Chart assignment

Charts to read and discuss

Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.

  1. How many U.S. banks have failed each year?
  2. Where does US electricity come from?

Chart 1 of 2 · Banks

How many U.S. banks have failed each year?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

Bank failures peaked at 530 in 1989, during the savings-and-loan crisis, when about 2,400 banks and thrifts failed from 1980 to 1995. The financial crisis brought 140 failures in 2009 and 157 in 2010, and only five banks failed in 2023, though three of them were among the biggest ever; 2 failed in 2025. Nine banks failed in 1934, the FDIC's first year, and none failed in 2005, 2006, 2018, 2021 or 2022. The count includes savings and loans closed by the FSLIC and the Resolution Trust Corporation, but not banks kept open with government help.

Questions to discuss

  1. In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
  2. Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
  3. Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?

Source: FDIC BankFind Suite, bank failures and assistance data (Public domain (U.S. government work; FDIC)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025

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Chart 2 of 2 · Energy

Where does US electricity come from?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

In 2025 natural gas made 40.8% of US electricity, followed by nuclear (17.7%) and coal (16.6%). Wind made 10.5% and solar 6.7%. Solar counts only utility-scale plants, not rooftop panels, and the 2025 figures are preliminary.

How to read this chart

Each bar is one energy source's share of all the electricity made in the U.S. in a year, so the bars add up to about 100%. The bars start at zero, so a bar twice as long means twice the share. Solar counts only large power plants, not panels on rooftops.

Questions to discuss

  1. Which source makes the most electricity? About how many times more than the smallest bar?
  2. Which of these sources burn fuel and which don't? What share of electricity comes from each group?
  3. Why might a chart of this kind look different in your state than for the whole country?

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review (Table 7.2a) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025

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