Share of U.S. Households without a Bank Account Drops — 2016-10-20

Unbanked Rate Declines to 7 Percent in 2015 The number of U.S. households without a bank account fell significantly in 2015, according to the National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on Thursday. Seven percent of U.S. households were unbanked in 2015. That was the lowest share in the survey’s history and a decrease from 7.7 percent in 2013 and 8.2 percent in 2011. While improving economic conditions during the two years through the 2015 survey account for part of the drop in the unbanked rate, the rate fell further than expected based on economic factors alone. The decline in the share of unbanked households was broad based. Unbanked rates among black and Hispanic households, for example, fell about 10 percent. The unbanked rate for black households dropped from 20.6 percent to 18.2 percent, and for Hispanic households it fell from 17.9 percent to 16.2 percent.