Ohio above national average for bank branch closures

In Ohio and across the country, regional banks continued consolidating their physical branch networks at an accelerated pace in 2022. 

According to an analysis by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, prior to the pandemic, the banking industry was closing an average of 99 branches a month. As in-person service fell out of style amid the pandemic, that pace doubled to approximately 200 per month. 

Nationally, from 2020 to 2021, 3.8% of branches were closed. And from 2021 to 2022, another 3.2% of branches were lost. 

In Ohio, the rate of closures since the pandemic has eclipsed that pace. 

According to annual data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., in the Buckeye State, about 2% of branches were closed between 2018 and 2019. Another 2.4% of branches were shuttered between 2019 and 2020. 

Statewide branch closures then jumped to 4.8% between 2020 and 2021. 

From 2021 to 2022, another 4.3% of branches were consolidated. 

Some of the biggest consolidators across the state in 2022 include Huntington Bank — which closed 56 Ohio branches in 2022, though 70% of those were in-store Giant Eagle locations closed early in the year — Fifth Third Bank (27 closures) and PNC Bank (23 closures).