked banked households over a 12-month period how they primarily access their bank accounts.^{[ ]} Responses included visiting a bank teller, using an ATM or bank kiosk, calling the bank, using a mobile banking app, using a web browser and using some other method.

As of 2019, human-centric banking solutions decreased across the board. The use of bank tellers was down to 21%, and telephone banking use was at just 2.4%. Mobile banking access rose steadily from 9.5% in 2015 to 34% in 2019. The use of online banking remained prevalent at 22.8% in 2019, but it had declined since 2015 due to the rise of mobile banking. Additionally, ATM and kiosk transactions saw a slight drop.

Primary Method Used To Access Bank Account

Unbanked and Underbanked Statistics

According to the Federal Reserve’s report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2021, 81% of families are fully banked, 13% are underbanked and 6% are unbanked.^{[ ]} Interestingly, 21.7% of unbanked households indicate they lack a bank account because they don’t have enough money to meet the minimum balance requirements. The second most cited reason was a lack of trust in banks at 13.2%.

People are considered unbanked if no one in the household has a checking or savings account. Underbanked families have a bank account but regularly use alternative financial services like money orders, check cashing services, payday loans or payday advances, pawn shop loans, auto title loans and tax-refund advances. Fully banked households are those with at least one bank account who did not use alternative financial services within the last 12 months.

Unbanked Households by Income

Unbanked status continues to be income dependent. The vast majority of unbanked Americans earn under $25,000 per year, and 17% of households in this income bracket are unbanked. By comparison, only 4% of families earning between $25,000 and $49,999—and a mere 1% of households earning $50,000 and above—are unbanked.^{[ ]}

Unbanked Households by Education

Level of education is another key component when it comes to banking access. While only 1% of Americans with a bachelor’s degree and 5% with an associate’s or some college are unbanked, 24% of Americans without a high school equivalency degree do not have a bank account. This rate decreases to 10% for consumers who obtain a high school diploma or GED.^{[ ]}

Unbanked Households by Race/Ethnicity

Compared to white (3%) and Asian (2%) households, BIPOC families have a significantly greater likelihood of being unbanked. Specifically, 13% of Black families and 11% of Hispanic families do not hold a bank account.^{[ ]} Since 2019, unbanked Black households have decreased by 1% while the unbanked Hispanic population has increased by 1%.^{[ ]}

Top 10 Largest Banks in the U.S.

There’s no direct correlation between bank size and quality, but the following banks have captured the majority of the market share. In fact, the top five banks control 41.2% of the domestic market by assets.

Source: Federal Reserve, Large Commercial Banks as of September 30, 2022

What Happens When Banks Collapse?

When banking institutions fail or are closed by the federal government, the bank is seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which begins paying out depositors and selling off the bank's assets.^{[ ]}

What Consumers Need To Know About the FDIC

The FDIC is a sovereign institution created by Congress to help keep the country’s banking system stable and maintain the public’s confidence in it. The FDIC insures deposits and inspects and oversees financial institutions for safety, solvency and consumer protection, among other responsibilities.

• As of December 2022, there were 4,706 FDIC-insured banks, including 4,127 commercial banks and 579 savings institutions.^{[ ]}
• The FDIC’s assets as of December 2022 total $23.6 trillion, while loan assets total $12.2 trillion. Most of these assets sit with commercial banks while the rest are held at savings institutions.^{[ ]}
• The standard insurance amount per depositor, per insured bank, per account ownership category is $250,000.
• Account holders do not need to apply for FDIC insurance as the coverage is automatically in place when a new deposit account is opened.
• The FDIC provides separate coverage for deposits held in different account categories, which means that account holders might qualify for more coverage (over $250,000) if they have funds in different ownership categories and all FDIC requirements are met.

FDIC Covered Accounts

These are the account types the FDIC insures:

• Checking accounts
• Negotiable order of withdrawal (NOW) accounts
• Savings accounts
• Money market deposit accounts and money market accounts
• Time deposits, such as certificates of deposit (CDs)
• Cashier's checks, money orders and other official items issued by a bank

Accounts Not Covered by the FDIC

These financial products are not insured by the FDIC:

• Stock investments
• Bond investments
• Mutual funds
• Crypto assets
• Life insurance policies
• Annuities
• Municipal securities
• Safe deposit boxes or their contents
• U.S. Treasury bills, bonds or notes*

*The U.S. government backs these investments.

Read More: The Best Banks Of January 2024