States as well as Metro Areas With the Most Unbanked Households
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States as well as Metro Areas With the Most Unbanked Households
by Laura McMullen Assistant Assigning Editor Personal finance, financial information Laura McMullen assigns and edits the financial news content. She was previously a senior writer for NerdWallet and was responsible for budgeting, saving and making money; she was also a contributor to “Millennial Financial” column of The Associated Press. Prior to joining NerdWallet at the end of 2015 Laura worked for U.S. News & World Report, where she created and edited articles on careers, wellness and education and also contributed to the company’s ranking projects. Before joining U.S. News & World Report, Laura interned at Vice Media and studied journalism as well as the history of Arabic in the Ohio University. Ohio University. Laura is a resident of Washington, D.C.
Sep 28 September 28, 2016
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The benefits of your bank aren’t limited to free coffee and candy -they offer services you might consider to be a given, such as cashing your checks at no cost and loans that offer reasonable rates of interest. However, for the more than 9.5 million households that are not banked across the U.S., these services come with a hefty price and one that NerdWallet discovered can add up to hundreds of dollars per year.
In the U.S., 7.7% of households didn’t have any members who had a bank account in the latest FDIC Nationwide Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, which is the most current set of data available. That was down from the 2011 version of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s biannual survey, and the number dropped to 7% in 2015, according to an early preview of the new edition, which will be published in October.
Benefits not used, additional fees
While fewer families are avoiding banks, the ones who are not taking advantage of the opportunity to save up for emergencies, and secured credit cards that aid in building credit. They don’t benefit from the entire array of security against fraud that federally insured banks as well as credit unions provide, and they can’t access the online and mobile banking options which can save the time as well as money. (Read NerdWallet’s national coverage on the to learn more about the options available to unbanked consumers, including .)
Households that don’t have an account with a bank also have to pay loads of fees to costly alternative financial service providers. NerdWallet calculated the costs of money order, check cashing, and pre-paid debit cards. Unbanked households that use the prepaid debit card which allows direct deposit pay an average annual amount for $196.50 in fees. On the other hand, those without banks who utilize a prepaid debit card with no direct deposit have an annual average of $488.89 in charges. (See our full methodology for more information.)
Unbanked households are reported by metro and state
We examined the $196.50 as well as the $488.89 figures as percentages of each state’s average 2013 income for households that don’t have accounts with banks that are based on FDIC data. Look at this map to see the states where unbanked households are the most affected with fees, using both the higher ($488.89) as well as the less ($196.50) figures. You can also see what states are home to the largest number of households without a bank account.
The table below shows the proportion of households that are not banked in 22 metropolitan areas and in all states, plus Washington, D.C. We estimated the cost of not having accounts with banks in percentages of the household income of households that are not banked within the metro area, as determined by the FDIC. We excluded three major metro areas for which some data were unavailable: San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, California; Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, California; and San Antonio, Texas.
Metro area has a large number of households that are unbanked.
UNBANKED HOMEHOLDS BY STATE
Rank (most to least unbanked)
State
Percentage of all households that are not banked
Average unbanked household income
Total unbanked costs of all household households (lower estimate)
Total unbanked expenses for all families (higher estimate)
Costs unbanked average as a percent of income (using higher estimate)
1
Mississippi
14.5%
$15,394.41
$31.08 million
$79.82 million
3.18%
2
Louisiana
13.9%
$20,104.15
$47.26 million
$121.37 million
2.43%
3
Arizona
12.8%
$20,300.92
$61.95 million
$159.07 million
2.41%
4
Arkansas
12.3%
$15,653.75
$29.08 million
$74.68 million
3.12%
5
District of Columbia
11.8%
$14,588.29
$7.46 million
$19.15 million
3.35%
6
West Virginia
11.0%
$18,592.82
$16.56 million
$42.54 million
2.63%
7
New Mexico
10.9%
$18,934.67
$17.78 million
$45.67 million
2.58%
7
Georgia
10.9%
$18,957.70
$81.64 million
$209.64 million
2.58%
7
Oklahoma
10.9%
$19,373.49
$32.56 million
$83.61 million
2.52%
10
South Carolina
10.5%
$19,724.50
$38.88 million
$99.84 million
2.48%
11
Texas
10.4%
$20,621.80
$191.63 million
$492.07 million
2.37%
12
Kentucky
9.7%
$15,417.32
$34.05 million
$87.45 million
3.17%
12
Tennessee
9.7%
$17,204.81
$48.51 million
$124.58 million
2.84%
14
Alabama
9.2%
$18,787.70
$36.03 million
$92.52 million
2.60%
15
Missouri
8.9%
$20,058.95
$42.11 million
$108.12 million
2.44%
16
New York
8.5%
$16,833.40
$125.19 million
$321.47 million
2.90%
17
North Carolina
8.4%
$17,177.65
$61.46 million
$157.82 million
2.85%
18
New Jersey
8.2%
$21,298.78
$51.25 million
$131.61 million
2.30%
19
California
8.0%
$22,211.31
$206.18 million
$529.45 million
2.20%
20
Nevada
7.9%
$19,047.68
$17.06 million
$43.80 million
2.57%
21
Illinois
7.4%
$21,036.78
$71.47 million
$183.53 million
2.32%
22
Ohio
7.2%
$18,777.16
$65.61 million
$168.47 million
2.60%
22
Indiana
7.2%
$22,675.18
$36.28 million
$93.17 million
2.16%
24
Montana
6.6%
$11,963.24
$5.35 million
$13.74 million
4.09%
25
Virginia
6.5%
$19,340.75
$39.67 million
$101.88 million
2.53%
26
Colorado
6.4%
$22,159.12
$25.84 million
$66.36 million
2.21%
27
Rhode Island
6.2%
$18,543.22
$5.12 million
$13.15 million
2.64%
27
Florida
6.2%
$19,376.05
$95.70 million
$245.73 million
2.52%
29
Delaware
6.1%
$22,921.16
$4.33 million
$11.12 million
2.13%
30
Kansas
6.0%
$21,820.97
$13.49 million
$34.64 million
2.24%
31
Massachusetts
5.8%
$22,086.69
$29.38 million
$75.45 million
2.21%
32
Nebraska
5.7%
$15,622.98
$8.47 million
$21.76 million
3.13%
32
Michigan
5.7%
$19,127.41
$42.44 million
$108.99 million
2.56%
34
Connecticut
5.6%
$21,036.57
$15.37 million
$39.48 million
2.32%
34
Wyoming
5.6%
$24,067.11
$2.65 million
$6.82 million
2.03%
36
Idaho
5.4%
$17,444.44
$6.39 million
$16.42 million
2.80%
37
Pennsylvania
5.2%
$17,820.47
$52.14 million
$133.90 million
2.74%
38
Wisconsin
4.8%
$16,495.70
$21.75 million
$55.85 million
2.96%
38
Maryland
4.8%
$24,470.06
$20.81 million
$53.43 million
2.00%
40
Oregon
4.5%
$16,345.12
$13.62 million
$34.98 million
2.99%
40
Iowa
4.5%
$18,571.62
$10.83 million
$27.81 million
2.63%
42
South Dakota
4.2%
$16,040.68
$2.67 million
$6.86 million
3.05%
43
Washington
4.1%
$17,048.35
$21.07 million
$54.10 million
2.87%
44
Hawaii
3.8%
$21,096.90
$3.41 million
$8.77 million
2.32%
45
Minnesota
3.6%
$16,228.27
$14.92 million
$38.31 million
3.01%
46
Utah
3.3%
$21,617.24
$6.11 million
$15.68 million
2.26%
47
Vermont
3.1%
$22,553.77
$1.59 million
$4.08 million
2.17%
48
New Hampshire
2.9%
$26,653.71
$3.00 million
$7.71 million
1.83%
49
North Dakota
2.8%
$22,645.30
$1.58 million
$4.06 million
2.16%
50
Maine
2.4%
$14,906.68
$2.57 million
$6.59 million
3.28%
51
Alaska
1.9%
$21,299.66
$1,002,022.57
$2,573,028.07
2.30%
The most important lessons to take away
1. The proportion of households that are not banked is significantly higher among low-income households: Nationally, 7.7% of households did not have a bank account in 2013, however, that rate was noticeably higher for households with low incomes. About twenty percent of the households that had incomes of less than $30k were not banked, while 24% of them were unbanked which means they had more than one saving account account or but had utilized at least one other financial service in the past year. These kinds of services include cashing checks or money orders, as well as payday loans. More than a third (35.6 percent) of unbanked households surveyed in the FDIC report stated that the primary reason they don’t have an account is that they don’t have enough money to fund an account, or to maintain the minimum balance. (Note that many don’t require minimal balances.) Other reasons that are common include distaste or distrust for banks and high or unpredictable account fees.
The correlation of the national population between bank-independent and low-income households can be seen at the state level. Seven of the 10 states that have the highest proportions of unbanked residents are among the 10 states that have low median incomes for households, according to the 2013 U.S. Census American Community Survey. In fact, excepting Washington, D.C., the nine states with the highest percentage of unbanked households had incomes for households below the median of the 2013 U.S. median of $52,250.
2. The cost of not having a bank account have the greatest impact on households with lower incomes households: The income of households that don’t have accounts with banks is especially low. The average income after tax of unbanked households in the U.S. was $17,359, and was lowest in Montana at $11,963.
Be aware that households without bank accounts that make use of a prepaid debit cards with no direct deposit have to have to pay the equivalent of $488.89 in fees per year. In Montana, that would consume up to 4 percent of the average unbanked household’s income. For context, the average U.S. household spent about 3.5 percent of its income after tax on fuel as well as motor oils in the year 2015 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For Washington, D.C., the disparity in earnings between banked and unbanked households is vast. The average income in 2013 for households with a bank account fully in D.C. was $55,032, but that was only $14,588 for those without an account with a bank. This figure isn’t going to be much more than a few dollars in a city where low-income housing opportunities are diminishing. According to a D.C. Fiscal Policy report in 2013, there were roughly half the number of Washington apartment rentals for less than $800 per month as they had in 2002. The report states that “subsidized housing is currently the only source of inexpensive housing.”
3. Unbanked local demographics reflect national trends: According to the FDIC 1/5th of households with black names (20.5%) across the U.S. in 2013 were unbanked, followed by Hispanic (17.9%) and American Indian/Alaskan households (16.9 percent). Just 2.2 percent of Asian households were not banked, which was a lower concentration than for white (3.6 percent) and Pacific Islander/Hawaiian (6.1 percentage) households.
Many of the places with the highest percentage of households that are not banked mirror these national demographics. In No. 12, Tennessee as well as No. 2 Louisiana, the state’s largest city is home to a large percentage of black residents and the largest cities are Memphis at 63 percent and New Orleans at 59.8%. Phoenix is the top city on our list of metros that are not banked is home to a substantial Hispanic community as does Albuquerque which is the largest city located in New Mexico, which tied with the seventh largest state. Two states that have the highest proportions of people who are not banked, New Mexico and Oklahoma are home to American Indian populations nearly 10 times the size of the U.S. as a whole.
4. Access to only in-person and online banking can be a hindrance: It’s hard to open a bank account when there aren’t any branches near where you live. Nearly half of the ZIP code in the middle of South region are “bank deserts” that is, they’ve only one or no bank branches, according to the MS-based Hope Policy Institute, which examines the financial inclusion. The analysis of the institute shows that the mid-South comprises Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas and has some of the highest proportions of households that are not banked. This region includes the western region of Tennessee where is the home of Memphis which is where nearly one-fifth (19.5%) of households do not have an account with a bank.
Brick-and-mortar locations are more crucial for those who are unable to connect to financial institutions online. Some Memphis residents face hurdles to both methods. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey, 27.7% of Memphis households were without access to the internet, compared with 21.4 percent across the country. Access to internet is a major issue across New Orleans, too, at 27.4 percent.
Sreekar Jasthi is a data analyst at NerdWallet the personal finance site. Email: . Laura McMullen is a staff writer at NerdWallet. Email: . Twitter: .
Methodology
Concentrations of income and unbanked households
To calculate the median income of households that are not banked nationwide and in each state we used information from the . To identify which metro areas to analyze we first selected those 25 from the FDIC report that contained the largest number of households. We omitted San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, California; Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, California; and San Antonio, Texas, because of insufficient income data.
Figures for the percentage of households that are not banked in each state and metro area are also from FDIC’s report. FDIC report.
Charges that are incurred when you’re not a banker
We found a interval from $196.50 to $488.89 in fees for the typical household that is not banked, by adding in the fees associated with cash checking or money orders, as well as pre-paid debit cards. The cost of these fees is contingent on whether the households’ debit cards that are prepaid allow direct deposit.
To calculate the cost of check cashing for non-banked households with debit cards prepaid without direct deposit or for those using only cash we assumed two pay checks that were cashed each month, and a fee of 1% of the check’s value. For households that use debit cards prepaid with direct deposit option, we accounted for $0 for check cashing. For both households we assumed one cash order sent per month with an average fee of $1.40.
To determine the average of check cashing and money-order fees, we analyzed the FDIC’s statistics on how often alternative financing services used by each kind of household (banked or not) Then we added the less frequent use by households that are banked to the cost average.
To determine the average annual cost of debit cards that are prepaid we looked at 69 cards, based on the major issuers, their high-traffic searches volume as well as Pew Charitable Trust’s the cards listed on ‘s and ‘s websites. For cards with different plans We counted every plan as a distinct card.
The study includes the annual costs of the prepaid debit card that comes with and without direct deposit for payroll. The median monthly fee used was $4.98 and the median out-of-network ATM fee used was $2.50. We paid the maximum fee for cash loading of $4.95.
Without directly depositing, we assumed twelve monthly fees and four ATM fees per month and the two fees for cash loading per month. Signature-based and PIN-based purchase transaction fees usually don’t apply to cards that have monthly fees, so we excluded them.
Upcoming FDIC survey
A preview of the 2015. FDIC National Survey of the Unbanked and Underbanked Households, set to be released in its entirety on Oct. 20th The survey revealed that the number of households without a bank account has fallen to 7.7%, which is around 8.6 million households. NerdWallet’s analysis is based on the most up-to-date set of data available.
Author bios: Laura McMullen writes about managing money for NerdWallet. Her work has appeared in The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other outlets.
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