Fed payments study: noncash payments reached 236.6 billion in 2024

Noncash payments in the United States reached 236.6 billion in 2024, more than triple the volume recorded in 2000, the Federal Reserve said on July 1 in the initial findings of its 2025 triennial payments study, released at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

Cards accounted for over three quarters of payments by number, per the release, with debit cards remaining the dominant card type even as credit card payments grew faster than debit for the first time in roughly a decade. By value, the picture inverts: the automated clearinghouse system carried nearly three quarters of noncash payments in 2024 — the first time ACH has reached that share, according to the Fed.

The long secular declines continued at the other end of the ledger. Check payments fell in both number and value, per the release, and ATM cash withdrawals likewise continued to decline on both measures — extending trends the study has documented across multiple cycles.

The findings draw on voluntary surveys of depository institutions, card networks and other payment processors, the Fed said, in a collaborative effort between the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Federal Reserve Board.

Background

The Federal Reserve has conducted its payments study every three years since 2001, supplemented by annual updates since 2017, making it the most comprehensive public census of how Americans move money. Because it aggregates data across banks, card networks and processors that do not otherwise publish comparable figures, the study serves as the benchmark against which industry and academic estimates of U.S. payment behavior are checked.

The trends it tracks have pointed one way for two decades: paper instruments giving ground to electronic ones. The ACH network — the batch-processed system that carries direct deposits, bill payments and, increasingly, same-day transfers — dominates by value because it handles large recurring flows, while cards dominate by count because they capture everyday consumer purchases. A crossover in growth between credit and debit is the kind of inflection the triennial data exists to catch, since it can reflect shifts in consumer borrowing behavior and issuer economics.

What comes next

The July 1 release covers initial findings only. In past cycles the Fed has followed the headline figures with fuller reports and detailed data tables breaking out payment types, transaction sizes and fraud measures; watch the Fed's payments research pages for that expanded publication, which will show what sits beneath the 2024 aggregates.