Highlights. U.S. shoppers put 61% of their credit card spending on Visa, the nation’s largest credit card network.
- Mastercard processes 26% of credit card purchases in the U.S.
- Three (3) companies process 97% of all credit card transactions worldwide: Visa, UnionPay, and Mastercard.
- Americans charged $7.03 trillion to Visa and $2.96 trillion to Mastercard in 2025.
- 81% of U.S. consumers use credit cards.
- Other major networks include American Express and Discover, which processed $1.27 trillion and $209 billion, respectively.
Credit Card Consumer Market Share
216.3 million Americans have a credit card account in their name.
- Visa is the world’s largest credit card processor with 4.81 billion cards active worldwide.
- Americans used credit cards for an estimated 70.6% of total retail spending in 2024.
- The United States credit card market is valued at $178.3 billion in 2025, up 0.4% year-over-year (YoY).
- American consumers have 648.1 million active credit card accounts, enough for every American adult to have an average of 3.0 cards.
- JP Morgan Chase is the largest credit card issuer in terms of the number of accounts, with 197.4 million active cards in 2024.
- The next largest credit card issuers are Capital One with 116 million active cards and Citibank with 88.4 million cards.
- The largest credit card issuer in terms of payment volume is Chase Bank, which processed $1.344 trillion in 2024.
- Americans spent an estimated $5.06 trillion on purchases through the ten (10) largest U.S. networks in 2024.
- Among credit card issuers, the top 10 process 82.3% of their collective market payment volume.
Credit Card Processor Market Share
The world’s largest credit card processors are based in the U.S. and China.
- China’s UnionPay is the second most-used credit card worldwide after Visa.
- Mastercard has 3.391 billion cards active worldwide.
- Four major U.S. processors (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover) facilitated $29.3 trillion in worldwide consumer transactions in 2025.
- American Express has issued 86.6 million proprietary cards active worldwide; an additional 66.2 million active American Express cards were issued by third-party institutions.
- The total number of transactions Visa processed reached 257.5 billion in FY 2025.
Credit Card Processor Share of Market Value
Aggregate market value refers to the combined value of its equity stock shares.
- Three major credit card processors (Visa, Mastercard, and American Express) in the United States are valued at a collective $1.33 trillion*.
- Visa Inc. has an aggregate market value of $601.1 billion or 45.3% of the total market value of the three major U.S. credit card networks.
- Mastercard Inc. has an aggregate market value of $505.0 billion or 38.0% of the total market value of the largest U.S. credit card networks.
- The aggregate market value of the American Express Company is $221.8 billion or 16.7% of the total market value of the largest U.S. credit card networks.
- Discover Financial Services was acquired by Capital One in 2025. Capital One has an aggregate market value of $135.2 billion.
*Note that market values include other financial markets beyond consumer credit.
Credit Card Processor Revenue Share
Credit card processor annual net revenues exceed $145 billion.
- Visa’s global revenue for FY 2025 was $40.000 billion, up 11.3% YoY.
- Mastercard’s revenue for fiscal year (FY) 2025 was $32.791 billion, up 16.4% YoY.
- American Express’s revenue for FY 2025 totaled $72.229 billion, up 8.98% YoY.
These data and insights were compiled by the Capital One Shopping team based on publicly available data.
Sources
- Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of New York, Center for Microeconomic Data
- United States Census Bureau, Population and Housing Unit Estimates Tables
- IBISworld, Industry Statistics
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Corporate Filings
- Fed Board of Governors, Credit Card Profitability
- Nilson Report, Newsletter Archives