Short answer
Wells Fargo had 194,369 employees on September 30, 2026, according to its third-quarter 2026 financial supplement, filed with the SEC on Form 8-K on October 13, 2026. That's 2% fewer than in June and 8% fewer than a year earlier, which the bank attributes to efficiency initiatives. Its 10-K reported approximately 205,000 active employees at the end of 2025, 76% of them in the US. The peak was 268,531 in 2020.
- Latest figure: 194,369 employees on September 30, 2026, from the Q3 2026 supplement, down from 210,821 a year earlier.
- Headcount has fallen every year since its 2020 peak of 268,531, a drop of about 74,000 (28%) by September 2026 (our arithmetic).
- The share of employees outside the US rose from 12% in 2020 to 24% in 2025.
- Third-quarter 2025 included $296 million of severance; the bank says lower headcount cut its expenses in 2026.
- Revenue per employee was about $408,300 in 2025 and $448,800 over the year to September 2026 (our calculations).
On this page
This page is for sellers sizing Wells Fargo as an account, recruiters, analysts and anyone who needs a headcount they can cite. Every figure comes from Wells Fargo & Company's filings with the SEC: the annual report on Form 10-K, and the quarterly earnings release and financial supplement, which the bank files as exhibits to a Form 8-K. The supplement gives an exact period-end headcount each quarter. The fiscal year is the calendar year.
Wells Fargo employees by quarter (latest)
| As of | Headcount (period-end) | Change on prior quarter | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 30, 2026 | 194,369 | -3,097 (-1.6%) | Q3 2026 supplement, 8-K filed October 13, 2026 |
| June 30, 2026 | 197,466 | -3,533 (-1.8%) | Q3 2026 supplement |
| March 31, 2026 | 200,999 | -4,199 (-2.0%) | Q3 2026 supplement |
| December 31, 2025 | 205,198 | -5,623 (-2.7%) | Q3 2026 supplement |
| September 30, 2025 | 210,821 | Q3 2026 supplement |
The supplement reports the September figure as down 2% on the quarter and 8% on the year; the exact changes are our arithmetic. Four straight quarters of falls total 16,452 people.
Wells Fargo employees by year
| Year | As of | Employees | Based in the US | Change on prior year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | December 31, 2025 | about 205,000 | 76% | -12,000 (-5.5%) | 10-K filed February 24, 2026 |
| 2024 | December 31, 2024 | about 217,000 | 77% | -9,000 (-4.0%) | 10-K filed February 25, 2025 |
| 2023 | December 31, 2023 | about 226,000 | 79% | -12,000 (-5.0%) | 10-K filed February 20, 2024 |
| 2022 | December 31, 2022 | about 238,000 | 81% | -9,848 (-4.0%) | 10-K filed February 21, 2023 |
| 2021 | December 31, 2021 | 247,848 | 84% | -20,683 (-7.7%) | 10-K filed February 22, 2022 |
| 2020 | December 31, 2020 | 268,531 | 88% | 10-K filed February 23, 2021 | |
| 2019 | December 31, 2019 | 259,800 (FTE) | 10-K filed February 27, 2020 | ||
| 2018 | December 31, 2018 | 258,700 (FTE) | 10-K filed February 27, 2019 |
The 10-K rounds to the nearest thousand from 2022; the 2025 supplement figure of 205,198 is the exact count behind "approximately 205,000." Before 2020 the 10-K counted "active, full-time equivalent team members," a different basis, so we haven't calculated a change across 2019 and 2020.
The US share tells its own story. Applying the reported shares, about 236,000 employees were in the US at the end of 2020 and about 156,000 at the end of 2025, while the number outside the US rose from about 32,000 to about 49,000 (our arithmetic on rounded percentages). Wells Fargo doesn't name the countries.
What the number includes
- Active employees, worldwide. The 2025 10-K says: "At December 31, 2025, we had approximately 205,000 active employees, with approximately 76% based in the United States." It gives no contractor figure.
- Active employees since 2020, not FTEs. From 2020 the 10-K reports active employees; up to 2019 it reported full-time equivalents, so the two series aren't directly comparable.
- Period-end, every quarter. The supplement line "Headcount (#) (period-end)" is the one to track between annual reports.
- All four operating segments. One figure covers Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management. The filings don't split headcount by segment.
What changed and why
- 2020: the peak. 268,531 active employees, 88% in the US, at a time when the bank was operating under the Federal Reserve's 2018 asset growth restriction.
- 2021 to 2025: about 63,500 fewer. Every year-end count since has been lower, and the US share fell each year (our arithmetic: 268,531 less about 205,000).
- June 3, 2025: the asset cap lifted. The Federal Reserve announced that Wells Fargo "is no longer subject to the asset growth restriction." Headcount kept falling afterwards.
- 2025 and 2026: severance, then savings. Third-quarter 2025 included $296 million of severance expense. The third-quarter 2026 release says noninterest expense fell 1% "driven by the impact of efficiency initiatives, including an 8% reduction in headcount, lower severance expense, and lower lease expense."
The filings don't state a number of roles eliminated, so this page doesn't give one.
Revenue per employee
Wells Fargo's total revenue for 2025 was $83,699 million. Divided by the 10-K headcount, that's $83,699 million ÷ 205,000 = about $408,300 per employee (our calculation).
| Period | Total revenue | Employees at period end | Revenue per employee (our calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 months to September 30, 2026 | $87.2 billion | 194,369 | about $448,800 |
| 2025 | $83.7 billion | about 205,000 | about $408,300 |
| 2024 | $82.3 billion | about 217,000 | about $379,200 |
| 2023 | $82.6 billion | about 226,000 | about $365,500 |
| 2022 | $74.4 billion | about 238,000 | about $312,500 |
The trailing figure adds the last four quarters of revenue from the supplement: $21,292 million, $21,446 million, $22,622 million and $21,870 million. Revenue grew 13% from 2022 to 2025 while headcount fell 14%.
In the third quarter of 2026, Consumer Banking and Lending brought in $10.7 billion of revenue, Corporate and Investment Banking $5.0 billion, Wealth and Investment Management $4.1 billion and Commercial Banking $3.2 billion.
Selling to a bank of Wells Fargo's size
General guidance on how a US bank of 190,000 people buys, not a description of Wells Fargo's internal processes.
- Start from the segment. Consumer Banking and Lending runs the branch network and consumer lending such as home and auto loans; Commercial Banking serves private and family-owned businesses; the investment bank and the wealth business each buy for their own clients and advisors.
- Bring the efficiency arithmetic. Eight percent fewer people in a year, with expenses down, is the stated direction. Tools that let fewer people handle more work fit; tools that need new teams to run them face a harder case.
- Plan for vendor risk review. Third-party risk, information security and regulatory compliance reviews are standard at large banks and can take longer than the commercial negotiation.
- Follow the growth, too. With the asset cap gone, the release reports average loans and average deposits both up 11% on the year, so growth areas still hire and buy.
For a routine on an account this large, see enterprise account research. To compare another large US bank, see Bank of America's headcount. The slow part is mapping who owns a budget inside a bank this size; Bebop researches each account and suggests who to talk to.
Next step: see how many banks there are and how they buy on our list of banks.
Sources
- Wells Fargo Third Quarter 2026 Quarterly Supplement (Exhibit 99.2 to Form 8-K), Wells Fargo & Company, via SEC EDGAR, 13 October 2026
- Wells Fargo Reports Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results (Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K), Wells Fargo & Company, via SEC EDGAR, 13 October 2026
- Wells Fargo & Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, Wells Fargo & Company, via SEC EDGAR, 24 February 2026
- Wells Fargo & Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, Wells Fargo & Company, via SEC EDGAR, 25 February 2025
- Wells Fargo & Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, Wells Fargo & Company, via SEC EDGAR, 20 February 2024
- Wells Fargo & Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, Wells Fargo & Company, via SEC EDGAR, 21 February 2023
- Wells Fargo & Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, Wells Fargo & Company, via SEC EDGAR, 22 February 2022
- Wells Fargo & Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, Wells Fargo & Company, via SEC EDGAR, 23 February 2021
- Wells Fargo & Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, Wells Fargo & Company, via SEC EDGAR, 27 February 2020
- Wells Fargo & Company Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, Wells Fargo & Company, via SEC EDGAR, 27 February 2019
- Federal Reserve Board announces that Wells Fargo is no longer subject to the asset growth restriction, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 3 June 2025
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many employees does Wells Fargo have in 2026?
194,369 on September 30, 2026, according to the bank's third-quarter 2026 financial supplement, filed on Form 8-K on October 13, 2026. That's down from 197,466 in June, 200,999 in March and 205,198 at the end of 2025. Wells Fargo says the 8% fall over the year came from efficiency initiatives.
How many Wells Fargo employees are in the US?
About 156,000 at the end of 2025, by our arithmetic: the 10-K says approximately 76% of about 205,000 active employees were based in the US. The other quarter, about 49,000, worked in other countries. Five years earlier, 88% of 268,531 employees, about 236,000, were in the US. Wells Fargo doesn't publish a count for each state or country.
Has Wells Fargo had layoffs?
Its headcount has fallen every year since 2020, from 268,531 to 194,369 by September 2026, and it reported $296 million of severance expense in the third quarter of 2025 alone. Its 2026 earnings release attributes an 8% headcount reduction to efficiency initiatives. The filings don't give a number of jobs eliminated, so figures you see elsewhere aren't from the bank.
When did Wells Fargo have the most employees?
Among year-end counts in its recent 10-Ks, at December 31, 2020, when it reported an active employee headcount of 268,531. Earlier reports used full-time equivalents (259,800 at the end of 2019), so they aren't directly comparable. Since 2020 the count has fallen by about 74,000, or 28%, to 194,369 at September 30, 2026 (our arithmetic).
What is Wells Fargo's revenue per employee?
About $408,300 in 2025, by our calculation: total revenue of $83,699 million divided by about 205,000 employees at year-end, both from the bank's filings. Over the 12 months to September 30, 2026, revenue of about $87.2 billion and 194,369 employees give about $448,800. The ratio has risen each year because revenue grew while headcount fell.