Short answer
The US had 4,214 federally insured credit unions on 30 June 2026, according to the National Credit Union Administration's Quarterly Credit Union Data Summary, with 146.1 million members and $2.50 trillion in assets: 2,649 federal credit unions and 1,565 state-chartered ones. Another 85 privately insured credit unions also report to NCUA. The count has fallen from 5,887 in mid-2016, and the 471 credit unions with $1 billion or more hold about 80% of assets.
- 4,214 federally insured credit unions in June 2026: 2,649 federal and 1,565 state-chartered.
- They serve 146.1 million members, hold $2.50 trillion in assets and employ 371,088 people.
- 471 credit unions with $1 billion or more hold nearly 80% of assets; 1,878 have less than $50 million.
- The count fell 28% in ten years, from 5,887 in June 2016.
- Texas has the most credit unions (376); California's 229 hold the most assets, $318.8 billion.
On this page
- How many credit unions there are in the US
- Why the counts differ
- The number of credit unions over time
- Credit unions by asset size
- The largest credit unions
- Credit unions by state
- How to download a list of credit unions
- Who buys at a credit union
- Worked example: digital account opening for Midwest credit unions
- Sources
- Questions people ask
This page is for anyone who needs the number of credit unions in the US, and for companies that sell to them: core and digital banking, lending and collections software, payments, compliance, cybersecurity, marketing and consulting. It reconciles the official counts, breaks them down by size, charter and state, names the largest from NCUA's data, shows how to download the full list and works through an example. For banks, see our list of banks.
How many credit unions there are in the US
| Count | Number | Date | Source | What it counts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federally insured credit unions | 4,214 | 30 June 2026 | NCUA Quarterly Credit Union Data Summary | Credit unions whose deposits are insured by NCUA's share insurance fund |
| of which federal credit unions | 2,649 | 30 June 2026 | NCUA | Chartered and supervised by NCUA |
| of which state-chartered, federally insured | 1,565 | 30 June 2026 | NCUA | Chartered by a state, insured by NCUA |
| Privately insured credit unions in NCUA's call report file | 85 | 30 June 2026 | NCUA call report data | State-chartered credit unions without federal insurance: 35 in Ohio, 15 in Illinois, 10 in California |
| Credit union offices | 22,507 | 30 June 2026 | NCUA branch file | Main and branch offices of federally insured credit unions |
| Credit union establishments (NAICS 522130) | 19,605 | 2023 | Census County Business Patterns | Locations with paid employees |
| Credit union establishments covered by unemployment insurance | 20,417 | 2025 average | BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages | Worksites reporting to state unemployment insurance |
Why the counts differ
- Institutions or offices. NCUA's 4,214 counts credit unions; the Census Bureau and BLS count locations, so a credit union with 50 branches counts 50 times there.
- Federal or private insurance. NCUA's headline figure covers federally insured credit unions only. A small number of state-chartered credit unions carry private share insurance instead; 85 of them appear in the call report file with $23.8 billion in assets and 1.3 million members.
- Mergers move the number every quarter. NCUA counted 4,370 federally insured credit unions in June 2025 and 4,214 a year later, so a figure even a year old overstates the market by about 150.
The number of credit unions over time
| June of | Federally insured credit unions | Federal | State-chartered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 5,887 | 3,679 | 2,208 |
| 2021 | 5,029 | 3,143 | 1,886 |
| 2025 | 4,370 | ||
| 2026 | 4,214 | 2,649 | 1,565 |
NCUA describes the decline as consistent with long-running consolidation. Members kept growing: federally insured credit unions added 2.3 million members in the year to June 2026, and total assets rose 5.0%.
Credit unions by asset size
| Total assets, June 2026 | Credit unions | Share of assets | Share of members | Median employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $10 million | 761 | 0.1% | 0.4% | 2 |
| $10 million to $50 million | 1,117 | 1.2% | 1.8% | 6 |
| $50 million to $100 million | 560 | 1.6% | 2.1% | 15 |
| $100 million to $500 million | 1,028 | 9.6% | 10.7% | 42 |
| $500 million to $1 billion | 277 | 8.0% | 8.3% | 129 |
| $1 billion to $10 billion | 446 | 51.8% | 48.1% | 324 |
| $10 billion or more | 25 | 27.7% | 28.6% | 2,236 |
Our calculation from NCUA's June 2026 call report data for the 4,214 federally insured credit unions.
The median credit union has $67.7 million in assets. NCUA treats the 748 with more than $500 million as complex credit unions, which must meet a risk-based capital standard (290 of them) or opt into the simpler complex credit union leverage ratio (458). 2,370 credit unions, 56% of the total, hold a low-income designation.
The largest credit unions
| Credit union | Headquarters | Assets, June 2026 | Members |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navy Federal Credit Union | Vienna, Virginia | $204.4 billion | 15.5 million |
| State Employees' Credit Union | Raleigh, North Carolina | $60.0 billion | 3.0 million |
| SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union | Santa Ana, California | $37.2 billion | 1.6 million |
| Boeing Employees' Credit Union | Tukwila, Washington | $29.6 billion | 1.6 million |
| Pentagon Federal Credit Union | McLean, Virginia | $29.2 billion | 2.8 million |
From NCUA's call report data. Navy Federal alone holds 8% of all credit union assets and serves 11% of members.
Credit unions by state
| State | Credit unions | Assets | Members |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 376 | $161.6 billion | 10.3 million |
| Pennsylvania | 269 | $83.9 billion | 5.0 million |
| New York | 268 | $135.2 billion | 7.3 million |
| California | 229 | $318.8 billion | 15.4 million |
| Illinois | 173 | $74.0 billion | 4.0 million |
| Michigan | 169 | $121.2 billion | 6.1 million |
| Ohio | 157 | $45.9 billion | 3.0 million |
| Louisiana | 136 | $17.7 billion | 1.3 million |
| New Jersey | 126 | $15.3 billion | 1.0 million |
| Tennessee | 125 | $48.8 billion | 2.8 million |
By headquarters state. A credit union's assets and members are counted where its main office is, though members and branches can be anywhere.
Virginia has 95 credit unions but $286.4 billion in assets, the second most of any state, because Navy Federal and Pentagon Federal are based there.
How to download a list of credit unions
- Every credit union. Download the latest quarterly call report data from NCUA's Credit Union and Corporate Call Report Data page. It's a zip of comma-delimited text files. FOICU.txt has each credit union's charter number, name, address, charter type, field of membership and low-income code.
- Size and staff. Join FS220.txt (total assets, members, loans, shares) and FS220A.txt (full-time and part-time employees) on the charter number (CU_NUMBER). AcctDesc.txt explains every account code.
- Branches. "Credit Union Branch Information.txt" lists all 22,507 offices with address, phone number, hours and whether each has an ATM or drive-through. The files list institutions and offices, not people. They change every quarter as credit unions merge, so download the latest release before you build a campaign.
Who buys at a credit union
As general guidance, these are the usual owners by what you sell:
| What you sell | Who usually decides |
|---|---|
| Core processing and digital banking | CEO and the board, with the CIO or COO; contracts run for years |
| Lending, collections and card programs | Chief lending officer, collections manager |
| Compliance, BSA and fraud tools | Compliance officer or BSA officer, CFO |
| Cybersecurity and IT services | CIO or IT manager, with the supervisory committee for audits |
| Marketing and member growth | Marketing director, CEO at smaller credit unions |
Below about $100 million in assets, a credit union has a median of 15 staff or fewer and the CEO often decides everything. Volunteer boards approve large contracts. NCUA expects credit unions to vet vendors in proportion to the risk of the service (Letter to Credit Unions 07-CU-13), so have security and financial documents ready before the first evaluation call.
Worked example: digital account opening for Midwest credit unions
Illustrative example. The company and its rates are invented; the counts come from NCUA's June 2026 call report data.
The seller: Opensign (opensign.example) sells digital account opening software. Its best customers are credit unions large enough to compete on mobile but too small to build their own. The territory: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.
- Count the market. NCUA's data has 142 federally insured credit unions in those seven states with $250 million to $1 billion in assets. Together they serve 4.5 million members, and the median one has 94 employees.
- Find the trigger. A credit union that absorbs another in a merger suddenly has members to onboard. Compare two quarters of call report data to spot mergers and fast member growth.
- Do the arithmetic. If Opensign reaches the chief operating or digital officer at all 142 and an illustrative 10% are replacing their account opening within a year, that's 14 evaluations. Winning a third gives 4 or 5 customers; at an illustrative $50,000 a year each, that's about $225,000 in new annual revenue.
- Find the buyer. At this size the COO or a digital banking manager runs the project and the CEO signs. Finding those people and what's changed at each credit union (a merger, a new CEO, a core conversion) is the slow part; Bebop finds the contacts and researches each one in the list.
Next step: profile each target credit union with the account research template before you write.
Sources
- Quarterly Credit Union Data Summary, 2026 Q2, National Credit Union Administration, September 2026
- Credit union and corporate call report data: quarterly data, June 2026, June 2021 and June 2016, National Credit Union Administration, accessed 30 October 2026
- Evaluating Third Party Relationships (Letter to Credit Unions 07-CU-13), National Credit Union Administration, December 2007
- County Business Patterns 2023 (NAICS 522130), US Census Bureau, 2025
- Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2025 annual averages, NAICS 522130, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many credit unions are in the US?
4,214 federally insured credit unions on 30 June 2026, according to NCUA's Quarterly Credit Union Data Summary: 2,649 federal credit unions and 1,565 state-chartered credit unions with federal insurance. They had 146.1 million members and $2.50 trillion in assets. NCUA's call report file also includes 85 privately insured, state-chartered credit unions, mostly in Ohio, Illinois and California.
How many credit unions are there by state?
Texas has the most, with 376 federally insured credit unions in June 2026, followed by Pennsylvania (269), New York (268), California (229), Illinois (173) and Michigan (169), by headquarters in NCUA's call report data. By assets, California leads with $318.8 billion, followed by Virginia with $286.4 billion, because Navy Federal Credit Union and Pentagon Federal Credit Union are based there.
What is the largest credit union in the US?
Navy Federal Credit Union in Vienna, Virginia, with $204.4 billion in assets and 15.5 million members in June 2026, according to NCUA's call report data. That's about 8% of all credit union assets. State Employees' Credit Union in Raleigh, North Carolina, is second with $60.0 billion, followed by SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union ($37.2 billion) and Boeing Employees' Credit Union ($29.6 billion).
Are there fewer credit unions than there used to be?
Yes. There were 5,887 federally insured credit unions in June 2016, 5,029 in June 2021 and 4,214 in June 2026, a fall of 28% in ten years, which NCUA calls consistent with long-running industry consolidation. Membership kept growing: federally insured credit unions added 2.3 million members in the year to June 2026.
Where can I download a list of all credit unions?
From NCUA's quarterly call report data page. Each release is a free zip of comma-delimited files: one lists every credit union's charter number, name, address, charter type and field of membership, others give assets, members, loans and employees, and a branch file lists every office with its address, phone and hours. Each release replaces the last, so download the newest before building a list.
How many people work at credit unions?
Federally insured credit unions reported 371,088 employees in June 2026, 352,789 of them full-time, in NCUA's call report data. The Census Bureau counted 348,545 employees at 19,605 credit union locations in 2023. Most credit unions are small: the median one with $10 million to $50 million in assets has six employees, and the 25 with $10 billion or more have a median of 2,236.