FDIC QUARTERLY 31

Introduction In the 2019 Summary of Deposits (SOD) Survey, the banking industry reported an increase 

in deposits and a decrease in the number of branch offices, continuing recent trends (chart).1

This article describes deposit gathering and office closures shown in the 2019 SOD, which 

reports data as of June 30, 2019. For selected topics, comparative information about credit 

unions is included. This article also examines characteristics of the offices of operating 

banks that close versus those that are sold or leased, and of offices that close versus those 

that remain open following bank acquisitions.

The reduction in the number of bank offices occurred nationwide. The rate of decline was 

faster among offices located in metropolitan counties, limited-service offices, and offices 

with lower reported levels of deposits. Despite the general decline in the number of bank 

offices, the number of counties with a banking office has remained relatively stable over the 

past five years.

The rate of deposit growth increased for both community and noncommunity banks over 

the previous 12 months.2 Adjusting for mergers, the rate of deposit growth at community 

banks has exceeded that of noncommunity banks in each of the past three years. In comparisons based on asset size, medium-sized banks registered the highest merger-adjusted fiveyear average rate of annual deposit growth.3

 Moreover, the number of offices operated by 

medium-sized banks increased over the past five years, despite the decrease in the number 

of offices operated by the banking industry as a whole.

Deposits Increased While the Number of Oces Declined in Each of the Past Five Years

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2014 to 2019.

5.4

5.9

5.1

3.8 4.2

–1.5 –1.5

–2.2 –2.0 –1.9

Deposits Oces

2016 2017 2019

Percent Change From the Previous Year

–3

–2

–1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

2015 2018

2019 SUMMARY OF DEPOSITS HIGHLIGHTS

1 “Deposits” refers to deposits in domestic offices of FDIC-insured institutions—meaning branch offices located in the United 

States, U.S. territories, and possessions. U.S. offices of foreign institutions and their deposits are not included.

2 Community banks are identified using criteria in the FDIC Community Banking Study, December 2012, 

https://www.fdic.gov/regulations/resources/cbi/report/cbi-full.pdf. 3 For this article “medium-sized banks” refers to banks with total assets between $10 billion and $250 billion. “Small banks” have 

total assets less than $10 billion, and “large banks” have total assets greater than $250 billion.
2 0 2 0  •  Volume 1 4 • Number 1

32 FDIC QUARTERLY

The Number of Bank Offices 

Continues to Decline

The number of offices operated by FDIC-insured institutions has declined since June 2009. 

FDIC-insured institutions operated 86,364 offices in June 2019, which is 1,701 (1.9 percent) 

fewer offices than in June 2018. This rate of decline is slightly higher than the five-year average annual rate of 1.8 percent. In 2009, FDIC-insured institutions operated 13,176 more 

offices than in 2019. From 2009 to 2014, the number of offices declined by 4,825 (4.8 percent), 

while the number of offices declined by 8,351 (8.8 percent) between 2014 and 2019.

The number of offices of community banks decreased by 2.3 percent from 30,565 to 29,863 

over the past 12 months. For noncommunity banks, the number of offices decreased by 

1.7 percent from 57,500 to 56,501. The number of offices decreased by 934 (4.1 percent) 

among large banks and 988 (2.7 percent) among small banks, while the number of offices of 

medium-sized banks increased by 221 (0.8 percent). The overall decrease in the number of 

offices continues a trend toward greater consolidation.

Deposits Increase for 

Both Community and 

Noncommunity Banks

Total domestic deposits held by FDIC-insured institutions increased from $12.26 trillion 

in June 2018 to $12.77 trillion in June 2019, an increase of $510 billion or 4.2 percent. This 

growth rate was slightly lower than the 4.9 percent five-year average annual growth rate for 

the period ended in June 2019. Deposits increased over the past 12 months, even though the 

number of institutions declined from 5,542 to 5,303 and the number of offices declined from 

88,065 to 86,364.

Community banks reported an increase in their merger-adjusted deposit growth rate 

during the year ended June 2019, with the growth rate at community banks exceeding that 

of noncommunity banks.4 Merger adjustment is a way of measuring the “organic growth” 

of a cohort of institutions, the portion of growth not attributable to mergers. Year-overyear merger-adjusted deposit growth at community banks was 5.5 percent, an increase 

from the 4.9 percent growth reported the previous year and equal to the five-year average 

annual growth rate (Table 1). Noncommunity banks reported merger-adjusted year-overyear deposit growth of 3.9 percent. Adjusting for mergers, deposits at noncommunity banks 

increased 26.7 percent over the past five years, from $8.61 trillion to $10.91 trillion. Deposits 

at community banks increased 30.7 percent over that time period, from $1.42 trillion to 

$1.86 trillion.

Merger-adjusted growth rates make clear the strong organic growth of deposits at community banks. Consolidation in the industry has reduced the number of community banks 

and noncommunity banks, but the number of community banks has decreased at a faster 

rate. The decline in the number of community banks is reflected in the increasing share 

of deposits held at noncommunity banks over time. As Table 2 indicates, the share of all 

domestic deposits of banks and credit unions held by noncommunity banks increased from 

76.7 percent to 77.6 between June 2015 and June 2019, while the community bank share 

decreased from 14.8 percent to 13.2 percent.

Table 2 also depicts a slight increase in the overall deposit share (the share of all domestic 

deposits of banks and credit unions) of credit unions, from 8.5 percent to 9.1 percent. As of 

June 2019, total deposits at credit unions were $1.28 trillion, a 6 percent increase over the 

previous 12 months.

4 For an explanation of the reasons for and process of merger adjusting bank data, see Eric Breitenstein and Derek Thieme, 

“Merger Adjusting Bank Data: A Primer,” FDIC Quarterly 13, no. 1 (2019):31-49, https://www.fdic.gov/bank/analytical/

quarterly/2019-vol13-1/fdic-v13n1-4q2018-article.pdf.
FDIC QUARTERLY 33

2019 SUMMARY OF DEPOSITS HIGHLIGHTS

Table 1

Deposit Growth Rates, June 2014 to June 2019

Category 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Noncommunity Banks 5.6% 6.2% 4.9% 3.7% 3.9%

Community Banks 4.9% 5.7% 6.5% 4.9% 5.5%

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2014 to 2019.

Note: FDIC bank data are merger adjusted.

Table 2

Domestic Deposit Shares by Depository Institution Category, June 2014 to June 2019

Category 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Noncommunity Banks 76.7% 77.1% 77.2% 77.5% 77.6%

Community Banks 14.8% 14.3% 13.9% 13.5% 13.2%

Credit Unions 8.5% 8.6% 8.9% 9.0% 9.1%

Sources: FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2014 to 2019; NCUA Quarterly Summary Report.

Note: FDIC bank data are not merger adjusted.

Deposits Continue to 

Increase for All Bank Asset 

Size Classes

On a merger-adjusted basis, total deposits have increased over the past five years for each of 

the bank asset-size groups depicted in Table 3. From 2014 to 2019, deposits increased on a 

merger-adjusted basis the most for medium-sized banks—34.6 percent—followed by small 

banks at 29.3 percent and large banks at 21.2 percent. Deposits for medium-sized and small 

banks have grown faster than the national average for all banks over the past five years.

Small banks lost market share while medium-sized and large banks gained market share 

on a non-merger-adjusted basis from June 2014 to June 2019 (Table 4). In principle, this 

could be the result of either faster organic deposit growth at larger institutions or the result 

of acquisitions of smaller banks by larger institutions. However, Table 4 shows that on a 

merger-adjusted basis small banks maintained market share while large banks lost market 

share, indicating that smaller bank organic deposit growth kept pace with the industry 

as a whole.

The non-merger-adjusted gain in market share by large banks occurred because two banks 

moved out of the medium-sized asset class and into the large asset class through organic 

growth. From June 2014 through June 2019, these two banks grew by about $157.5 billion 

in assets and $129.8 billion in deposits. Only $16 billion of that deposit growth occurred 

because of an acquisition.

From 2014 to 2019, 74 banks fluctuated in and out of the medium-sized asset class. These 

fluctuations occurred through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth. The net 

effect was that the merger-adjusted and non-merger-adjusted market shares of medium-sized 

banks differed only slightly over the past five years.
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34 FDIC QUARTERLY

Table 3

Percent Change in Deposits by Asset Size Over Time, June 2014 to June 2019

Bank Asset Size 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2014 to 2019

Large: Assets More Than $250B 3.6% 5.1% 6.2% 1.7% 3.1% 21.2%

Medium-Sized: 

Assets $10B to $250B 9.0% 7.6% 3.1% 6.2% 4.9% 34.6%

Small: Assets Less Than $10B 3.5% 6.0% 6.4% 4.9% 5.5% 29.3%

All Banks 5.5% 6.1% 5.1% 3.9% 4.2% 27.3%

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2014 to 2019.

Note: FDIC bank data are merger adjusted.

Table 4

Share of Total Deposits by Asset Size Over Time, June 2014 to June 2019

Bank Asset Size

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Merger Adjusted

Large: Assets More Than $250B 47.4% 46.6% 46.1% 46.6% 45.6% 45.2%

Medium-Sized: 

Assets $10B to $250B 34.5% 35.7% 36.2% 35.5% 36.3% 36.5%

Small: Assets Less Than $10B 18.0% 17.7% 17.7% 17.9% 18.1% 18.3%

Not Merger Adjusted

Large: Assets More Than $250B 42.8% 45.0% 46.2% 46.1% 45.3% 45.2%

Medium-Sized: 

Assets $10B to $250B

34.5% 32.8% 32.4% 33.4% 35.5% 36.5%

Small: Assets Less Than $10B 22.7% 22.1% 21.4% 20.5% 19.2% 18.3%

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2014 to 2019.

Average Deposits of FDICInsured Institutions and 

Offices Continue to Increase

Average deposits per institution and per office increased from 2018 to 2019 at higher rates 

than the year before. Deposits per institution increased 8.4 percent from 2017 to 2018 and 

increased 8.8 percent from 2018 to 2019 to about $2.4 billion. Average deposits per institution increased from about $1.5 billion in June 2014 to $2.4 billion in June 2019. Similarly, 

average deposits per office rose by 6.2 percent to about $148 million per office from 2018 to 

2019, after increasing by 5.9 percent from 2017 to 2018. Average deposits per office increased 

39.1 percent over the past five years, from approximately $106 million in June 2014 to about 

$148 million in June 2019.
FDIC QUARTERLY 35

2019 SUMMARY OF DEPOSITS HIGHLIGHTS

The Number of Offices 

Operated by Medium-Sized 

Banks Increased

From 2014 to 2019, the number of offices operated by medium-sized banks increased while 

the number operated by large and small banks declined (Table 5). From 2014 to 2016, total 

offices operated by medium-sized banks declined 6.1 percent to 23,796 offices but have since 

increased to 26,389, representing a 4.1 percent increase over five years. Offices operated by 

large banks rose 4.3 percent to 25,149 offices from 2014 to 2016 but have since declined to 

22,752, a 5.6 percent decrease over five years. This shift suggests that large banks may be 

transitioning away from opening or acquiring more offices. Small banks reported the largest 

five-year period decline in the number of offices, operating nearly 18 percent fewer offices in 

2019 than in 2014.

Table 5

Number of U.S. Banking Offices, June 2014 to June 2019

Bank Asset Size 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Percent Change 

2014 to 2019

Large: Assets More Than $250B 24,107 24,281 25,149 24,375 23,686 22,752 –5.6%

Medium-Sized: 

Assets $10B to $250B 25,346 24,533 23,796 24,602 26,168 26,389 4.1%

Small: Assets Less Than $10B 45,259 44,448 42,879 40,862 38,211 37,223 –17.8%

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2014 to 2019.

Office Closings Are 

Widespread Although 

Relatively Less Frequent in 

Rural Counties

As shown in Table 6, the total number of bank offices declined across all three county 

types—metropolitan, micropolitan, and rural.5 A majority of bank offices—roughly 68,000 

out of 86,000—are in metropolitan counties. The 9.2 percent five-year reduction in the 

number of offices in metropolitan counties accounted for most of the total reduction in the 

number of offices in the United States.6

The reduction in the number of community bank offices in metropolitan counties is 

particularly pronounced: 14.7 percent in the past five years. The number of bank offices 

has declined the least in rural counties: 6.1 percent between 2014 and 2019. The number 

of community bank offices in rural counties declined by 4.7 percent, while the number of 

noncommunity bank offices in rural counties declined by 9.5 percent (Table 6). While the 

smallest decline in office numbers occurred in rural counties, office closures in rural counties are felt more keenly by those communities than closures in metropolitan counties, since 

rural bank offices are fewer in number and often serve large geographic areas.7

Most of the offices in rural counties (72.9 percent) are operated by community banks. The 

difference in the five-year rate of reductions in the number of bank offices in rural counties for noncommunity banks (9.5 percent) versus community banks (4.7 percent) means 

that community banks have increased their relative prominence in rural counties notwithstanding banking industry consolidation. Community banks serve an essential purpose by 

providing banking services in counties with few bank offices.

5 Counties are labeled “metropolitan,” “micropolitan,” or “rural” depending on whether they are located in areas designated by 

the U.S. Census Bureau as metropolitan statistical areas or as micropolitan statistical areas. Metropolitan statistical areas have 

a core urban area with more than 50,000 inhabitants. Micropolitan statistical areas have urban clusters with 10,000 to 50,000 

inhabitants. All other areas are considered rural.

6 The designations assigned to each county by the Census Bureau as of September 2018 were fixed throughout the time period for 

this exercise to control for counties that may have changed their designation as metropolitan, micropolitan, or rural during the 

five-year period. See United States Census Bureau Delineation Files, https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/timeseries/demo/metro-micro/delineation-files.html. 7 A useful discussion of the issues associated with closures of banking offices in rural areas is contained in Board of Governors 

of the Federal Reserve System, “Perspectives from Main Street: Bank Branch Access in Rural Communities,” November, 2019, 

available at https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/bank-branch-access-in-rural-communities.pdf. Numbers of banking 

offices reported in the Federal Reserve study and this article are not directly comparable because the Federal Reserve study 

combines micropolitan and rural counties into a single rural designation and it looks only at full-service brick-and-mortar offices 

and retail offices. This article includes all office types (see footnote 13 of this article for further information about office types).
2 0 2 0  •  Volume 1 4 • Number 1

36 FDIC QUARTERLY

Table 6

Number of Banking Offices, June 2014 to June 2019

County Type Bank Type 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Percent Change 

2014 to 2019

Metropolitan

All Banks 75,182 74,058 72,889 71,213 69,731 68,279 –9.2%

Noncommunity Banks 53,888 53,158 52,749 51,887 50,985 50,124 –7.0%

Community Banks 21,294 20,900 20,140 19,326 18,746 18,155 –14.7%

Micropolitan

All Banks 10,483 10,281 10,119 9,921 9,746 9,587 –8.5%

Noncommunity Banks 4,454 4,460 4,362 4,306 4,199 4,076 –8.5%

Community Banks 6,029 5,821 5,757 5,615 5,547 5,511 –8.6%

Rural

All Banks 9,047 8,923 8,816 8,705 8,588 8,498 –6.1%

Noncommunity Banks 2,542 2,481 2,412 2,392 2,316 2,301 –9.5%

Community Banks 6,505 6,442 6,404 6,313 6,272 6,197 –4.7%

All

All Banks 94,712 93,262 91,824 89,839 88,065 86,364 –8.8%

Noncommunity Banks 60,884 60,099 59,523 58,585 57,500 56,501 –7.2%

Community Banks 33,828 33,163 32,301 31,254 30,565 29,863 –11.7%

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2014 to 2019.

Note: Counties are labeled metropolitan, micropolitan, or rural depending on whether they are located in areas designated by the U.S. Census Bureau as 

metropolitan statistical areas or as micropolitan statistical areas. Metropolitan statistical areas have a core urban area with more than 50,000 inhabitants. 

Micropolitan statistical areas have urban clusters with 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. All other areas are considered rural.

Office Closings Outpace 

Office Openings in 

Metropolitan Areas

The number of bank offices has declined the most in metropolitan counties. Between 2018 

and 2019, metropolitan counties lost a net 1,420 bank offices, a decline of approximately 

2 percent (Table 7). Medium-sized banks closed 866 more offices than they opened, large 

banks closed 796 more offices than they opened, and small banks opened 242 more offices 

than they closed. Noncommunity banks closed 1,634 more offices than they opened and 

community banks opened 214 more offices than they closed.8

Table 7

Change in Number of Offices in Metropolitan Counties, June 2018 to June 2019

Office Openings Office Closings Net Change

Bank Asset Size

Large: Total Assets More Than $250B 150 946 –796

Medium-Sized: Total Assets $10B to $250B 168 1,034 –866

Small: Total Assets Less Than $10B 654 412 242

Bank Type

Noncommunity Banks 475 2,109 –1,634

Community Banks 497 283 214

All Banks 972 2,392 –1,420

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2018 to 2019.

8 The absolute change in the number of offices in metropolitan counties operated by small, medium-sized, and large banks differs 

from these values because offices move from one asset group to another through mergers and purchases.
FDIC QUARTERLY 37

2019 SUMMARY OF DEPOSITS HIGHLIGHTS

The largest number of office openings (Table 8) and office closings (Table 9) occurred in 

some of the most highly populated metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). The list of the ten 

MSAs with the most office openings is almost identical to the list of the ten MSAs with the 

most office closings. For example, the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA MSA had 

both the largest number of office openings and the largest number of closings. Nine of the 

top ten MSAs for office openings were also in the top ten for office closings.

Closings outpaced openings among banks in general and among banks with assets greater 

than $250 billion in the nine common metropolitan areas listed in both tables. Among small 

and medium-sized banks, closings outpaced openings in some markets but not in others. For 

noncommunity banks, office closings outpaced openings in the nine common metropolitan 

areas listed in both tables. By contrast, community bank openings outpaced closings in five 

out of the nine common metropolitan areas.

Out of the 387 metropolitan areas that were listed in both the 2018 and 2019 SOD surveys, 

257 reported a net loss in the number of offices, 81 reported no change in the number of 

offices, and 49 reported a net gain in the number of offices.9

Table 8

Metropolitan Areas With the Most Office Openings, June 2018 to June 2019

Metropolitan Statistical Area

Offices 

Opened

Bank Asset Size Bank Type

Large: 

Assets More 

Than $250B

MediumSized: 

Assets $10B 

to $250B

Small: 

Assets Less 

Than $10B Community Noncommunity

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA 62 23 6 33 30 32

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX 51 4 27 20 10 41

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH 33 10 5 18 16 17

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 31 3 7 21 15 16

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA 30 2 11 17 12 18

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA 29 8 5 16 10 19

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, 

PA-NJ-DE-MD 24 9 6 9 9 15

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI 24 4 4 16 11 13

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, 

DC-VA-MD-WV

21 12 2 7 6 15

St. Louis, MO-IL 18 1 6 11 11 7

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2018 to 2019.

9 The list of metropolitan areas in the United States changed between the 2018 and 2019 SOD surveys. Two of the 389 metropolitan 

areas defined as of June 2018 were no longer designated as metropolitan areas in 2019, and five new metropolitan areas were 

designated in 2019. In total, 387 metropolitan areas were designated as such in both 2018 and 2019. See Office of Management 

and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to the Heads of Executive Departments and Establishments, “Revised Delineations of 

Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Micropolitan Statistical Areas, and Combined Statistical Areas, and Guidance on Uses of the 

Delineations of These Areas,” September 14, 2018, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Bulletin-18-04.pdf.
2 0 2 0  •  Volume 1 4 • Number 1

38 FDIC QUARTERLY

Table 9

Metropolitan Areas With the Most Office Closings, June 2018 to June 2019

Metropolitan Statistical Area

Offices 

Closed

Bank Asset Size Bank Type

Large: 

Assets More 

Than $250B

MediumSized: 

Assets $10B 

to $250B

Small: 

Assets Less 

Than $10B Community Noncommunity

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA 260 153 85 22 20 240

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI 95 47 39 9 6 89

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA 83 39 30 14 8 75

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, 

DC-VA-MD-WV 80 36 38 6 4 76

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA 60 18 34 8 1 59

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm 

Beach, FL 60 19 37 4 16 44

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX 54 27 16 11 3 51

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, 

PA-NJ-DE-MD 53 15 27 11 10 43

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 50 20 16 14 3 47

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH 40 14 11 15 12 28

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2018 to 2019.

Changes in offices in individual MSAs can be influenced significantly by individual institutions. For example, among the ten MSAs with the most office openings, one large bank 

accounted for 14.2 percent of all office openings, nearly 38 percent of new offices in the 

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA, and nearly 21 percent of new 

offices in both the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA and the Philadelphia-CamdenWilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSAs. A medium-sized bank accounted for another 7.4 percent 

of all office openings in the ten MSAs with the most office openings and approximately 

30 percent of new offices in both the St. Louis, MO-IL and the Houston-The WoodlandsSugar Land, TX MSAs.

Among the ten MSAs with the most office closings, large banks accounted for 46.5 percent 

of all office closings. Large banks accounted for 50 percent or more of office closings in both 

the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA and the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, 

TX MSAs and accounted for at least 28 percent of office closings in the other MSAs with 

the most office closings. Two medium-sized banks together accounted for 9.7 percent of all 

office closings in the ten MSAs with the most office closings, although they accounted for 

only 4.1 percent of total offices in those areas. Offices of those two institutions comprised 

approximately 38 percent of office closures in both the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, 

GA and the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSAs. They comprised 

13 percent of closures in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA and 

8 percent or less of closures in the other ten MSAs with the most closures. In the MiamiFort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL MSA, a different medium-sized bank accounted for 

20 percent of office closures.
FDIC QUARTERLY 39

2019 SUMMARY OF DEPOSITS HIGHLIGHTS

Share of Counties 

With a Branch Office 

Remains Stable

While the number of banking offices continues to decline throughout the country, the 

number of counties with at least one banking office has remained stable over the past five 

years. Of the 3,142 counties in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, less than 1 percent 

had no community bank, noncommunity bank, or credit union offices (Table 10), a share 

that remained unchanged from five years ago. As of June 2019, 109 counties had only one 

branch office, which is up from 96 counties in 2014. Since many of these counties are in rural 

areas, a majority have a community bank office as opposed to a noncommunity office or a 

credit union. Over the past five years, the share of counties in the United States that have a 

credit union office remained around 66.3 percent.

Slightly less than three-quarters of counties had offices of both community and noncommunity banks as of June 2019 (Table 11), compared with 75 percent of counties in June 

2014. The share of counties with only a community bank office is roughly 20 percent and 

has remained stable over the past five years. In contrast, the share of counties with only 

noncommunity offices increased from 3.9 percent in 2014 to 4.8 percent as of June 2019. 

Currently, a little more than 1 percent of counties have no community or noncommunity 

bank offices, unchanged from 2014.10

Table 10

Distribution of Bank Offices and Credit Union Offices by County, June 30, 2019

County Description Number Percent

Counties With Bank and Credit Union Offices 2,077 66.1

Counties With Only Bank Offices 1,031 32.8

Counties With Only Credit Union Offices 6 0.2

Counties With No Offices 28 0.9

Total of Counties in 50 States and District of Columbia 3,142 100.0

Counties With Only One Office—Community Bank 76 2.4

Counties With Only One Office—Noncommunity Bank 28 0.9

Counties With Only One Office—Credit Union 5 0.2

Total Counties With Only One Office 109 3.5

Sources: FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2019; Census Bureau; NCUA Quarterly Call Report Data, June 2019.

Table 11

Distribution of Bank Offices by County, June 30, 2019

County Description Number Percent

Counties With Community Bank and Noncommunity Bank Offices 2,338 74.4

Counties With Only Community Bank Offices 620 19.7

Counties With Only Noncommunity Bank Offices 151 4.8

Counties Without Offices 33 1.1

Total of Counties in 50 States and the District of Columbia 3,142 100

Sources: FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2019; Census Bureau.

10 According to 2018 Census estimates, the total population of the 33 counties without any bank offices is 98,065. Twelve of these 

counties, with a combined population of 43,945, have large protected areas designated as National Parks and Preserves, National 

Forests, Recreation Areas, State Parks, and Wildlife Refuges. Seven of the counties, with an average population of 600, are the 

least-populous counties in the state. The remaining counties are relatively populated, with an average population of 2,757, while 

the average U.S. county has a population of 104,127.
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40 FDIC QUARTERLY

Factors Influencing 

Decisions to Close or 

Transfer Offices

The number of bank offices declined by 13,176 between 2009 and 2019. Over that time, 

17,202 offices opened, 30,378 offices closed, and 27,522 offices were acquired by banks 

through merger or purchases or leases from other banks.11 Offices acquired through a 

merger, sale, or lease, or sold or leased to other banks would continue to operate as a banking 

office, even though control of the office would change.12 The decline in the number of bank 

offices is broken down into five-year periods in Table 12.

Table 12

Office Openings, Closings, Acquisitions, and Net Change, June 2009 to June 2019

June 2009 Through 

June 2014

June 2014 Through 

June 2019

Starting Number of Offices 99,540 94,715

New Offices Opened 11,856 5,346

Offices Closed 16,681 13,697

Closed following a merger* 2,316 1,243

Closed by a bank that was not acquired 14,252 12,332

Closed—other** 113 122

Offices Acquired 17,134 10,388

Acquired following a merger* 15,693 9,553

Acquired via a sale or lease 1,357 789

Acquired—other** 84 46

Ending Number of Offices 94,715 86,364

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits.

* “Closed following a merger” and “acquired following a merger” mean that the banking office: 1) was operated as of an SOD filing period by a bank that 

was acquired before the next SOD filing period and 2) the banking office was closed or acquired before the next SOD filing period.

** The institution that initially owned the office may have closed without being acquired, changed to a nondepository institution, relinquished deposit 

insurance, or been acquired by a nonbank.

The long-term decline in the number of bank offices suggests that economic and demographic changes could be reducing the economic value of bank offices generally. Therefore, 

comparing the characteristics of offices that remain in the banking industry with offices that 

close may provide insight into some of the factors that are driving the long-term decline in 

the number of bank offices.

Over the past ten years, 26,584 offices were closed by institutions that were not acquired in 

the year between SOD filings, while 2,146 offices were sold or leased to another bank. The 

service type of the office, the total deposits reported at the office, and whether the county 

in which the office is located is rural, micropolitan, or metropolitan appear to influence the 

decision to close, sell, or lease an office to another bank.

11 An office is considered to have closed if it ceases to appear in the Summary of Deposits data. FDIC Summary of Deposits, 

2009–2019.

12 See page 31 of the 2019 Summary of Deposits reporting instructions, https://www.fdic.gov/regulations/resources/call/sodreporting-instructions.pdf. Leased offices are reported as belonging to the institution that is leasing the office, as opposed to the 

institution that owns the office.
FDIC QUARTERLY 41

2019 SUMMARY OF DEPOSITS HIGHLIGHTS

Type of County The first group (Offices of Banks That Were Not Acquired) in Table 13 shows how county 

type (rural, micropolitan, or metropolitan) may have affected how operating banks disposed 

of offices, whether by closure or by sale or lease. The first group shows that sale or lease 

happens much less often than outright closure, but that offices for which sales or leases occur 

are disproportionally located in micropolitan and rural counties. For example, while only 

6.5 percent of the 28,730 offices represented in the top panel are in rural counties, almost 

13 percent of offices for which a sale or lease occurred are in rural counties. Conversely, 

offices in metropolitan counties represented 83.3 percent of all offices in the top panel but 

only 70.9 percent of the offices for which a sale or lease occurred.

The second group (Offices of Acquired Banks) in Table 13 addresses a similar question: how 

location may have affected whether offices of acquired banks close or remain open. The 

results are similar to those in the top panel. Closed offices of acquired banks in micropolitan 

and rural counties are slightly underrepresented relative to the share of those county types 

in the population of acquired bank offices. Conversely, closed offices of acquired banks in 

metropolitan counties are slightly overrepresented relative to the share of metropolitan bank 

offices in the population of acquired bank offices.

These results indicate that offices located in densely populated counties are more likely 

to close than offices located in less densely populated counties, which suggests that the 

economic value of bank offices is holding up relatively better in less densely populated counties than in metropolitan counties.

Table 13

Distribution of Offices by Type of County, June 2009 to June 2019

Number

Metropolitan 

County

Micropolitan 

County Rural County

Offices of Banks That Were 

Not Acquired

Offices Closed 26,584 84.3% 9.7% 6.0%

Offices Sold or Leased 2,146 70.9% 16.3% 12.9%

Total 28,730 83.3% 10.2% 6.5%

Offices of Acquired Banks

Offices Closed 3,559 86.9% 7.3% 5.8%

Offices Remained Open 25,246 82.7% 9.9% 7.5%

Total 28,805 83.2% 9.5% 7.2%

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits.

Note: Counties are labeled metropolitan, micropolitan, or rural depending on whether they are located in areas designated by the U.S. Census Bureau as 

metropolitan statistical areas or as micropolitan statistical areas. Metropolitan statistical areas have a core urban area with more than 50,000 inhabitants. 

Micropolitan statistical areas have urban clusters with 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. All other areas are considered rural. Rows may not sum to 100 percent 

due to rounding.
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42 FDIC QUARTERLY

13 The SOD survey collects information on the service type of each office:

1) Full-service brick-and-mortar offices: physical locations owned or leased by a bank at which customers can open and close 

accounts, apply for loans, deposit and withdraw funds, and receive other banking services.

2) Full-service retail offices: full-service offices in a retail facility such as a department store or supermarket.

3) Home banking offices: full-service offices that customers can access through a website or over the telephone.

4) Limited-service offices: offices that exist for the sole purpose of cashing payroll checks or conducting administrative services 

for the bank, or that accept deposits but do not provide any other services.

See page 31 of the Summary of Deposits reporting instructions, https://www.fdic.gov/regulations/resources/call/sod-reportinginstructions.pdf.

Office Service Type Offices that remained in the industry were also more likely to be full-service brick-andmortar offices, suggesting that the value of these types of offices may be holding up relatively 

better than that of other types of offices.13 Table 14 shows how office type may have affected 

whether operating banks disposed of offices by closure or by sale or lease. The first group 

(Offices of Banks That Were Not Acquired) shows that offices for which a sale or lease occurs 

are disproportionally likely to be full-service brick-and-mortar offices, rather than other 

full-service or limited-service offices. For example, among banks that were not acquired, 

81.2 percent of offices were full-service brick-and-mortar offices; but almost 92 percent of 

the offices that were sold or leased to other banks were full-service brick-and-mortar offices. 

Limited-service offices represented 8.4 percent of offices of banks that were not acquired but 

only 2.5 percent of the sold or leased offices.

The second group (Offices of Acquired Banks) in Table 14 addresses a similar question: how 

office type may have affected whether the offices of acquired banks were closed. The results 

are similar to those in the first group. Full-service brick-and-mortar offices of acquired 

banks were slightly less likely to close than offices of acquired banks overall, while other fullservice or limited-service offices were slightly more likely to close than were acquired bank 

offices overall.

Table 14

Distribution of Offices by Service Type, June 2009 to June 2019

Count

Full Service 

Brick and 

Mortar

Other Full 

Service

Limited 

Service

Offices of Banks That Were 

Not Acquired

Offices Closed 26,584 80.4% 10.8% 8.9%

Offices Sold or Leased 2,146 91.7% 5.8% 2.5%

Total 28,730 81.2% 10.4% 8.4%

Offices of Acquired Banks

Offices Closed 3,559 87.9% 6.9% 5.2%

Offices Remained Open 25,246 94.2% 2.5% 3.4%

Total 28,805 93.4% 3.0% 3.6%

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits.

Note: Other full-service offices include retail offices, which are full-service offices located in a department store or supermarket, and home banking 

offices, which are full-service offices that customers can access through a website or over the telephone.
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2019 SUMMARY OF DEPOSITS HIGHLIGHTS

14 Methods used by banks for attributing deposits to bank offices may differ considerably from bank to bank. Researchers should 

be cautious about using SOD data to draw firm conclusions about the geographical distribution of banking activity. The reporting 

instructions can be found on page 3 of the Summary of Deposits reporting instructions, https://www.fdic.gov/regulations/

resources/call/sod-reporting-instructions.pdf.

Reported Deposits Offices that closed had lower amounts of reported deposits than offices that remained in the 

banking industry. Among banks that were not acquired, offices that were sold or leased to 

another bank reported a median $26.7 million in deposits, while offices that closed reported 

a median $19.3 million in deposits (Table 15). Among banks that were acquired, offices 

that remained open reported a median $39.2 million in deposits, while offices that closed 

reported a median $25.4 million in deposits.

It is important to keep in mind that banks have discretion in how they report total deposits 

at each office, so deposit data collected in the Summary of Deposits need to be used with 

caution.14 Nonetheless, the observations in Table 15 are not surprising in that they suggest 

that the viability of banking offices depends in part on the volume of deposits they generate.

Table 15

Deposits of Offices, June 2009 to June 2019

Count

Median Deposits per 

Office (Thousands)

Offices of Banks That Were Not Acquired

Offices Closed 26,584 $19,302 

Offices Sold or Leased 2,146 $26,723 

Offices of Acquired Banks

Offices Closed 3,559 $25,398 

Offices Remained Open 25,246 $39,151 

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits.

Conclusion The trend in office closures that began nearly a decade ago continued as of June 2019, indicating a trend toward greater consolidation in the banking industry. Community banks 

continue to play a key role in rural areas and have closed offices at slower rates in rural 

areas. Medium-sized banks increased their number of offices while small and large banks 

decreased their numbers of offices. Offices closed at higher rates in highly populated metropolitan counties than in less densely populated counties. Factors such as county type, office 

service type, and deposit amounts may also influence rates of decline in the number of 

offices. Despite the continued decline in the number of offices, the banking industry continues to report deposit growth among all bank types and sizes.

Authors:

Joseph R. Harris III

Economic Analyst

Division of Insurance and Research

Caitlyn R. Kasper

Economic Analyst

Division of Insurance and Research

Christopher J. Raslavich

Economic Analyst

Division of Insurance and Research

Derek K. Thieme

Economic Analyst

Division of Insurance and Research