Pew: 51% of US adults bank online and 32% of cell phone owners in the country do so via mobile

Banking online is becoming more and more ubiquitous: 61 percent of Internet users in the US now access their accounts on the Web. Meanwhile, 35 percent of cell phone owners in the country bank using their mobile phones.

The latest data comes from Pew Research Center, an American think tank organization. Putting Internet adoption aside, the firm found 51 percent of US adults now bank online and 32 percent of US adults bank via mobile.

Unsurprisingly, both types of digital banking are on the rise:

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In 2010, Pew found 58 percent of Internet users and 46 percent of US adults said they bank online. In 2011, 18 percent of cell phone owners said they had used their phone to check their balance or transact business with a bank.

It’s worth noting that online banking looks to be plateauing while mobile banking is still rising. This shouldn’t be too surprising given that mobile is still a relatively new platform, and banking thus has a lot more users it has yet to win over.

Demographically speaking, the results aren’t too shocking either:

Pew has previously found 85 percent of US adults say they use the Internet, but of course the likelihood to have access declines with age. As such, differences among those who bank online are more pronounced: because only 56 percent of US adults age 65 and older use the Internet, just 26% of that age group say they bank online.

The mobile banking data is based on telephone interviews conducted in English with what Pew calls “a nationally representative sample” of 1,003 adults living in the continental United States. The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between July 25 and July 28, 2013.

The online banking data is based on questions asked during telephone interviews conducted in English and Spanish by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between April 17 and May 19, 2013. The sample consisted of 2,252 adults (age 18 and older).

See also – The future of online banking

Top Image Credit: Darren Deans