The FDIC runs a household survey that tracks two groups people often mix up. One is households without a bank or credit union account. The other is households that have an account but also use certain nonbank financial services. The terms sound like points on one scale. They are separate categories, so the first step in reading a statistic is to find out which group it covers.
Why the two terms are easy to confuse
Both words describe a household's relationship with the banking system. That is why they get blurred. In common usage, an unbanked household has no checking or savings account at a bank or credit union. An underbanked household has an account but also relies on services outside the banking system. The sources retrieved for this article did not spell out those definitions, so treat this as general usage and confirm the exact wording in the report.
The distinction matters in practice. An underbanked household is not an unbanked household with a bit more access. The two groups are counted separately. A headline about the unbanked share says nothing about how many households are underbanked, and the reverse is also true. Adding the two figures together as if they were parts of one measure would be a mistake unless the report itself defines a combined category.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, conducts the National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households. Its Consumer Research page lists the 2023 survey report. That is the primary document for anyone who wants to quote a number.
What the terms generally mean
The basic test is whether the household has a checking or savings account. No such account generally places a household in the unbanked group. Having an account while also using specified nonbank services generally places it in the underbanked group.
Those short definitions are a starting point. They do not replace the survey's exact rules. A report may specify which services count, the period in which a household must have used them, and how it treats different account types. Each of those choices can change who is included. The place to confirm them is the FDIC's 2023 report.
Keep the unit in view too. The survey concerns households, not individual people. A household-level percentage should not be read as the share of individuals in the same situation. One household may hold several people with very different banking habits.
What to check before comparing figures
Start with the survey year and the exact group being measured. A percentage for unbanked households cannot be compared directly with one for underbanked households. Even two figures for the same group may not line up if they come from different survey years or different question wording.
Next, read the methods notes. They should explain how households were selected, what questions were asked, and how answers were sorted into groups. Sample size and wording shape what a result can support. If a definition changed between reports, a difference in the number may reflect the change in method and not a change in households.
Then look at which nonbank services the report counts. The list sets the boundary of the underbanked group. It is not a general verdict that a household uses too few bank products.
- Which group does the figure describe?
- Which survey year does it come from?
- Is the unit households or people?
- Do the definitions match across the reports being compared?
Finally, read the reasons households give for their situation, where the report offers them. Cost, trust, and access are the kinds of explanations a single percentage cannot carry. No one reason should be assumed to apply to every household in a group.
What this summary can and cannot establish
The source material for this article did not include readable text from the FDIC report's findings or methods. The report file retrieved was a raw PDF with no usable text, and the FDIC and Cleveland Fed pages showed mostly navigation. For that reason this piece states no survey percentage, no year-over-year change, and no demographic breakdown. Any such number should come from the report itself.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland also published a 2026 economic commentary, "The Accounts of the Unbanked and Underbanked." Only its title was visible in the retrieved page, so its findings are not summarized here. It can be read next to the FDIC report, with attention to how each defines its terms.
Please seek a professional. This article is general information, not financial, tax or insurance advice. Please seek a licensed financial, tax or insurance professional about your own situation.
