How to Read the Federal Reserve Payments Study — Noncash Payments by Number and Value, Cards, ACH and Checks
Federal Reserve Payments Study (July 2026), calendar 2024: 236.6 billion U.S. noncash payments worth $140.01 trillion; cards 79% by number, ACH 74% by value; wires excluded.
Key figures (Federal Reserve Payments Study, top-line data for 2024)
As of 6 November 2026, 01:40 KST (retrieved by this page at that time); latest data on the study's page: National Payment Volumes, Top-Line Data (CY 2015–24), released July 2026 (page last updated July 01, 2026). The 2025 FRPS covers calendar year 2024; the study benchmarks national volumes every third year, so the previous benchmark year is 2021. The FRPS says more 2024 detail will come in future releases, without dates. Primary source: https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/frps_cy2015_24_topline.htm[1][2]
| Indicator (U.S. noncash payments; triennial benchmarks, calendar years named in each row) | Previous period (2021) | Current period (2024) | Change vs previous | Change vs year ago: not applicable (triennial benchmark); this column gives the 2021-24 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from Table 1 | Evidence type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total noncash payments, number (billions) | 204.8 | 236.6 | +31.9 billion (text) | 4.9% a year | levels and growth rates: Federal Reserve Payments Study Table 1; change in text: FRPS key findings |
| Total noncash payments, value ($ trillions) | 129.63 | 140.01 | +$10.37 trillion (text) | 2.6% a year | levels and growth rates: Federal Reserve Payments Study Table 1; change in text: FRPS key findings |
| Debit card payments, number (billions) | 106.7 | 120.6 | +13.8 billion (text) | 4.1% a year | levels and growth rates: Federal Reserve Payments Study Table 1; change in text: FRPS key findings |
| Credit card payments, number (billions) | 51.0 | 67.1 | +16.2 billion (text) | 9.6% a year | levels and growth rates: Federal Reserve Payments Study Table 1; change in text: FRPS key findings |
| ACH payments, value ($ trillions) | 93.83 | 104.06 | +$10.23 trillion (text) | 3.5% a year | levels and growth rates: Federal Reserve Payments Study Table 1; change in text: FRPS key findings |
| Check payments, number (billions) | 11.0 | 9.2 | down 1.8 billion (text) | -5.9% a year | levels and growth rates: Federal Reserve Payments Study Table 1; change in text: FRPS key findings |
| ATM cash withdrawals, number (billions; not part of noncash total) | 3.8 | 3.4 | not stated in text for 2021-24 | -3.2% a year | levels and growth rate: FRPS Table 1 [1] |
Comparison basis: numbers are in billions and values in trillions of dollars as printed in Table 1, rounded as published; changes are the FRPS text figures, which may differ by 0.1 from differences of the rounded table values (for example 236.6 minus 204.8 is 31.8 against the text's 31.9). The table notes: "Figures may not sum because of rounding." "CAGR is compound annual growth rate."[1]
In three lines
1. The Federal Reserve Payments Study estimates how many noncash payments (cards, ACH and checks) are made in the United States and their dollar value.
2. In 2024 there were 236.6 billion noncash payments worth $140.01 trillion.
3. Cards were 79 percent of payments by number, while ACH was 74 percent by value.[1]
What the study says about its own estimates
Coverage. "The 2025 Federal Reserve Payments Study (FRPS) collected data for the 2024 calendar year." "The aggregates include payments from all types of U.S. domiciled accounts, including consumer and non-consumer accounts." "Wire transfers, used primarily for large financial transactions, are excluded from these data." ATM cash withdrawals are reported alongside but are not part of the noncash total.[1][3]
How the estimates are built. "The FRPS has based these aggregates on nationally representative data collected for 2000 and for every third year since." For depository institutions: "A consistent set of large depository institutions is surveyed in years between triennial surveys, allowing annual estimates of changes in payment volumes among this key group of institutions." "In triennial years, a representative sample of smaller institutions is also surveyed, allowing triennial estimates of national payment volumes and changes over three-year periods." The Fed's network surveys are a census of the major general-purpose card networks, private-label card issuers and processors, the entities that run automated clearinghouse (ACH) systems, and processors of other emerging and alternative payment methods [3]. In this page's reading, the national totals are therefore estimates built from a sample of smaller institutions plus censuses of card networks, card issuers and processors, the entities that run ACH systems and other processors, not counts of every transaction.[3]
Definitions. General-purpose card figures are defined as net, authorized and settled. Checks written in the table's additional estimates are checks plus checks converted to ACH. "Additional details about the 2024 results will be available in future releases."[1]
Reading in pairs
Number vs value. Cards made up 187.7 of the 236.6 billion noncash payments in 2024 (79.3%, this page's calculation; 79 percent in the text) but only $11.50 trillion of $140.01 trillion in value (8.2%). ACH held $104.06 trillion. A share by number and a share by value describe different things.[1]
What "total" is not. The total of 236.6 billion payments is the sum of cards (187.7), ACH (39.7) and checks (9.2), and the $140.01 trillion is the sum of their values (this page's checks match the published totals). It is not a count of all payments: wire transfers and cash are outside it, and ATM withdrawals (3.4 billion in 2024) are listed separately.[1]
Credit vs debit. From 2021 to 2024 credit card payments grew 9.6% a year and debit card payments 4.1% a year (Table 1 growth rates); the study notes this was the first measured three-year period since 2000 that credit card payments grew more than debit. The study does not establish why.[1]
Text vs table changes. The text gives increases of 31.9 billion payments, $10.37 trillion, 13.8 billion debit and 16.2 billion credit payments; differences of the rounded table values give 31.8, $10.38 trillion, 13.9 and 16.1 (this page's subtractions). Each table value is rounded to 0.1 billion or $0.01 trillion, so differences of up to 0.1 or $0.01 trillion are within rounding.[1]
Verified facts
Each fact is labelled with its evidence typeEach fact in this section carries its evidence type — either cross-checked against independent sources, or confirmed from a single authoritative record.
The total number of U.S. noncash payments rose to 236.6 billion in 2024, an increase of 31.9 billion from 2021, per the Federal Reserve Payments Study.[1] 1 source · authoritative record
The total value of U.S. noncash payments rose to $140.01 trillion in 2024, up $10.37 trillion from 2021.[1] 1 source · authoritative record
Cards' share of U.S. noncash payments by number reached 79 percent in 2024, up from 77 percent in 2021.[1] 1 source · authoritative record
Wire transfers are excluded from the Federal Reserve Payments Study's 2024 top-line noncash payment data.[1] 1 source · authoritative record
Statements and readings
Not counted as facts — each item shows what kind of statement it isFrom here on: statements not counted as facts — single-source reports, the issuing body’s own statements, and this page’s own readings, each labeled.
Cards, ACH and checks add to the published 236.6 billion payments and $140.01 trillion; cards were 79.3% of the number but 8.2% of the value in 2024.[1] This page’s own calculation or reading · This page's sums and shares from FRPS Table 1
Rounded table values give a 2021-24 increase of 31.8 billion payments against the text's 31.9 billion, a difference within rounding.[1] This page’s own calculation or reading · This page's subtractions from FRPS Table 1
Timeline
What this page could not establish
These are questions this page tried to answer and could not. The gaps are left open rather than filled with a guess.- When will more detailed 2024 FRPS results be released?
- How precise are the 2024 national estimates?
- Model
- claude-opus-5
- Time
- 11/06/2026, 01:40
- Body characters
- 5,991
- Sources
- 3 sources adopted
- Model
- ChatGPT (checked sources on the web)
- Time
- 11/06/2026, 02:06
- Verdict
- Revision required
Show revision history (3)
| 11/06/2026, 09:00 | First authored (claude-opus-5) | Created |
| 11/06/2026 | First version. Read in full the FRPS key findings and Table 1 for 2015-24, the FRPS main page and the About page; quotations are complete sentences matched against the source text. | Updated |
| 11/06/2026 | Revised after review: the depository-institution survey design is quoted in full from the About page (a consistent set of large depository institutions is surveyed in years between triennial surveys); the census list is restated from the About page, including the entities that run automated clearinghouse (ACH) systems; the ATM row's evidence cell carries the source reference inside the sixth column. | Updated |
Frequently asked
How many noncash payments were made in the U.S. in 2024?
236.6 billion noncash payments in 2024, worth $140.01 trillion, per the Federal Reserve Payments Study released July 2026.[1]
What share of 2024 U.S. noncash payments were made by card?
79 percent by number in 2024, up from 77 percent in 2021, but only about 8 percent by value.[1]
Does the 2024 FRPS total include wire transfers?
No: wire transfers are excluded from the 2024 top-line data, and ATM cash withdrawals are reported separately from the noncash total.[1]
How fast did credit card payments grow from 2021 to 2024?
9.6% a year by number from 2021 to 2024 (Table 1), reaching 67.1 billion payments, against 4.1% a year for debit cards.[1]
Is the 2024 FRPS a count of every payment?
No: the 2024 figures are national estimates built from surveys, including a representative sample of smaller depository institutions in triennial years and censuses of major card networks, card issuers and processors, the entities that run ACH systems and other payment processors.[3]