Credit Union Branches Increase in 2022

NCUA data showed the nation’s credit unions increased their number of branches last year and in 2021, but the gains were less than half of the 449 branches and other locations lost in 2020.

The NCUA showed the nation’s 4,856 credit unions had 21,748 branches, headquarters, operations centers or other locations as of Dec. 31, 267 fewer than they had at the end of 2019, representing a 1.2% drop.

The nation lost 449 branches in 2020 (-2.0%), and gained 86 branches in 2021 and 96 in 2022 — gains of 0.4% in each of the past two years.

Some of the losses can be explained by small credit unions that folded. Some were lost in acquisitions, especially if there was an overlap. Some were shed in the months after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020.

Some branches have been added as credit unions buy branches from banks, which have been shedding them at a higher rate. Some have been added through organic growth.

But the net result has been more credit union members being served by fewer branches, a trend that began before the pandemic and has continued in the past two years as branch growth resumed.

On Dec. 31, 2019, less than three months before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, there were 5,530 members per location. By the end of 2020, there were 5,828 members per branch. The numbers rose to 6,072 members in December 2021 and 6,280 in December 2022.

By Census regions, only the West has recovered from the 2020 drops, and the Northeast continued losing branches in 2021 and 2022.

• The Northeast had 3,614 branches Dec. 31, 154 less (-4.1%) than it had at the end of 2019. It lost 87 branches in 2020, lost 48 in 2021 and lost 19 in 2022.
• The Midwest had 5,521 branches Dec. 31, 61 less (-1.1%) than it had at the end of 2019. It lost 96 branches in 2020, gained 26 in 2021 and gained nine in 2022.
• The South had 7,812 branches Dec. 31, 61 less (-0.8%) than it had at the end of 2019. It lost 160 branches in 2020, gained 50 in 2021 and gained 49 in 2022.
• The West had 4,750 branches Dec. 31, nine more (+0.2%) than it had at the end of 2019. It lost 106 branches in 2020, gained 58 in 2021 and gained 57 in 2022.

States with the largest percentage increases over the past three years were Wyoming (+7.9%), Montana (+7.8%), Arkansas (+7.1%) and Idaho (+7.1%).

The biggest percentage declines were Washington, D.C. (-9.6%), Delaware (-7.1%), Connecticut (-7%), New Jersey (-6-6%) and Ohio (-6.6%).