The current count of banks in the US

As of 2024, there are approximately 4,600 to 4,800 banks operating in the United States, depending on how you count them. This number includes commercial banks, savings banks, and savings and loan associations that hold federal or state charters. The exact figure shifts month to month as banks merge, fail, or open, so no single number is ever final.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) maintains the official registry of insured banks and publishes updated counts quarterly. If you need the most current number for a specific purpose—research, investment, or understanding market structure—the FDIC's Bank Find tool and quarterly reports are the source that regulators and financial analysts use.

What matters more than the raw count is what has happened to that number over time. The US had roughly 14,000 banks in 1985. The decline to today's count reflects decades of consolidation, regulation, and economic pressure that fundamentally changed how banking works in America.

Key Takeaways

  • The FDIC tracks approximately 4,600 to 4,800 insured banks in the US, a number that changes as banks merge or close.
  • This represents a steep decline from 14,000 banks in 1985, driven by consolidation and stricter regulatory requirements.
  • The largest banks hold a much larger share of total deposits than they did decades ago, concentrating financial power.
  • Community banks and credit unions still operate independently, but their numbers have also shrunk as smaller institutions struggle to meet compliance costs.

Why the number has fallen so dramatically

The decline from 14,000 banks to under 5,000 happened for three main reasons: mergers, failures, and regulatory burden. When two banks merge, the FDIC count drops by one. When a bank fails—which happened frequently during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and the financial crisis of 2008—it is either absorbed by another bank or its deposits are transferred, again reducing the count.

Regulatory costs also pushed smaller banks out. After 2008, federal rules required banks to maintain higher capital reserves, conduct stress tests, and file more detailed reports. A bank with $100 million in assets faces similar compliance costs as a bank with $1 billion, so smaller institutions struggle to justify the expense. Many sold themselves to larger banks rather than bear the cost alone.

Consolidation accelerated in the 1990s and 2000s. In 1995, there were roughly 10,000 banks. By 2010, that had fallen to 7,700. The pace has slowed since then, but the trend continues. The FDIC reports that the number of bank failures peaked at 25 per year during the financial crisis, then dropped to near zero in recent years as surviving banks grew stronger.

How the largest banks now dominate

Fewer banks does not mean less banking. It means banking is concentrated. The four largest banks—JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup—hold roughly 40 percent of all deposits in the US. In 1985, the top four held about 20 percent. The shift reflects both the mergers that created these giants and the fact that smaller banks have not grown as fast.

This concentration matters because it affects interest rates, lending decisions, and which communities get banking services. A small town that once had three local banks may now have branches of one or two national chains. Those branches may close if the national bank decides the location is not profitable, leaving residents with fewer options.

Regulators monitor this concentration through the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), which measures market concentration. The higher the index, the more concentrated the market. The US banking market has become significantly more concentrated over the past 40 years, which is why regulators now scrutinize large bank mergers more carefully than they did in the 1990s.

Community banks and credit unions still exist but are fewer

Community banks—institutions with less than $10 billion in assets—still account for roughly 5,000 of the 4,600 total banks. They tend to lend locally, know their borrowers by name, and make decisions faster than national chains. But their numbers have fallen too. In 2010, there were roughly 8,000 community banks. Today there are closer to 5,000.

Credit unions operate under different rules and are not counted in the FDIC's bank total, but they serve a similar function. There are roughly 4,800 credit unions in the US, down from over 10,000 in the 1980s. Like community banks, they have consolidated as smaller institutions merged to survive.

The survival of community banks depends partly on whether they can compete on service and relationship rather than price and convenience. A community bank cannot match a national chain's ATM network or mobile app, but it can offer a loan to a small business that a national bank would reject as too small or too risky.

What the FDIC count actually includes and excludes

The FDIC count includes any bank that holds federal deposit insurance, which is nearly all commercial banks and savings institutions in the US. It does not include credit unions (which are insured by the National Credit Union Administration), investment banks that do not take deposits, or foreign banks operating in the US without a US charter.

The count also does not include online banks or fintech lenders, even though they may offer checking accounts and savings products. An online bank like Ally or Marcus is typically a subsidiary of a larger bank that already appears in the FDIC count, so it does not add to the total. This means the actual number of places where Americans can open an account is higher than 4,600, but the number of distinct banking institutions is lower.

State-chartered banks are counted separately from federally chartered banks, but both appear in the FDIC total. A state bank that chooses not to join the FDIC would not appear in the count, but this is extremely rare because FDIC insurance is a competitive necessity.

How to find the current official count

The FDIC publishes its official bank count in the Quarterly Banking Profile, released roughly 60 days after the end of each quarter. The report includes the total number of banks, the number of branches, total assets, and other metrics. You can download it from the FDIC website under "Publications."

The FDIC's Bank Find tool lets you search for any insured bank by name, location, or certificate number. This tool is updated in real time and shows which banks are currently operating, which have closed, and basic information about each one. It is the most reliable source if you need to verify whether a specific bank is real and insured.

The Federal Reserve also publishes banking statistics, though their count may differ slightly from the FDIC's depending on which institutions they include. For most purposes, the FDIC number is the standard.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the number of banks still falling?

Yes, but slowly. The FDIC count has been relatively stable between 4,600 and 4,900 since 2015, but the number of bank branches has fallen more sharply. Mergers still happen, but the pace has slowed compared to the 1990s and 2000s.

Does a big bank like JPMorgan Chase count as one bank or many?

JPMorgan Chase is one bank holding company, but it operates many subsidiaries and brands. For FDIC counting purposes, it is counted as one insured bank, though it may own multiple charters. The FDIC tracks both the number of banks and the number of bank holding companies separately.

Why do banks merge if there are already so few?

Mergers happen because smaller banks struggle with compliance costs, technology investment, and competition from larger rivals. A bank with $500 million in assets may merge with a larger peer to spread regulatory costs across a bigger base and gain access to better technology and lending capacity.

Are online banks counted in the 4,600 total?

Online banks themselves are not counted separately. They are subsidiaries of larger banks that already appear in the FDIC count. So Ally Bank, for example, is owned by Ally Financial but is insured under an existing FDIC charter, not a new one.

What happens if a bank fails—does it disappear from the count immediately?

When a bank fails, the FDIC either arranges for another bank to buy it or pays out deposits up to the insurance limit. The failed bank is removed from the active count, but the deposits are protected. The count drops by one, but customers do not lose their money.