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.
Chart 1 of 1 · Banks
How many banks are there in the U.S.?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
There were 3,806 FDIC-insured commercial banks at the end of 2025, down from 14,496 in 1984, the most since the FDIC began in 1934. The number held near 13,000 to 14,500 for fifty years, while many states limited banks to one office or one state; once those limits were lifted in the 1980s and 1990s, banks merged and fewer new ones opened. The count leaves out savings institutions (thrifts), which the FDIC counts only since 1984; there were 521 of them at the end of 2025.
Questions to discuss
- In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
- Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
- Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?
Source: FDIC BankFind Suite, historical bank data (Public domain (U.S. government work; FDIC)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
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