More than 30,000 regulated financial institutions operate in the United States when you add up the main categories tracked by federal and state regulators: commercial banks, credit unions, broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, and insurance companies. No single agency publishes one grand total, because each regulator counts only its own slice. The figures below come from the most recent data each regulator has released, and they answer the question of how many financial institutions are in the US category by category.
Banks and Savings Institutions
The FDIC’s BankFind database lists 4,326 insured commercial banks and savings institutions with active status as of early 2026.1Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. BankFind Suite: Find Insured Banks That figure covers every depository institution with federal deposit insurance: national banks chartered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, state-chartered banks that belong to the Federal Reserve System, and state-chartered banks supervised directly by the FDIC.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1813 – Definitions
All of these institutions pay premiums into the Deposit Insurance Fund, which protects depositor accounts up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per ownership category.3FDIC. Deposit Insurance
Credit Unions
The National Credit Union Administration counted 4,331 federally insured credit unions in the third quarter of 2025, serving roughly 144 million members and holding about $2.38 trillion in assets.4National Credit Union Administration. Quarterly Credit Union Data Summary 2025 Q3 Of those, 2,715 are federally chartered and 1,616 are state-chartered credit unions that carry federal share insurance.
Credit unions are member-owned cooperatives rather than shareholder corporations. The NCUA charters federal credit unions, regulates all federally insured ones, and operates the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which covers members up to $250,000 per ownership category — the same limit as FDIC coverage.5National Credit Union Administration. Share Insurance Coverage
Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisers
The securities industry contributes tens of thousands of firms. FINRA reported 3,249 registered broker-dealer firms at year-end 2024, down from 3,435 four years earlier.6FINRA.org. 2025 FINRA Industry Snapshot These firms handle the buying and selling of stocks, bonds, and other securities. Most must also register with the SEC.7U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Guide to Broker-Dealer Registration
Registered investment advisers form a much larger group. The SEC’s most recent data shows 15,909 SEC-registered investment advisers as of 2024, managing approximately $146 trillion in assets. Including exempt reporting advisers, such as certain private fund managers who file with the SEC but aren’t fully registered, the total climbs to 21,669.8U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Investment Adviser Statistics Thousands more advisers register only at the state level and are not reflected in the SEC’s count.
A smaller segment covers municipal advisor firms, which advise state and local governments on bond issuances and public finance. About 408 firms are registered with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.9Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB). Municipal Advisor Firms
Insurance Companies
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners reports roughly 4,167 domestic insurers — companies headquartered in a U.S. state — in its most recent industry census.10National Association of Insurance Commissioners. NAIC Scorecard – State Insurance Regulation: Key Facts and Market Trends The figure spans property and casualty, life, health, and title carriers. It does not include nearly 6,000 captive insurance companies, which businesses set up to insure their own risks and which the NAIC tracks separately.
Unlike banks and credit unions, insurance companies are regulated primarily at the state level. A carrier’s “domestic” state department is its primary supervisor, even when the company sells policies in dozens of other states.
Specialized Institutions
Several smaller categories round out the picture.
Farm Credit System
The Farm Credit System consists of 4 banks and 55 associations that lend to farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.11Farm Credit Administration. About Banks and Associations These institutions are cooperatively owned by their borrowers and regulated by the Farm Credit Administration.
Community Development Financial Institutions
The U.S. Treasury’s CDFI Fund had certified 1,426 Community Development Financial Institutions by the end of fiscal year 2024.12CDFI Fund. SNAP STAT: A View of the Certified CDFI Universe CDFIs include banks, credit unions, loan funds, and venture capital funds that serve low-income communities. Many are already counted in the bank or credit union totals above, so this category overlaps rather than adding a wholly separate 1,426 institutions to the running count.
Why the Numbers Keep Shrinking
Nearly every category has been contracting for years. The FDIC counted 5,607 insured institutions in 2014 but only 3,928 at the end of 2024, a decline of roughly 30 percent in a single decade.13Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). BankFind Suite: Find Annual Historical Bank Data Credit unions have followed the same path, with the NCUA count falling from 4,499 in the third quarter of 2024 to 4,331 a year later.4National Credit Union Administration. Quarterly Credit Union Data Summary 2025 Q3 Broker-dealer firms dropped from 3,435 in 2020 to 3,249 at year-end 2024.6FINRA.org. 2025 FINRA Industry Snapshot
Mergers and acquisitions drive most of the decline, as smaller institutions combine with larger ones seeking scale, broader geographic reach, or technology investment. Fewer institutions doesn’t mean fewer services. Total assets in both banking and credit unions have grown even as the count has fallen, and the remaining institutions tend to be larger and more digital. Consumers still choose among thousands of providers, but the mix will look different again a decade from now.