Recent Payment Trends in the United States
| 2. Noncash payments per capita in the United States, selected years | ||||
| Number per capita | ||||
| Year | Check | Electronic | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 112.2 | 2.4 | ||
| 1979 | 145.7 | 24.4 | ||
| 1995 | 188.4 | 55.9 | ||
| 2000 | 148.3 | 108.5 | ||
| 2003 | 128.4 | 152.0 | ||
| 2006 | 102.2 | 210.1 | ||
Note: Check payments are checks paid, that is, checks that were on-us (involving only one depository institution) and checks processed through the interbank check-clearing system, including original paper checks and truncated checks presented either electronically or as paper substitute checks. Includes checks paid by depository institutions, U.S. Treasury checks, and U.S. Postal Service money orders. Checks converted to ACH payments are included in electronic payments.
Sources: The 1971 check figure is from a survey conducted for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and reported in William R. Powers (1976), "A Survey of Bank Check Volumes," Journal of Bank Research (Winter); for all other years, Federal Reserve Board data.