Credit Card Ownership & Usage Statistics

Highlights. Americans carry an estimated 1.27 billion credit cards in 2025; projections indicate that credit cards will number 1.45 billion in 2030.

• 216.3 million or 81% of U.S. adults have a credit card account in their name.
• The average U.S. credit cardholder carries 3.0 active cards and makes up to 264 credit card purchases per year. 
• The number of active credit card accounts increased 40.9% from 2005 to 2025.
• The average number of credit accounts per U.S. cardholder increased 25.6% from 2.4 in 2020.

Credit Card Account Statistics

There are enough active credit and debit cards in the world for every living adult to have at least one.

• 25.5% of American consumers apply for a new credit card annually. 
• 77.8% of credit card applications are approved.
• In 2025, the average credit score among consumers is 714. 
• Consumers with credit scores between 681 and 759 are most likely to apply for new cards annually (32.2%).
• 28.0% of consumers with credit scores of 680 and below applied for a credit card in the past year.
• 22.7% of consumers with scores of 760+ applied for a credit card. 
• The average total credit limit across all cards is $29,855 per consumer.
• Cardholders have an average credit card balance of $6,618 in 2025. 
• In the past year, 15.7% of cardholders requested a credit limit increase; 62.2% were approved. 

Credit Card Account Demographics

Consumers aged 40 and younger are most likely to apply for credit cards and request limit increases.

• 29.1% of consumers aged 40 and younger apply for credit cards annually, 14.1% higher than the overall rate. 
• 23.2% of cardholders aged 40 and younger have requested a credit limit increase in 2025. 
• 27.1% of consumers aged 41 to 59 apply for a credit card annually; 17.8% of cardholders in this age group requested a credit limit increase.
• 21.1% of consumers aged 60 and over apply for credit cards; 8.5% requested a limit increase. 
• On average, consumers aged 45 to 79 have 4.4 active credit cards. 
• Consumers aged 29 to 44 have an average of 3.4 cards, and consumers aged 18 to 28 have 2.2 cards.

Credit Card Processor Statistics

Four major credit card processors facilitate most consumer credit transactions in the United States with cards from hundreds of different issuers.

• The most widely used credit card network is Visa, with 4.48 billion cards active worldwide.
• The second-most widely used credit card network worldwide is Mastercard Inc., with 3.158 billion consumer and commercial cards active at the end of 2024.
• Discover has over 378 million active credit cards in its network, including 72 million Discover cards. 
• American Express has issued 83.6 million proprietary cards active worldwide.
• 62.9 million or 42.9% of active American Express cards were issued by third-party institutions.

State Credit Card Ownership Statistics

While the most populated states have a higher average number of credit cards, there is little correlation between population size and average number of cards overall.

• New Jersey cardholders carry 4.2 cards, the highest number of cards on average.
• Cardholders in Alaska and South Dakota carry the fewest cards on average (3.1).
• California is home to the highest estimated number of active credit card accounts (95.5 million).
• Wyoming is the state with the fewest active credit card accounts with an estimated 1.19 million.

Credit Card Ownership by State

State	Average Cards per Cardholder	Estimated Total Credit Cards (in millions)
Alabama	3.3	10.8
Alaska	3.1	1.42
Arizona	3.7	18.0
Arkansas	3.3	6.38
California	3.8	95.5
Colorado	3.6	13.8
Connecticut	4.0	9.55
Delaware	4.0	2.72
District of Columbia	3.4	1.58
Florida	4.0	61.1
Georgia	3.7	25.9
Hawaii	3.5	3.27
Idaho	3.4	4.22
Illinois	3.9	31.6
Indiana	3.5	15.1
Iowa	3.3	6.71
Kansas	3.5	6.46
Kentucky	3.4	9.81
Louisiana	3.3	9.44
Maine	3.4	3.19
Maryland	3.7	14.7
Massachusetts	3.7	17.3
Michigan	3.6	23.4
Minnesota	3.5	12.7
Mississippi	3.2	5.88
Missouri	3.6	14.2
Montana	3.3	2.42
Nebraska	3.6	4.44
Nevada	3.9	8.15
New Hampshire	3.8	3.57
New Jersey	4.2	25.4
New Mexico	3.4	4.63
New York	3.9	50.2
North Carolina	3.6	25.3
North Dakota	3.4	1.68
Ohio	3.8	28.7
Oklahoma	3.3	8.36
Oregon	3.3	9.21
Pennsylvania	3.8	32.2
Rhode Island	4.0	2.94
South Carolina	3.6	12.6
South Dakota	3.1	1.77
Tennessee	3.4	15.5
Texas	3.8	72.7
Utah	3.3	6.87
Vermont	3.2	1.39
Virginia	3.7	20.8
Washington	3.4	17.4
West Virginia	3.5	4.03
Wisconsin	3.5	13.4
Wyoming	3.2	1.19

Global Credit Card Usage Statistics

Over 19.7% of global consumers own at least one credit card. 

• Canada has the world’s highest credit card ownership rate, with 82.7% of individuals owning at least one credit card. 
• 54.3% of consumers in Oceania have at least one credit card, the highest rate of any region outside North America.
• 37.8% of European consumers have a credit card; Iceland has the highest ownership rate in Europe at 74.0%. 
• 19.7% of consumers in the Middle East have a credit card; Israel has the highest ownership rate at 79.1%.
• 17.9% of consumers in Asia have a credit card; Hong Kong has the highest ownership rate at 71.6%.
• 15.8% of consumers in Latin America have a credit card; Brazil has the highest ownership rate at 43.5%.
• 3.92% of African consumers have a credit card; Mauritius has the highest ownership rate at 18.7%.

These data and insights were compiled by the Capital One Shopping team based on publicly available data.

Sources

1. Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of New York, Center for Microeconomic Data
2. United States Census Bureau, Population and Housing Unit Estimates Tables
3. Experian, Ask Experian
4. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Corporate Filings
5. Statista, Credit Cards Worldwide – Statistics and Facts
6. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Consumer Credit Card Market Report
7. Fed Board of Governors, Credit Card Profitability

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• How Many Americans Have Credit Cards?
• Number of Credit Card Transactions per Second, Day, & Year