StratEdge Research · Q4 2025
The StratEdge Credit Union Index
U.S. credit unions spend 69.1 cents of every revenue dollar on operating overhead — and the smallest institutions burn nearly 12 points more than their billion-dollar peers. A benchmark of operating friction, built from 4,374credit unions' public NCUA Call Reports.
69.1%
Industry efficiency ratio (overhead / revenue)
78.6%
Efficiency ratio, credit unions < $50M
66.9%
Efficiency ratio, credit unions $1B+
3.04%
Operating expense as a share of total assets
Key finding
Operating friction falls as credit unions scale
The smallest credit unions spend 78.6¢ of every revenue dollar on operating overhead, versus 66.9¢ at $1B+ peers — an 11.7-point efficiency penalty. Without the scale to spread fixed back-office work, more of every dollar goes to manual intake, document handling, and member servicing.
< $50M
1,972 credit unions
78.6%
$50M–$500M
1,653 credit unions
76.9%
$500M–$1B
282 credit unions
75.8%
$1B+
467 credit unions
66.9%
Efficiency ratio by asset size — cents of operating overhead per $1 of revenue. Vertical line marks the industry-wide 69.1%; lower is more efficient. Source: NCUA 5300 Call Report Quarterly Data, cycle 12/31/2025, final (n = 4,374 credit unions).
Friction by asset size
| Asset size | Credit unions | Total assets | Members | Efficiency ratio | Op. exp / assets | Members / FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| < $50M | 1,972 | $34.4B | 3.4M | 78.6% | 3.74% | 393 |
| $50M–$500M | 1,653 | $290.5B | 19.8M | 76.9% | 3.65% | 331 |
| $500M–$1B | 282 | $203.7B | 12.5M | 75.8% | 3.51% | 336 |
| $1B+ | 467 | $1.93T | 110.3M | 66.9% | 2.89% | 431 |
Source: NCUA 5300 Call Report Quarterly Data, cycle 12/31/2025, final (n = 4,374 credit unions).
Friction is the problem we solve
82.9% of U.S. credit unions — 3,625 institutions under $500M in assets — run at efficiency ratios of 77–79%, yet hold just 13.2% of industry assets. They lack the scale to spread fixed back-office work, so more of every dollar goes to manual intake, document handling, and review. StratEdge gives document-heavy operations one control layer — intake, document tracking, follow-up, and AI assistance — so that friction comes down.
The market behind the metric
A $2.46T industry of document-heavy operations
Operating scale across all U.S. credit unions — every figure is an actual NCUA Call Report count.
4,374
Credit unions (2,686 federal · 1,601 state · 87 non-FI)
146.0M
Members served
$2.46T
Total assets
361,760
Employees (full-time equivalent)
22,858
Branch / service locations
3,907
Credit unions under $1B (core market)
Source: NCUA 5300 Call Report Quarterly Data, cycle 12/31/2025, final (n = 4,374 credit unions). · 82.9% of credit unions are under $500M yet hold just 13.2% of industry assets.
Methodology & data source
Computed from the NCUA 5300 Call Report Quarterly Data files, cycle 12/31/2025 (final), covering all 4,374 reporting credit unions. Income-statement figures are full-year 2025. Ratios are dollar-weighted (pooled): the sum of numerators divided by the sum of denominators across credit unions — not an average of per-institution ratios — so large outliers cannot distort the result. All inputs are public; no confidential or member data is used.
The efficiency ratio is operating (non-interest) expense divided by total revenue (net interest income + non-interest income); operating-expense intensity is non-interest expense over total assets; members per FTE uses full-time-equivalent staff (full-time + 0.5 × part-time). Asset bands are <$50M, $50M–$500M, $500M–$1B, and $1B+. n = 4,374 credit unions; figures are reproducible from the public NCUA dataset at ncua.gov.