North America · GDP rank #1

United States

US · USD @ 1.0000/USD

The world's largest card market remains stubbornly fragmented on rails: FedNow, RTP, Zelle and Nacha ACH compete where most peers run a single national instant scheme. Interchange revenue underwrites a rewards arms race that is now at structural risk from the 2024 CFPB §1033 open-banking rule and the GENIUS Act stablecoin framework, which entered OCC and Treasury rule-making during early 2026.

Tab 02

Consumer payments

How consumers actually pay: the share of cash, the stock and flow of cards, the scheme split at checkout, which mobile wallets matter, and how broadly POS acceptance reaches.

Every figure is authored against a named publisher — click the anywhere to open the source panel with the underlying URL and access date.

Cash share of POS volume

16%

% · 2023

Debit card share

33%

% · 2023

Credit card share

31%

% · 2023

Mobile wallet share

32%

% · 2024

Payment mix

At the point of sale

The shares below are POS volume (count of transactions), which reads differently from POS value. For the value-share read, see the card-economy grid underneath.

16%Cash

Share of POS

  • Cash16%
  • Credit card31%
  • Debit card33%
  • Instant / A2A5%
  • Mobile wallet32%
  • BNPL7%
  • Other8%

Cash behaviour

ATM network
450,000
Avg. ATM withdrawal
US$155
Cash share · value
9%
Cash share · volume
16%

Source · ATM Industry Association (ATMIA)

Scheme share

Which networks clear the card volume

Scheme share is the split of general-purpose card purchase volume — not issuance, not count of cards. A high domestic share (e.g. UnionPay, RuPay, ELO) means a large share of card flow never touches a global scheme.

Share of card volume

  • Visa61%
  • Mastercard26%
  • Amex11%
  • Other2%

Debit card transactions

87.8B

transactions/year · 2021 (Fed triennial)

Debit card spend

US$4.5T

USD/year · 2021 (Fed triennial)

Credit card transactions

51.1B

transactions/year · 2021 (Fed triennial)

Credit card spend

US$5.4T

USD/year · 2024

Average debit ticket

US$51

USD · 2021

Average credit ticket

US$96

USD · 2021

Mobile wallets

Where wallets actually land

User counts are the best single scalar for wallet reach, but they understate usage intensity in markets where one super-app carries multi-digit trillions of renminbi or rupees. For flow, see the rails tab.

Active users

  • Apple Pay~60M

    2024

  • Google Pay / Google Wallet~25M

    2024

  • PayPal~180M

    2024

  • Cash App57M

    Q4 2024

  • Venmo~65M

    2024

Notable wallets

Apple Pay

Penetrates roughly 55% of US iPhone households; in-store usage still trails online.

eMarketer

Google Pay / Google Wallet

eMarketer

PayPal

PayPal Investor Relations

Cash App

Block Inc.

Venmo

PayPal Investor Relations

Full reference