In the first quarter of 2026, 4,250 federally insured credit unions served 145.8 million members. U.S. credit unions are not-for-profit, cooperative, tax-exempt organizations.See, e.g., 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(14)(A) for state-chartered credit unions and 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(1) for federally chartered credit unions, CUNA Model Credit Union Act § 0.20 (2007) see also 12 U.S.C. §§ 1751 note, 1752(1), 1768, available at . The clients of the credit unions become partners of the financial institution and their presence focuses in certain neighborhoods because they center their services in one specific community. As of March 2020, the largest American credit union was Navy Federal Credit Union, serving U.S. Department of Defense employees, contractors, and families of servicepeople, with over $125 billion in assets and over 9.1 million members. Total credit union assets in the U.S. reached $1 trillion as of March 2012. Approximately 236,000 people were directly employed by credit unions per data derived from the 2012 National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Credit Union Directory. At the end of the first quarter of 2026, federally insured credit unions held $2.48 trillion in assets and $1.73 trillion in loans.
Due to their small size and limited exposure to mortgage securitizations, credit unions weathered the 2008 financial crisis reasonably well. However, two of the biggest corporate credit unions in the United States (U.S. Central Credit Union and WesCorp) with combined assets of more than $57 billion were taken over by the National Credit Union Administration on March 20, 2009.
History St. Mary's Bank of Manchester, New Hampshire, holds the distinction as the first credit union in the United States. Assisted by a personal visit from Canadian credit union pioneer Alphonse Desjardins, St. Mary's Cooperative Credit Association was founded by French-speaking immigrants to Manchester from the Maritime Provinces of Canada on November 24, 1908. As the leader of St. Marie's church, Monsignor Pierre Hevey was instrumental in establishing this credit union. Attorney Joseph Boivin managed the credit union, as a volunteer, out of his home in the evenings. America's Credit Union Museum now occupies the location of Boivin's home, where St. Mary's Bank first operated.
Pierre Jay, a central banker and Edward Filene, a Bostonian merchant and philanthropist, were instrumental in establishing enabling legislation in Massachusetts in 1908.
Filene's philanthropy, combined with the practical implementation efforts of his associate Roy Bergengren were critical to the emergence of credit unions across the United States. Unlike the credit unions of Germany or Quebec, most credit unions in the US emerged from an employer-based bond of association. In addition to the traditional information and enforcement advantages resulting from the fact that members shared the same workplace, the employer-based bond permitted credit unions to use future paychecks as collateral.
The Credit Union National Extension Bureau, the forerunner of the Credit Union National Association, was formed as a confederation of state leagues at a meeting in Estes Park, Colorado, in 1934. Attendees at the meeting included Dora Maxwell who would go on to help establish hundreds of credit unions and programs for the poor in her lifetime and Louise McCarren Herring, whose work to form credit unions and ensure their safe operation earned the title of "Mother of Credit Unions" in the United States.
The number of credit unions reached their peak in 1969 with 23,866 institutions and total assets of $16 billion.
A museum on the history of credit unions, America's Credit Union Museum, is located in Manchester, New Hampshire. It opened in 2002.
In 2025, the Republican-led Congress began to seriously consider removing the federal tax-exempt status of credit unions to make cuts to the federal budget. The initial One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which would have included the provision, passed the House of Representatives without including an attempt to alter or eliminate the tax-exempt status. This provision was however excised in the bill's revised and then passed form.
Constitution and regulation Credit unions in the United States may either be chartered by the federal government ("federal credit unions")12 U.S.C. §§ 1751-1772d. National Credit Union Administration. or a state government.See, e.g., Massachusetts General Laws chapter 171, §§ 1-84 (2008). The states of Delaware, South Dakota, and Wyoming do not regulate credit unions at the state level; in those states, a credit union must obtain a federal charter to operate.Texas Sunset Commission report on the Texas Credit Union Commission All federal credit unions and 95% of state-chartered credit unions have "share insurance" (deposit insurance) of at least $250,000 per member through the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF).NCUA, "Share Insurance" ; see also 12 U.S.C. §§ 1781-1790d, available at . This deposit insurance is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government and is administered by the National Credit Union Administration. As of December 2006, the NCUSIF had a higher insurance fund capital ratio than the fund for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). U.S. credit unions also typically have higher equity capital ratios than U.S. banks.
As of the end of 2016, the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund insured more than $1 trillion in deposits at 5,785 not-for-profit cooperative US credit unions. For comparison, the FDIC insured more than $13 trillion in deposits at 5,980 banks and thrift institutions. The NCUA and the FDIC are both independent federal agencies backed by the full faith and credit of the US government.
Membership restrictions
In the United States, as elsewhere, credit unions were historically formed around a single church, place of work, labor union, or town. Membership was limited to those who were in the field of membership. The Federal Credit Union Act of 1934 limited membership to "groups having a common bond of occupation or association, or to groups within a well-defined neighborhood, community or rural district."High Court Restricts Credit Union Membership, a February 1998 article from the Los Angeles Times
A 1982 Interpretive Ruling and Policy Statement (IRPS) 82-4 allowed many credit unions to grow their memberships and expand into multiple states. Credit union membership reached 71 million members by 1997, more than double the number of members in 1991. This expansion prompted banks to challenge the 1982 regulation as illegal, a challenge upheld in a 1998 U.S. Supreme Court decision, NCUA v. First National Bank & Trust.National Credit Union Administration v. First National Bank & Trust Co. et al. from a Cornell Law School website Within five months, both houses of Congress passed a bill signed by President Clinton to overturn the Court's decision.Congress OKs Bill on Credit Union Membership, an August 1998 article from the Los Angeles Times
Legally, and for tax purposes, credit unions in the US are considered to be non-profit organizations. Banks argue that this status exempts credit unions from many federal and state taxes, giving credit unions a competitive advantage. As of 2003, U.S. governmental regulatory agencies require that credit unions restrict their membership to defined segments of the population, such as people who live, work, worship, or attend school in a well-defined geographic area; employees of specific companies or trades; members of specific non-profit groups, including labor unions, alumni associations, conservation or other advocacy organizations, lodges, churches, or the like; or a particular occupational group, such as teachers, doctors, etc.See, e.g., National Credit Union Administration, "Chartering and FOM Manual," IRPS 03-01 (2003), as amended by "Organization and Operations of Federal Credit Unions," IRPS 06-01 (2006) In the US this is referred to as a credit union's "field of membership", and internationally the term bond of association is used.
Credit unions may typically be chartered to serve a specific employee or associational group or groups (often called a Select Employee Group or "SEG Charter"), all members of a trade, industry, or profession (a "TIP Charter"), or have a "Community Charter" (typically a field of membership of anyone who lives, works, goes to school, or attends religious services in a particular city, county, or counties). When a credit union converts to a Community Charter from a SEG Charter or TIP Charter, it can continue to serve its existing members as well as anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school within its new geographical field of membership, but cannot admit new members from its former SEG(s) or TIP (unless the group in question is located within "the new community credit union's boundaries"). Similarly, a credit union that converts to a TIP or SEG charter from a different charter type can no longer admit new members from its old field of membership.
Typically, members' families – such as immediate family or household members – can also join the credit union. In the United States, the National Credit Union Administration or a state regulator – depending upon whether or not the credit union is chartered by the federal government or by a state – decides whether or not to approve or deny proposed field of membership expansions or charter conversions to other credit union charters.
Mergers of smaller credit unions with disparate membership bases often result in a credit union with a wide variety of ways to qualify to join; thus, a credit union may have a much broader "field of membership" than that credit union's name would imply.
Credit unions generally follow the principle of "once a member, always a member", which allows a member with a current credit union membership to remain a member even if they would otherwise no longer qualify to be such, such as leaving the company with whom they initially gained membership or moving outside the credit union's defined geographic area. However, many credit unions reserve the right of expulsion against a member who causes a financial loss. Some credit unions also have expelled members, including elected Board and Supervisory Committee volunteers, for making whistleblower complaints against credit union management.
Underserved and low-income areas Federal credit unions may apply to the NCUA for Low-Income Credit Union (LICU) status. To qualify for LICU status, the majority of the credit union's members must be considered "low-income" based on specific requirements set by the NCUA. This LICU status allows the credit unions to benefit from certain NCUA programs to enhance their capacity to serve underserved populations who may otherwise lack access to credit or other financial services. In addition, some state regulators also provide for similar low-income designations.
Unlike banks, which were caught redlining underserved areas in the 1970s, credit unions are not subject to federal "community reinvestment" requirements, essentially because credit unions, by their nature and mission of "people helping people", already meet the financial needs of a broad spectrum of people that fall within their fields of membership, and may play an active role in community development and growth. Credit unions are exempt from the Community Reinvestment Act, a U.S. federal law that encourages banks to provide services in low- and moderate-income areas.