How to Read the FDIC Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households — Definitions, Significance and Changed Questions

As of 9 November 2026, 01:28 KST (retrieved by this page at that time); latest listed on the agency page at retrieval: the 2023 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) with the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS). Executive summary recommended citation: November 2024; survey page Last Updated: November 14, 2024. The survey was taken in June 2023. Primary source: https://www.fdic.gov/household-survey/2023-fdic-national-survey-unbanked-and-underbanked-households-executive-summary^[1][2]

Comparison basis: shares of households, rounded to one decimal, from a sample of about 30,000 households; FDIC treats differences as significant at the 10 percent level. The survey is biennial, so the comparison is with the previous wave, two years earlier (2021, executive summary FDIC-007-2022, reached from the archives page), not with a year earlier. The FDIC's FAQ says: "The U.S. Census Bureau fields the Household Survey every two years in odd-numbered years." Some measures changed between editions, as noted in the table and below.^[1][3]

In three lines

1. In June 2023, 4.2% of U.S. households (about 5.6 million) had no bank or credit union account (Executive Summary, Figure ES.1).
2. The change from 4.5% in 2021 was not statistically significant; the rate has fallen by almost half since 2011.
3. 14.2% were underbanked, a figure not directly comparable with 2021 because one question changed (footnote 11).^[1]

The survey. The 2023 report describes its then most recent survey: "The most recent survey was conducted in June 2023, collecting responses from almost 30,000 households." It is a supplement to the CPS, and person-level traits such as race or age are those of the householder.^[1]

Unbanked, underbanked, fully banked. "A household is unbanked if no one in the household had a checking or savings account at a bank or credit union (hereafter, bank)." A household is underbanked if it had an account but used at least one of eight nonbank financial services in the past 12 months: money orders, check cashing, international remittances, rent-to-own services, or payday, pawn shop, auto title or tax refund anticipation loans. The rest of banked households are fully banked: 81.6% of households in 2023.^[1]

Statistical significance. The 2023 summary treats differences as significant at the 10 percent level unless noted. For the unbanked rate (4.5% in 2021, 4.2% in 2023) it says: "The difference in the unbanked rate over this period was not statistically significant."^[1]

New questions in 2023. The 2023 survey added questions on Buy Now, Pay Later (3.9% of households in the past 12 months) and on crypto (4.8%), and broadened the question on tax refund anticipation loans: "The share of households that used tax refund anticipation loans in 2023 is not directly comparable to the shares in 2019 and 2021 because the question on tax refund anticipation loans was broadened to better match credit products available on the market."^[1]

Three underbanked rates for 2021. The 2021 summary gives 14.1%. Its footnote says: "Excluding the use of international remittances, the underbanked rate would have been 12.3 percent in 2021, 14.6 percent in 2019, and 18.1 percent in 2017." The 2023 summary says: "Underbanked and fully banked rates in 2023 are not directly comparable to those in 2021 because the question on tax refund anticipation loans was broadened to better match credit products available on the market." "Excluding the use of tax refund anticipation loans, the underbanked rate would have been 13.6 percent in 2021 and 12.7 percent in 2023." "The decline between 2021 and 2023 was statistically significant." The 12.3% and 13.6% leave out different services, remittances in one edition and tax refund anticipation loans in the other, so they are different series, not conflicting values.^[1][3]

Family groups renamed. The 2021 summary reports 15.9% unbanked among single-mother households and 1.8% among married couple households. The 2023 summary says: "For single-parent households, the unbanked rate in 2023 was 12.3 percent, much higher than the unbanked rate among married-couple households with one or more children (2.3 percent)." Single-parent households include unmarried fathers, and the married-couple group is limited to couples with children, so the 2021 and 2023 rates describe different groups.^[1][3]

Credit measures with different product lists. In 2021, 71.5% of households had a Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover card and 25.5% used none of the credit products in that survey; the 2021 summary notes: "The 2021 survey did not collect information on mortgages, auto loans, and student loans." In 2023, 76.4% had a traditional credit card and 15.7% had no mainstream credit, a measure that includes mortgages, auto loans and student loans. The 25.5% and 15.7% count different product lists and cannot be compared.^[1][3]

Nonbank credit. In 2023, 5.8% of households used a rent-to-own service or a payday, pawn shop, auto title or tax refund anticipation loan; the 2021 summary gave 4.4% for the same five products. Because the tax refund anticipation loan question was broadened in 2023, the two shares are not directly comparable.^[1]

Dates kept apart. Survey month: June 2023 (previous edition: June 2021). 2023 results: executive summary citation November 2024, survey page last updated November 14, 2024. 2021 executive summary: carries the code FDIC-007-2022 but no publication date; the archives page was last updated March 2, 2026.^[1][2][3][4]

Next release. The FDIC's FAQ says: "A new wave of the survey data, along with a public report on the survey findings, is released in the fall of even-numbered years, following the data collection in the prior year." No results of a 2025 survey were listed on the survey page when this page retrieved it, and no exact date is given, so the next release date is not established.^[2][4][5]