The percentage of US households lacking access to a checking account is now at a record low, but minorities still have a weaker connection to the American banking system than white households do.

Those were among the findings of a new Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation report this week that found roughly 5.6 million households were "unbanked"— meaning they lacked a bank or credit union account — as of 2023.

That accounted for 4.2% of all households or 1 in 25. It was the lowest unbanked percentage since the FDIC began the survey in 2009.

The rate peaked at 8.2% in 2011 as the nation recovered from the wreckage of the 2008-2009 financial crisis and has been dropping ever since.

The US began tracking this information as a way of ensuring that more Americans have bank accounts and affordable credit, outcomes that some federal officials argue will create a stronger and more equitable economy.

"There definitely is room for improvement, especially amongst certain segments of the population," Jeffrey Weinstein, FDIC senior research economist, said Wednesday.

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Unbanked rates among Black, Hispanic, and American Indian or Alaska Native households have also been falling over the last decade, but as of 2023, they were still several times higher than white households.

Some minority households even lost ground between the last survey, in 2021, and 2023. American Indian or Alaska Native households saw the sharpest rise in the portion considered unbanked, to 12.2% from 6.9%. Hispanic households saw a slight increase, to 9.5%.

The unbanked rate among Black households fell to 10.6%. Just 1.9% of white households are without a bank account, which is also down from 2021.

Unbanked rates were also higher among lower-income households, less-educated households, working-age households with a disability, households with income that varied a lot from month to month, and single-parent households.

The new FDIC report revealed some other new trends that affect how Americans interact with the banking system.

Nearly half of banked households (48.3%) used mobile banking as their primary method of account access, which is up from the previous survey.

Over the past decade, the portion of US households that say they use mobile banking has grown almost ninefold.

However, households that said they used bank tellers as their primary account access also rose slightly from 2021.

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Though in-person banking has seen widespread decline over the last decade, usage is more prevalent among lower-income, less-educated, and older households as well as those not located in metropolitan areas.