Larger credit unions, which can more easily benefit from economies of scale, have a higher likelihood of offering a variety of electronic services. 
This heat map shows the changes in the number of credit union branches by state from June 2017 to June 2018. 
The amount of revenue generated per dollar spent on salary and benefits among America's credit unions has risen 10.2% in the past five years. 
The average member relationship among U.S. credit unions is up 19.9% since 2014, exceeding $19,000 as of the first quarter of 2019. Source: Callahan's Peer-to-Peer Analytics 
Left: The net interest margin and operating expense ratios increased nine and three basis points, respectively, both reaching 3.12% by March 2019. In the first quarter of 2014, the operating expense ratio exceeded the net interest margin by 24 basis points. Source: Callahan's Peer-to-Peer Analytics. Right: The efficiency ratio, which represents how much it costs a credit union to generate a dollar in revenue, dropped 2.6 percentage points in the past five years to 78.1% as of March 2019, largely due to retail delivery, including branching, becoming more efficient. 
Credit union membership in the United States has grown 20.5% in the past five years. As of March 31, credit unions reported 118.6 million members, 36.1% of the total U.S. population, which was 328.2 million on Jan. 1, 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Source: Callahan's Peer-to-Peer Analytics
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
