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The number of U.S. households with little to no access to financial services is falling year over year, as mobile banking and low-cost accounts help combat the trend. But while different racial communities see disparate impacts of these approaches, many households across the U.S. remain unbanked.
Data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s 2023 National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households showed that of the 20 states with the highest rates of unbanked households, the rates ranged from 3.8% of all households to 9.4%.
The top two states were the same as 2021, although they were able to reduce their unbanked rates from the previous report. California had the largest number of unbanked households, but the size of the state's population put its unbanked rate at the lower end of the list.
Read on to see which states have the largest share of unbanked households, and how the trends have fared over time.
Percentages may not be exact due to rounding.
| Rank # | State | 2023 percentage of
unbanked households | 2021 percentage of
unbanked households | Percent change | 2023 # of
unbanked households (thousands) |
| 20 | South Dakota | 3.8 | 3.7 | 0.1 | 382 |
| 19 | Ohio | 4.2 | 3.5 | 0.7 | 4,993 |
17
(tie) | West Virginia | 4.3 | 3 | 1.3 | 756 |
17
(tie) | California | 4.3 | 5 | -0.7 | 14,007 |
| 16 | New Jersey | 4.7 | 3.5 | 1.2 | 3,478 |
| 15 | Indiana | 4.8 | 5.6 | -0.8 | 2,799 |
| 14 | New York | 5.1 | 5.9 | -0.8 | 8,163 |
| 13 | Alabama | 5.2 | 4.7 | 0.5 | 2,249 |
11
(tie) | New Mexico | 5.3 | 7 | -1.6 | 845 |
11
(tie) | South Carolina | 5.3 | 5.5 | -0.2 | 2,303 |
| 10 | Tennessee | 5.7 | 5 | 0.6 | 2,992 |
| 9 | Kentucky | 5.8 | 5.2 | 0.6 | 1,835 |
| 8 | Nevada | 6.1 | 5.6 | 0.5 | 1,272 |
| 7 | Oklahoma | 6.2 | 5.4 | 0.8 | 1,624 |
| 6 | Arkansas | 6.4 | 3.4 | 3.1 | 1,315 |
| 5 | Texas | 6.5 | 5.6 | 1 | 11,226 |
| 4 | Illinois | 6.6 | 4.4 | 2.2 | 5,221 |
| 3 | Georgia | 7 | 6.7 | 0.3 | 4,308 |
| 2 | Louisiana | 8 | 8.1 | -0.2 | 1,934 |
| 1 | Mississippi | 9.4 | 11.1 | -1.7 | 1,184 |
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