After years of accelerating bank branch closures that doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic, America’s bank branch network appears to be approaching a new historic low despite a slowing rate of closures.
The most recent data shows that 584 net branch closures occurred between 2024 and 2025. This is a dramatic slowdown from the 200 net monthly closures banks sustained through much of 2021 and 2022.
Between 2017 and 2025, the national banking network contracted by 14.8%, dropping from 86,469 branches to 73,649. From June 30 to October 23, 2025, the branch network lost 211 locations, consistent with the roughly 50 monthly closures observed throughout 2024. This sustained rate suggests that the dramatic slowdown from pandemic-era levels has stabilized.
Distribution Across Communities Remains Stable
The share of branches serving low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities held steady throughout the study period, averaging 23.9% during the 2017-2021 period to 24.1% during the 2022-2025 period. However, this stability masked a significant demographic shift triggered by the 2020 Census.
When the Census Bureau applied its 2020 boundaries in 2022, it reclassified 6,942 census tracts as majority-minority, a 30% increase from the 2010 boundaries. This redefinition caused the share of branches in majority-minority census tracts (MMCT) to jump 4.6 percentage points overnight, from 20.4% in 2021 to 25.0% in 2022. Banks simply chose not to open new branches in minority communities. Instead, branches that were already operating in these neighborhoods simply got recategorized under the new boundaries.
The census change revealed an important demographic pattern: while the total MMCT representation jumped 4.6 percentage points, branches serving low-income, majority-minority communities (LMI/MMCT) increased just 0.5 percentage points. This 4.1 percentage point gap represents approximately 3,000 branches located in higher-income majority-minority neighborhoods, reflecting communities experiencing economic mobility or gentrification pressures. The pattern was particularly pronounced in tech hubs like San Francisco and Seattle, where the gap exceeded 10 percentage points, compared to minimal shifts in Minneapolis and Kansas City where demographic boundaries were already well-established.
Metro Patterns Show Wide Variation
The 20 major metropolitan areas analyzed below demonstrate the same decelerating closure patterns seen nationally, though with notable variations. Three distinct patterns emerged: growth markets in the Sunbelt and Midwest regions maintained relatively stable networks, older industrial cities and high-cost coastal metros experienced the steepest declines and several metros showed unexpected shifts in how closures affected low-income and majority-minority communities. Branch network changes varied substantially across markets, with total declines ranging from minimal losses in Dallas to nearly 20% contractions in Washington, DC.
Growth Markets Maintain Stability
Dallas maintained its network with minimal losses, joined by Kansas City and the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro regions with declines under 2.5%. These metros benefited from population expansion and strong local economies that sustained the demand for physical banking locations, contrasting sharply with older industrial metros and high-cost coastal markets.
Coastal and Rust Belt Markets Face Steepest Declines
Washington, DC led major metros in branch losses, followed by Detroit (17.8%) and San Francisco (17.6%). Seattle (15.1%) and Los Angeles (14.4%) rounded out the steepest declines. Coastal metros with high real estate costs and strong digital banking adoption consolidated their physical branches at a rapid pace, while Detroit’s trajectory mirrored its broader economic challenges. Phoenix stands out as an anomaly with robust population growth, but with a bank branch closure rate typical of declining Rust Belt cities.
Community Distribution Shifts
Several metros defied expectations. St. Louis saw large jumps in both LMI and MMCT branch shares, but recorded a slight decline in branches located in tracts that were both LMI and MMCT. Minneapolis and Boston also expanded their LMI networks despite losing branches, indicating selective retention efforts on the part of banks in moderate-income areas.
However, coastal metros tell a different story. San Francisco lost LMI branches at nearly twice the rate of its overall decline (30.5%), reflecting intense gentrification pressures. Seattle, Los Angeles and Washington, DC followed similar patterns, with LMI branch losses substantially exceeding their overall network contractions.
Census Boundary Changes Reveal Affluent Minority Communities
The 2022 implementation of the 2020 Census boundaries produced a notable shift in MMCT representation. Nationally, MMCT branch representation jumped 4.5 percentage points, while branches serving areas that are both LMI and MMCT increased by only 0.5 percentage points. This 4.0 percentage point gap demonstrates that many newly classified majority-minority tracts are in higher-income areas.
San Francisco showed the most pronounced example of this trend, with MMCT representation jumping 9.7 percentage points while LMI/MMCT representation declined by 6.2 points. Dallas, Seattle and Atlanta each saw MMCT increases exceeding 13 percentage points with minimal LMI/MMCT increases.
These trends suggest growing numbers of affluent minority communities where Asian, Black, Hispanic and multiracial residents comprise the majority, but where their household incomes exceed moderate-income thresholds. These areas show notable demographic shifts as communities of color build wealth and move into higher-income neighborhoods, particularly in metro areas that are technology hubs and rapidly growing Sunbelt metros.
What the Numbers Mean
The proportional stability masks an absolute decline in banking access across communities. While LMI and MMCT communities did not experience disproportionate branch losses relative to other areas, they still lost thousands of physical banking locations as the overall network contracted.
The pandemic accelerated this longstanding trend. The trend was documented in NCRC’s Great Consolidation report, which found that branch closure rates doubled from 99 per month before the pandemic to 201 per month afterward. Small business lending dropped 22.0% when branch density declined by just 8.0%, underscoring why branches remain essential for small business credit access, relationship banking and services like notarization and safe deposit boxes that cannot be fully replicated digitally. For many lower-income households and small businesses, physical branches provide critical access to cash services, in-person financial counseling and the relationship banking that facilitates loan approvals.
The March 2025 withdrawal of the 2023 Community Reinvestment Act modernization rule reverted enforcement to 1995 standards that tie obligations to branch-based assessment areas. This means fewer branches create smaller geographic areas where banks must demonstrate community development activity. This is a particularly concerning development given the documented network contraction.
Our analysis was based on NCRC branch location data covering 73,649 bank branches as of 2025, which was then mapped to align with census tract demographics. LMI tracts are defined as areas where median family income is less than 80% of area median income for this analysis. MMCT is defined as census tracts where the non-white population exceeds 50%.
Jason Richardson is NCRC’s Senior Director of Research.
Photo credit: Stephen Leonardi via Pexels.
