The National Debit-Credit Split, by Count and by Value
Debit cards accounted for 120.6 billion transactions worth $4.99 trillion in 2024, and credit cards accounted for 67.1 billion transactions worth $6.51 trillion, per the Federal Reserve’s National Payment Volumes data. Counted by transaction, that split runs 64% debit to 36% credit. Counted by dollar value, it flips to 43% debit and 57% credit, since the average credit card transaction carries a larger dollar amount than the average debit transaction, even though debit is used more often.
Why Credit Growth Outpacing Debit Is a Notable Shift
The Federal Reserve’s own framing of the release calls out 2024 as the first measured three-year period since 2000 in which credit card payments grew more, by number, than debit card payments, a genuine break from a two-decade pattern of debit usage growing faster. That shift is worth naming directly to a merchant weighing how they price for card acceptance, since a rising credit share can change the blended cost of accepting cards even without any single rate changing.
This Federal Reserve data reports the split at the national-transaction level, across all merchants and payment channels combined. It is not segmented specifically to small-business points of sale, so it should be read and cited as the national split, not as a claim about how small businesses specifically split between debit and credit acceptance.
The Numbers
Debit cards: 120.6 billion transactions worth $4.99 trillion in 2024.
Federal Reserve, National Payment Volumes, Top-Line Data (CY 2015-24)
Credit cards: 67.1 billion transactions worth $6.51 trillion in 2024.
Federal Reserve, National Payment Volumes, Top-Line Data (CY 2015-24)
By transaction count, debit was 64% of card payments and credit was 36%; by dollar value, debit was 43% and credit was 57%.
Federal Reserve, National Payment Volumes, Top-Line Data (CY 2015-24)
2024 was the first measured three-year period since 2000 in which credit card payments grew more, by number, than debit card payments.
Federal Reserve, National Payment Volumes, Top-Line Data (CY 2015-24)
Total US noncash payments reached 236.6 billion in 2024, more than triple the number in 2000, with cards accounting for over three-quarters of all noncash payments by number.
Federal Reserve, 2025 triennial payments study, initial findings
Sources
The external data in this article draws on the sources below. Figures described in the text as estimates or industry triangulations are directional and are not attributed to a single dataset.
- Federal Reserve, National Payment Volumes, Top-Line Data (CY 2015-24)
- Federal Reserve, 2025 triennial payments study, initial findings