Navy Federal Credit Union surpassed the $190 billion asset mark in the first quarter of the year, bringing $200 billion within striking distance.

That target might still seem to be a ways off until you realize that the credit union ended 2024 with $180.8 billion, meaning it added more than $9 billion in growth just since the start of 2025.

For perspective, Navy’s most recent quarterly growth exceeded the total assets of all but 29 credit unions in the U.S.

Among the highlights of the first-quarter call report data recently released by the National Credit Union Administration was that Navy Federal grew its total assets during the past year by 7% to $190.2 billion.

The world’s largest credit union also grew its membership by 7% year over year. Navy Federal boasted 14,524,529 members at the end of March compared to 13,575,728 a year earlier.

A Tyfone analysis of results for the largest two credit unions in the country by assets showed mixed results.

According to the call reports, Vienna, Virginia-based Navy Federal earned roughly $489 million in the first quarter, a 13% increase compared with a year earlier.

By comparison, Raleigh, North Carolina-based State Employees’ Credit Union – the second-largest credit union in the U.S. – struggled with both asset and earnings growth.

State Employees’ earned $44.7 million as of March 31, a 32% decrease compared to a year earlier, according to call report data from the NCUA.

Assets for State Employees’ slipped to just below $55.4 billion at the end of the first quarter, down nearly 1% from $55.9 billion a year earlier.

In terms of membership, State Employees’ grew by 2.6% in the first quarter to nearly 2.9 million members.

Comprehensive industry data for the first quarter is not yet available, but membership growth has been a sore spot across the space for the past few quarters.

Some credit unions believe that advertising is the key to attracting new members.

Navy Federal, for example, spent $227 million on marketing and promotion in 2024 – up 16% from 2023. And the credit union already spent nearly $51.5 million on advertising in the first quarter, a 25% increase compared to a year earlier.

State Employees’ spent just $1.4 million on marketing and promotion in 2024 but apparently plans on upping that amount considerably this year. The credit union spent $596,000 in the first quarter, a 124% increase compared to the first three months of 2024.