Banks are an important part of life for all kinds of reasons, from getting a loan to picking up cash to buy things. And of course, banks are great if you like free lollipops.

A 2023 study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) found that 96% of Americans hold an account in a traditional bank. But your access to physical bank branches for financial transactions could be dwindling. Banks are closing branches across the board due to things like budget cuts and a move to more online banking options. That may not be much of an issue for you if you find yourself doing more banking online or there’s another branch close by, but it could be an issue if you need to deposit cash, dispute a charge, or work with a banker on a loan.

Where you live can also have an effect on your access to a bank, with some states stacked with bank branches to help you out while others make it harder to step into a physical branch for transactions and lollipops. Check out these states that have the best—and the worst—access to branches for residents, according to data from FinanceBuzz.

Midwest is Best for Banking Branches

Nebraska leads all states with the most banking branches for residents. The state has more than 1,000 branches overall, which works out to 51.7 branches per 100,000 residents. North Dakota comes in second place with 51.5 branches per 100,000 residents, while neighbor South Dakota has 45.9 branches.

One reason these states continue to have a strong number of bank branches may be due to the bank branch systems set up by banks decades ago that continue to be heavily used even as the population around those branches may have dwindled.

Check out the rest of the top five states with the most bank branches per 100,000 residents:

Western States Run Dry of Banks

While the Midwest has plenty of banks, it’s hard to find a bank branch in a western state. Nevada leads the rankings for the states with the fewest number of branches, with only 12.2 bank branches per 100,000 residents, with its 400 total branches. Nearby Arizona comes in second place, with 12.7 branches per 100,000 residents.

While the Midwest benefits from long-established branches, western states haven’t had the time to build up that kind of network for residents to have access to banks. One of the biggest issues for that region is the population growing so fast that banks can’t keep up with additional branches to accommodate the new residents in areas that didn’t have banks before.

Residents in western states are also more likely to adopt digital banking than other states, which cuts back on the need to have physical branches for residents to actually visit for bank transactions.

In fact, four of the top five states are in the western region of the U.S. These states and their bank branches per 100,000 residents include:

What to Do About Bank Branches

So what happens if your local bank branch closes? The good news is you still have plenty of options.

First, check to see if you have other branches nearby that you can use for your bank business as you need them.

But it’s also a good idea to consider adopting other options that can help you do more banking without a branch nearby. Consider banks that have robust online options and phone apps that can save you a trip to a bank, like ones that allow you to deposit checks through the app. It’s also a good idea to find a bank with few or no fees when you use ATMs at bank branches that aren’t your home branch. It can save you money and time if you can still conveniently use an ATM without taking extra fees out of your pocket for transactions.

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