Highlights. Most American adults (81%) carry at least one credit card.
- Worldwide, 1.25 billion people use credit cards.
- In the U.S. alone, there are 1.30 billion credit cards in circulation.
- The average American cardholder actively uses 3.0 credit cards.
- Credit cards pay for 35% of U.S. retail transactions.
- Over 74% of American businesses have at least one company credit card.
Credit Card Account Statistics
There are enough active credit and debit cards in the world for every living adult to have at least one.
- Projections indicate that Americans will carry 1.45 billion credit cards in 2030.
- 216.3 million U.S. adults have a credit card account in their name.
- The number of active credit card accounts increased 44.3% from 2005 to 2025.
- The average number of credit accounts per U.S. cardholder increased 28.7% from 2.4 in 2020.
- 30.1% of American consumers apply for a new credit card annually.
- 87.1% of credit card applications are approved.
- The average total credit limit across all cards is $33,980 per consumer.
- Cardholders have an average credit card balance of $6,768 in 2025.
- In the past year, 17.4% of cardholders requested a credit limit increase; 74.3% were approved.
Credit Card Consumer Statistics
The average U.S. credit cardholder makes up to 264 credit card purchases per year.
- Consumers with credit scores of 680 and below are most likely to apply for new cards annually (35.9%).
- 32.9% of consumers with credit scores between 681 and 759 applied for a credit card in the past year.
- 30.2% of consumers with scores of 760+ applied for a credit card.
- In 2025, the average credit score among consumers is 713.
Credit Card Consumer Demographics
Consumers aged 41 to 59 are most likely to apply for credit cards, while consumers aged 40 and younger are most likely to request limit increases.
- 32.2% of consumers aged 40 and younger apply for credit cards annually, 6.98% higher than the overall rate.
- 25.7% of cardholders aged 40 and younger have requested a credit limit increase in 2025.
- 33.7% of consumers aged 41 to 59 apply for a credit card annually; 18.8% of cardholders in this age group requested a credit limit increase.
- 24.7% of consumers aged 60 and over apply for credit cards; 9.4% 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 4.81 billion cards active worldwide.
- The second-most widely used credit card network worldwide is Mastercard Inc., with 3.391 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 86.6 million proprietary cards active worldwide.
- 66.2 million, or 43.3% 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 (94.8 million).
- Wyoming is the state with the fewest active credit card accounts, with an estimated 1.18 million.
| State | Average Cards per Cardholder | Estimated Total Credit Cards (in millions) |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 3.3 | 10.8 |
| Alaska | 3.1 | 1.40 |
| Arizona | 3.7 | 17.8 |
| Arkansas | 3.3 | 6.38 |
| California | 3.8 | 94.8 |
| Colorado | 3.6 | 13.8 |
| Connecticut | 4.0 | 9.50 |
| Delaware | 4.0 | 2.72 |
| District of Columbia | 3.4 | 1.55 |
| Florida | 4.0 | 60.9 |
| Georgia | 3.7 | 26.0 |
| Hawaii | 3.5 | 3.22 |
| Idaho | 3.4 | 4.24 |
| Illinois | 3.9 | 31.5 |
| Indiana | 3.5 | 15.1 |
| Iowa | 3.3 | 6.65 |
| Kansas | 3.5 | 6.42 |
| Kentucky | 3.4 | 9.77 |
| Louisiana | 3.3 | 9.42 |
| Maine | 3.4 | 3.18 |
| Maryland | 3.7 | 14.6 |
| Massachusetts | 3.7 | 17.2 |
| Michigan | 3.6 | 23.2 |
| Minnesota | 3.5 | 12.7 |
| Mississippi | 3.2 | 5.88 |
| Missouri | 3.6 | 14.1 |
| Montana | 3.3 | 2.41 |
| Nebraska | 3.6 | 4.43 |
| Nevada | 3.9 | 8.12 |
| New Hampshire | 3.8 | 3.56 |
| New Jersey | 4.2 | 25.4 |
| New Mexico | 3.4 | 4.59 |
| New York | 3.9 | 50.2 |
| North Carolina | 3.6 | 25.5 |
| North Dakota | 3.4 | 1.68 |
| Ohio | 3.8 | 28.5 |
| Oklahoma | 3.3 | 8.36 |
| Oregon | 3.3 | 9.14 |
| Pennsylvania | 3.8 | 31.9 |
| Rhode Island | 4.0 | 2.93 |
| South Carolina | 3.6 | 12.7 |
| South Dakota | 3.1 | 1.77 |
| Tennessee | 3.4 | 15.6 |
| Texas | 3.8 | 73.3 |
| Utah | 3.3 | 6.91 |
| Vermont | 3.2 | 1.37 |
| Virginia | 3.7 | 20.8 |
| Washington | 3.4 | 17.3 |
| West Virginia | 3.5 | 3.98 |
| Wisconsin | 3.5 | 13.3 |
| Wyoming | 3.2 | 1.18 |
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
- Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of New York, Center for Microeconomic Data
- United States Census Bureau, Population and Housing Unit Estimates Tables
- Experian, Ask Experian
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Corporate Filings
- Statista, Credit Cards Worldwide – Statistics and Facts
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Consumer Credit Card Market Report
- Fed Board of Governors, Credit Card Profitability
- Clearly Payments, Payments Research and Industry Data
- Visa, Small Business Pulse