15.7% of U.S. households had no mainstream credit in 2023, meaning that in the past year no one in the household had a credit card, auto loan, student loan, mortgage or home equity loan, or a personal loan or line of credit. By state, our estimates from the FDIC survey range from 29.8% in Louisiana and 29.1% in Mississippi to 6.3% in Minnesota and 6.7% in Utah.
Households without mainstream credit likely have no credit score with the nationwide credit bureaus, which can make it harder to borrow or rent a home when they need to. Nationally, 4.2% of households had no bank account at all, and the FDIC found that 78.4% of those unbanked households also had no mainstream credit.
Read state figures with care
The survey reached 29,483 households nationwide but only 257 to 2,422 in each state, so state estimates are much less precise than the national one. The margins of error in the table, which we calculated from the survey's replicate weights, run as high as ±7.3 percentage points. Two states whose ranges overlap may not truly differ, and ranks between states that are close together are not meaningful.
Households by state, 2023
| State | No mainstream credit | Margin of error (90%) | No bank account (unbanked) | Margin of error (90%) | Households surveyed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | 29.8% | ±6.8 | 8.0% | ±2.0 | 597 |
| Mississippi | 29.1% | ±3.0 | 9.4% | ±1.8 | 581 |
| Alabama | 28.1% | ±5.0 | 5.2% | ±2.0 | 547 |
| Georgia | 23.7% | ±3.7 | 7.0% | ±2.2 | 627 |
| Arkansas | 23.2% | ±3.2 | 6.4% | ±1.8 | 521 |
| New Mexico | 22.6% | ±3.2 | 5.3% | ±2.0 | 527 |
| Tennessee | 20.7% | ±3.2 | 5.7% | ±1.5 | 579 |
| Oklahoma | 20.4% | ±3.7 | 6.2% | ±2.4 | 421 |
| Texas | 19.2% | ±2.3 | 6.5% | ±1.1 | 1,526 |
| District of Columbia | 19.1% | ±3.8 | 7.2% | ±2.2 | 569 |
| Kentucky | 17.9% | ±4.5 | 5.8% | ±1.8 | 376 |
| South Carolina | 17.7% | ±3.3 | 5.3% | ±2.0 | 518 |
| West Virginia | 17.5% | ±3.7 | 4.3% | ±1.4 | 629 |
| Florida | 17.4% | ±2.2 | 3.2% | ±0.9 | 1,173 |
| Missouri | 16.8% | ±2.6 | 3.4% | ±1.9 | 504 |
| Nevada | 16.8% | ±3.5 | 6.1% | ±2.3 | 370 |
| California | 16.6% | ±1.3 | 4.3% | ±0.7 | 2,422 |
| North Carolina | 16.6% | ±3.2 | 3.5% | ±1.2 | 585 |
| New York | 15.8% | ±2.0 | 5.1% | ±1.1 | 1,087 |
| Alaska | 15.5% | ±7.3 | 2.2% | ±1.7 | 383 |
| New Jersey | 15.2% | ±3.3 | 4.7% | ±2.4 | 537 |
| South Dakota | 15.1% | ±5.2 | 3.8% | ±1.6 | 354 |
| Oregon | 14.5% | ±3.1 | 2.0% | ±0.9 | 567 |
| Illinois | 14.4% | ±2.2 | 6.6% | ±2.1 | 804 |
| Wyoming | 14.4% | ±3.1 | 1.8% | ±1.2 | 444 |
| Michigan | 14.2% | ±2.9 | 3.2% | ±1.7 | 756 |
| Ohio | 14.0% | ±2.6 | 4.2% | ±1.4 | 791 |
| North Dakota | 13.9% | ±3.8 | 1.7% | ±1.8 | 448 |
| Maine | 13.7% | ±4.5 | 2.6% | ±1.5 | 285 |
| Iowa | 13.6% | ±3.3 | 1.6% | ±1.5 | 445 |
| Pennsylvania | 12.5% | ±2.9 | 3.0% | ±1.2 | 844 |
| Delaware | 12.5% | ±3.2 | 3.5% | ±2.2 | 350 |
| Montana | 12.0% | ±3.3 | 2.0% | ±1.0 | 564 |
| Arizona | 12.0% | ±2.5 | 3.0% | ±1.1 | 446 |
| Kansas | 12.0% | ±2.9 | 3.4% | ±1.6 | 398 |
| Indiana | 11.9% | ±2.2 | 4.8% | ±1.4 | 525 |
| Washington | 11.7% | ±2.6 | 1.8% | ±1.0 | 550 |
| Wisconsin | 11.5% | ±3.1 | 2.0% | ±1.0 | 516 |
| Vermont | 11.1% | ±3.1 | 0.9% | ±0.8 | 396 |
| Rhode Island | 10.9% | ±4.2 | 2.9% | ±2.0 | 267 |
| Nebraska | 10.8% | ±3.1 | 2.5% | ±1.3 | 342 |
| Idaho | 10.7% | ±2.1 | 2.5% | ±1.4 | 594 |
| Massachusetts | 10.5% | ±2.6 | 2.8% | ±1.4 | 594 |
| Hawaii | 10.3% | ±2.8 | 3.5% | ±1.8 | 460 |
| Maryland | 10.1% | ±2.8 | 3.4% | ±1.8 | 395 |
| Colorado | 9.9% | ±4.3 | 1.1% | ±1.7 | 257 |
| Virginia | 9.2% | ±2.7 | 0.9% | ±0.7 | 526 |
| Connecticut | 8.9% | ±3.5 | 2.9% | ±1.7 | 271 |
| New Hampshire | 8.1% | ±2.7 | 1.1% | ±0.9 | 379 |
| Utah | 6.7% | ±2.5 | 1.2% | ±1.0 | 379 |
| Minnesota | 6.3% | ±2.7 | 1.7% | ±1.4 | 457 |
| United States | 15.7% | ±0.5 | 4.2% | ±0.2 | 29,483 |
Weighted shares of households, our calculation from the FDIC's 2023 analysis file using the household supplement weight. Margins of error are for a 90% confidence level. "No mainstream credit" is the FDIC's measure, which counts traditional and store credit cards, auto loans, student loans, mortgages, home equity loans or lines, and other personal loans or lines of credit from banks or other companies; it does not count payday, pawn shop or auto title loans. "Unbanked" means no one in the household had a checking or savings account at a bank or credit union.
Why it matters
A credit history is built from accounts that lenders report to credit bureaus. Households that go without credit, by choice or because they were turned down, can find themselves without a score when they need a loan, and may turn to higher-cost options instead. The FDIC found the share without mainstream credit was higher among lower-income households and fell from 20.0% in 2017 to 15.7% in 2023.
What you can do
- A secured credit card or a credit-builder loan from a bank or credit union can start a credit history. Ask whether the account is reported to all three bureaus.
- Some services can add rent, utility or phone payments to your credit file; check which bureaus and scores use them.
- If you do not have a bank account, look for a low-cost checking account; many banks and credit unions offer accounts with no overdraft fees.
Source
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 2023 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, conducted with the U.S. Census Bureau as a supplement to the June 2023 Current Population Survey; analysis data file hh2023_analys.csv, variables hcred12none (no mainstream credit), hunbnk (unbanked), gestfips (state), hsupwgtk and repwgt1-160, downloaded October 21, 2026. National figures match the FDIC's published 15.7% and 4.2%. State estimates and margins of error are our calculations, not FDIC publications. U.S. government data in the public domain. Our table is available under CC BY 4.0. Credit "My Credit Guide (mycreditguide.org)".
Steven Reynolds, "Households Without Mainstream Credit or a Bank Account, by State," My Credit Guide, October 21, 2026, https://mycreditguide.org/data/no-mainstream-credit-by-state/.