Where's The Bank? Banking Access in the Era of Branch Consolidation

This study examines changes in household and employment access to bank branches in the United States from 2014 to 2024, calculating distances with highly granular census block-level data. We develop a continuous measure of bank branch access that accounts for population and employment density, implicitly accounting for varying travel times within different urban and rural areas. Our findings indicate that despite a 19-percent decline in bank branches over the decade, average distances to the nearest branch increased only modestly—by 0.02 to 0.28 miles depending on area density. We find some disparities in branch access across racial and income groups, but these gaps did not widen substantially over the 2014-2024 period. Overall, our results suggest that while some localized reductions in branch access occurred, the significant reduction in the number of branches did not result in significant decreases in access to local bank branches for households or businesses.