--- title: How Money Ranked the 2025-2026 Best Banks description: How We Chose Money’s Best Banks To arrive at our list of the Best Banks of 2025-2026, Money evaluated more than 275 financial institutions, including… authors: - name: Jordan Chussler role: Editor, Investing and Banking url: https://money.com/author/jordan-chussler/ bio: Jordan is an investment editor who specializes in topics ranging from traditional equities, retirement savings and income investing to alternative assets and commodities, specifically focusing on gold and other precious metals. He combines his personal interests and professional experience in finance and education to help readers increase their financial literacy and make better investment choices. Jordan is a Certified Personal Finance Counselor. education: Lynn University certifications: Certified Personal Finance Counselor at_money_since: 2023 articles: 130 covers: - Banking - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement also_seen_in: - Weiss Ratings - 24/7 Wall Street - Better Investing - Yahoo Finance - Nasdaq - Investing.com - Marketbeat - MSN Money social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-chussler-b3597811/ published: '2024-10-15T13:47:52.000Z' modified: '2025-10-15T13:46:14.000Z' tags: - Best - Best Banks 2025–2026 word_count: 500 canonical: https://money.com/page/best-banks-methodology-2025/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Best-Banks-2026](https://img.money.com/2025/09/Best-Banks-2026-mbci_wqqy3__6u4ngx.jpg) ## How We Chose Money’s Best Banks To arrive at our list of the [Best Banks of 2025-2026](https://money.com/best-banks/), Money evaluated more than 275 financial institutions, including national, online and regional banks and credit unions. Our analysis of [national banks](https://money.com/best-national-banks/) began with a list of the 20 largest banks ranked by assets by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). We then focused on the features provided by each bank's checking, savings and money market accounts. We followed the same procedure with a list of the 20 largest [credit unions](https://money.com/best-credit-union/) in the nation, ranked by assets, as determined by the National Credit Union Administration. We prioritized those with membership open to just about anyone or with more flexible membership requirements. To assess [online banks](https://money.com/best-online-bank/), we looked at 20 of the largest direct banks, evaluating the interest rates and fees on each bank’s checking, savings and money market accounts. Our list of best accounts for [students](https://money.com/best-bank-for-students/), [seniors](https://money.com/best-bank-seniors/) and [military members](https://money.com/best-military-banks-and-credit-unions/) was constructed from the complete list of national banks, credit unions and online banks. Whenever possible, more emphasis was placed on accounts specifically designed for each category. In recent years, we expanded our survey to include [regional](https://money.com/how-to-find-the-best-regional-bank-for-your-needs/) banks and credit unions. To arrive at our list of regional winners, we looked at the largest banks and credit unions, ranked by assets, in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest and West. Our regions are based roughly on the [U.S. Census Bureau](https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/maps/reference/us_regdiv.pdf) regional and divisional map. Each region comprises the following states: **Northeast:** New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island **Mid-Atlantic:** Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. **Southeast:** Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas **Midwest:** Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri **West:** Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Washington State, Oregon, California and Nevada ## Main Methodology To determine the winners in each category, we reviewed the following data points: minimum opening balance, interest rate paid, monthly fees charged and online accessibility. We also analyzed additional fees charged, including ATM use, overdraft and insufficient funds, wire transfers and overdraft protection. When determining our winners, we emphasized checking and savings accounts that paid a high interest rate, required no opening or minimum balance and charged few or no fees. We also considered online and mobile accessibility, additional perks or rewards, and the size of the ATM network. Most of the accounts we looked at are not high-yield savings accounts, but when many [national banks](https://money.com/best-national-banks/) typically pay 0.01% and a bank pays 0.10%, we consider that a higher APY. Whenever possible, we considered customer service rankings from the [J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study](https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2024-us-retail-banking-satisfaction-study) and the [J.D. Power 2025 Direct Banking Satisfaction Study](https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2024-us-direct-banking-satisfaction-study). Money’s editorial team collected and analyzed the data between July and September 2025. All interest rates and bonuses quoted are valid as of Oct. 14, 2025, and are subject to change at any time. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/page/best-banks-methodology-2025/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/page/best-banks-methodology-2025/", "name": "How Money Ranked the 2025-2026 Best Banks", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-10-15T13:47:52.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/page/best-banks-methodology-2025/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2025-10-15T13:46:14.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "How Money Ranked the 2025-2026 Best Banks", "articleSection": "", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2025/09/Best-Banks-2026-mbci_wqqy3__6u4ngx.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "Best-Banks-2026" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jordan Chussler", "url": "https://money.com/author/jordan-chussler/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/jordan-chussler/#author", "description": "Jordan is an investment editor who specializes in topics ranging from traditional equities, retirement savings and income investing to alternative assets and commodities, specifically focusing on gold and other precious metals. 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