- Key insight: Between July 2025 and June 2026, the number of U.S. banks fell by the largest amount in six years.
- Supporting data: At the end of June, there were 4,249 banks in the United States, down sharply from 13,002 in 1994.
- Forward look: The consolidation trend, which stretches back decades, shows no sign of slowing down.
For the first time ever, a bank with fintech roots has cracked the top 50 on the list of U.S. banks with the most deposits.
SoFi Bank, N.A., had $46.8 billion of deposits at the end of June, which placed it 47th on a list that's part of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s annual Summary of Deposits report.
SoFi was founded in 2011 as a fintech that refinanced student loans. Ten years later, it struck a $22.3 million deal
SoFi's deposits have since grown rapidly. As of June 30, 2024, its deposits totaled $22.9 billion, a number that roughly doubled over the next two years.
SoFi is not the only large consumer fintech that's acquired a bank, or has plans to do so. Chime, which has been opening new checking accounts
Still, Chime has said that it plans to keep its assets below $10 billion for the foreseeable future. Banks that go over the $10 billion-asset threshold are subject to regulatory caps on debit interchange fees.
The FDIC's latest Summary of Deposits report, which was published last week, includes not only information about the largest banks by deposits, but also data on the number and location of bank offices and the total number of U.S. banks. What follows are four takeaways from the report.
Bigger banks are adding branches, while smaller banks are shedding them
Last month, American Banker reported that the long-running decline in the total number of U.S. bank branches
But the new FDIC data show that the top-line trend masks a large divergence between large banks and smaller ones.
During the 12-month period that ended on June 30, 2026, banks with more than $10 billion of assets added 1,091 offices nationwide. All other banks shed 1,329 offices during the same 12-month period.
Even among large banks, the results were somewhat mixed.
JPMorganChase, the nation's largest bank by assets, deposits and number of offices, added 141 locations. Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp added roughly 60 offices, on top of the approximately 350 it inherited from its acquisition of Comerica Inc.
Meanwhile, TD Bank shed 53 offices, while Wells Fargo got rid of 46, and Bank of America eliminated 42 locations.
New locations are concentrated in the Southeast
Four of the five states that recorded the strongest growth in the number of bank offices are located in the Southeast.
South Carolina showed 1.84% growth between June 30, 2025 and the same period this year. The growth rate was 1.41% in Alabama; 1.16% in North Carolina; and 1.04% in Georgia.
Banks have been flocking to the Southeast at least partly because of the region's stronger-than-average population growth. Between 2020 and 2025, the South's population grew by 5.5%, according to Census data, compared with a nationwide rate of 3.0%. Population growth was below 2% in the Northeast, the Midwest and the West.
The only state outside of the South that cracked the top five in the FDIC's data was Utah. It topped the list with 2.39% growth.
Dallas, Atlanta show the fastest growth
A similar geographic trend is evident when the data is analyzed by metropolitan area.
Among the 10 largest U.S. metro areas, Dallas recorded the strongest growth in the number of bank locations over the most recent 12-month period. Dallas' 1.57% growth rate was followed by 1.23% in Atlanta, 0.53% in Miami and 0.37% in Houston.
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Outside of the Southeast and Texas, the growth rates in large metro areas were either flat or negative. Philadelphia recorded 0% growth, followed by Los Angeles at -0.21%, Phoenix at -0.45%, Washington, D.C., at -0.76%, Chicago at -0.83% and New York at -1.06%.
Boston, which is the 11th largest U.S. metro area, fared worse than all 10 regions that are bigger. The number of bank locations in the Boston area shrunk by 1.93% between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026.
Decline in the number of banks accelerates
The steady, decades-long decline in the number of U.S. banks has accelerated recently, with the total number of institutions falling by 182 during the latest 12-month span.
The dropoff between the middle of 2025 and the same time this year was the largest one-year fall since 2019-2020, according to the FDIC's data. During the one-year period that ended on June 30, 2020, the number of U.S. banks fell by 237.
Consolidation is being driven by a combination of factors, including a strong appetite for mergers among community banks and the slow pace of new bank formation.
As of June 30, 2026, there were 4,249 banks in the country — fewer than half the number on the eve of the global financial crisis. In the middle of 2007, the United States had 8,605 banks.
But the consolidation trend stretches back even further. Indeed, the number of banks has fallen every year since 1994, the earliest period for which data is available on the FDIC's website. As of June 30, 1994, the United States had 13,002 banks.
