Federally insured credit unions expanded to $2.4 trillion in assets and added 3.1 million members in the third quarter of 2025, NCUA data shows.

Federally insured credit unions ended the third quarter of 2025 with stronger balance sheets, rising loan demand and improved profitability, even as the industry continued its decades-long consolidation, according to new data released Friday by the National Credit Union Administration.

Total assets in credit unions insured by the federal government grew to $2.40 trillion, an increase of $86 billion, or 3.7 percent, over the previous year. Loan growth outpaced asset expansion: total loans reached $1.70 trillion, rising $72 billion, or 4.4 percent. The agency said the average outstanding loan balance climbed to $19,134, an increase of 4.6 percent from a year earlier — a sign that households continue to borrow despite lingering economic uncertainty and elevated interest rates.

Credit unions also saw improved profitability. Net income reached an annualized $19.1 billion through the third quarter, up 21 percent from the same period in 2024. Net interest margin — the main measure of lending profitability — widened to 3.38 percent of average assets, compared with 3.09 percent a year earlier. The return on average assets rose to 81 basis points, with the median institution reporting a 76-basis-point return.

At the same time, asset quality remained relatively stable. The delinquency rate rose slightly to 95 basis points, up four basis points from last year, while the net charge-off ratio held nearly unchanged at 77 basis points. Insured shares and deposits, a key source of credit union funding, increased by $76 billion, or 4.3 percent, to $1.84 trillion.

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The system’s overall net worth ratio — a central measure of capital strength — climbed to 11.24 percent, from 10.94 percent a year earlier. The NCUA noted that, beginning in 2023, the ratio excludes the temporary capital transition linked to new federal accounting rules for expected credit losses.

Even as balance sheets strengthened, the total number of institutions continued to decline. Federally insured credit unions fell to 4,331 in the third quarter, down from 4,499 a year earlier, reflecting ongoing consolidation among smaller providers. The number of credit unions with less than $10 million in assets dropped to 820 from 886. Those small institutions saw loans fall 9.5 percent, membership decline more than 6 percent, and net worth slip 4.2 percent.

At the other end of the scale, the 21 credit unions with more than $10 billion in assets — unchanged from a year earlier — continued to widen their share of the market. Those large institutions now hold $603 billion, or a quarter of all system assets, and reported loan growth of nearly 6 percent and membership growth of 4.1 percent.

Overall membership across federally insured credit unions reached 145 million, up 3.1 million from last year, as the industry’s largest players continued to expand even while the total number of institutions shrank.