The number of credit cards from the four primary credit card networks (i.e. VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover) is 608.3 million.
(Sources: Visa.com, MasterCard.com, AmericanExpress.com, Discover.com, Nilson Report, February, 2010)
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau there were:
- 1.43 billion credit cards in 2000
- 1.49 billion credit cards in 2008
- That number is projected to be 1.28 billion credit cards by 2011.
This data includes the number of store credit cards, which almost equals the number of credit cards from all four primary credit card networks combined.
Number of credit cards (in millions):
| Type of Credit Card | 2000 | 2003 | 2007 | 2008 | 2011 Projected |
| Visa | 255 | 283 | 321 | 304 | 282 |
| Mastercard | 200 | 267 | 279 | 260 | 211 |
| Store | 597 | 521 | 546 | 539 | 463 |
| Oil Company | 98 | 86 | 73 | 65 | 61 |
| Discover | 50 | 54 | 57 | 58 | 56 |
| American Express | 33 | 36 | 52 | 54 | 54 |
| Other | 192 | 185 | 166 | 160 | 150 |
| Total | 1,425 | 1,433 | 1,493 | 1,493 | 1,278 |
Also according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there were:
- 159 million credit cardholders in the United States in 2000
- 176 million in 2008
- That number is projected to grow to 183 million U.S. cardholders by 2011
Number of cardholders (in millions):
| Type of Credit Card | 2000 | 2003 | 2007 | 2008 | 2011 Projected |
| Visa | 93 | 94 | 107 | 108 | 104 |
| Mastercard | 86 | 96 | 105 | 100 | 83 |
| Store | 114 | 115 | 114 | 114 | 99 |
| Oil Company | 76 | 68 | 58 | 62 | 56 |
| Discover | 36 | 40 | 42 | 42 | 42 |
| American Express | 23 | 27 | 35 | 36 | 46 |
| Other | 133 | 130 | 120 | 6 | 6 |
| Total | 159 | 164 | 176 | 176 | 183 |
According to Experian, there are 3.45 open credit accounts per individual with credit history. If there are between 220 and 230 million adults in the U.S, this data indicates that there are between 759 million and 793.5 million credit cards nationwide.
(Source: Experian National Score Index, June 2011)
In regards to households:
- 78 percent of U.S. households, representing 91.1 million, had one or more credit cards at the end of 2008. At the end of 2007, there were 90.4 million households with cards.
(Source: Nilson Report, April 2009)
- Approximately 74.9 percent of the U.S. families surveyed in 2004 had credit cards, and 58 percent of those families carried a balance. In 2001, 76.2 percent of families had credit cards, and 55 percent of those families carried a balance.
(Source: Federal Reserve)
