Short answer: The median FDIC-insured bank reported a tier 1 leverage ratio of 10.96% for the quarter ending June 30, 2026, across 4,238 banks, and the middle half ran from 9.70% to 13.00%. Of those banks, 3,740 (88.2%) were at 9% or higher. At the other end, 112 (2.6%) were below 8% and 5 were below 5%. A good ratio sits in the middle half of your size band and well clear of the requirement that applies to your bank. Medians run from 12.76% under $100 million to 9.44% over $100 billion.
What the ratio counts
Tier 1 leverage is tier 1 capital divided by average total assets for leverage purposes, reported on Schedule RC-R Part I. Nothing is risk weighted, so a Treasury bill needs as much capital as a construction loan. For a bank that has elected the community bank leverage ratio (CBLR) framework, this ratio is the CBLR itself.
Leverage by asset size
Start with your own band.
| Bank size (total assets) | Banks | Bottom quartile | Median | Top quartile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All banks | 4,238 | 9.70% | 10.96% | 13.00% |
| Under $100M | 543 | 10.58% | 12.76% | 15.96% |
| $100M to $300M | 1,214 | 9.86% | 11.30% | 13.63% |
| $300M to $1B | 1,433 | 9.61% | 10.81% | 12.58% |
| $1B to $3B | 626 | 9.61% | 10.54% | 11.97% |
| $3B to $10B | 264 | 9.63% | 10.45% | 11.66% |
| $10B to $100B | 126 | 9.43% | 10.25% | 11.08% |
| Over $100B | 32 | 7.98% | 9.44% | 10.05% |
Source: BankingLens, FFIEC call reports for the quarter ending June 30, 2026. Every FDIC-insured bank and savings institution, not a sample.
The median falls with size, but the bottom of the distribution barely moves. From $100 million to $100 billion every band's bottom quartile ends between 9.43% and 9.86%, so a bank below 9.43% is in the bottom quarter of all five of those bands.
Under $100 million the bottom quartile ends at 10.58%, above the median of every band over $1 billion, and one bank in ten holds more than 23.74%. Over $100 billion a quarter of banks run below 7.98%, the only bottom quartile under 8%.
The requirements, before and after July 1
The prompt corrective action rule puts the well-capitalized line for leverage at 5.0%, next to 10.0% for total risk-based capital, 8.0% for tier 1 risk-based capital and 6.5% for common equity tier 1.
The CBLR framework, in place since January 1, 2020, is open to banks under $10 billion that aren't advanced approaches institutions, with off-balance-sheet exposures of 25% or less of total assets and trading assets plus trading liabilities of 5% or less. A bank that qualifies and elects it is treated as meeting all four well-capitalized thresholds and reports no risk-based ratios.
A final rule of April 23, 2026 lowered the framework's requirement from a leverage ratio of more than 9% to more than 8%, effective July 1, 2026. It also lengthened the grace period for a bank that stops meeting the criteria from two quarters to four, provided leverage stays above 7% (it was 8%), with no more than eight grace quarters in five years.
Our June 30, 2026 figures come from call reports filed while the 9% requirement still applied; the September 30, 2026 reports will be the first filed under 8%. In the June filings, 498 banks (11.8%) reported leverage below 9% and 112 (2.6%) below 8%. Those counts include banks too large for the framework, and they can't tell you how many banks will change the way they file. If your bank uses the framework and its capital policy targets a cushion over the requirement, the board should decide whether that target moves with it.
Banks that file without risk-based ratios
The call report shows how a bank files, not why. In the June 30, 2026 reports, 1,798 banks reported a tier 1 leverage ratio and no risk-based capital ratios, which is how a bank using the CBLR framework files. That is 42.4% of all 4,238 banks and 44.1% of the 4,080 under $10 billion.
| Bank size (total assets) | Banks | No risk-based ratios | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| All banks | 4,238 | 1,798 | 42.4% |
| Under $100M | 543 | 296 | 54.5% |
| $100M to $300M | 1,214 | 671 | 55.3% |
| $300M to $1B | 1,433 | 612 | 42.7% |
| $1B to $3B | 626 | 183 | 29.2% |
| $3B to $10B | 264 | 36 | 13.6% |
| $10B to $100B | 126 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Over $100B | 32 | 0 | 0.0% |
Source: BankingLens, FFIEC call reports for the quarter ending June 30, 2026. Banks reporting a tier 1 leverage ratio but no risk-based capital ratios.
More than half the banks in each band under $300 million file this way, and the share falls to 13.6% at $3 billion to $10 billion. The framework trades capital for simplicity. That trade is cheap under $100 million, where the median bank holds 12.76%, and costs more for a bigger bank running nearer the line.
Banks filing without risk-based ratios had a median leverage ratio of 11.76%, against 10.40% for banks that file them. Size explains part of the gap, since every bank over $10 billion is in the second group, but the median bank filing this way still held well above the framework's requirement.
The share keeps climbing. Among filers it was 35.6% in the first quarter of 2023, took three years to reach 40.5% and one more quarter to reach 42.4%.
Where the missing ratios show up
CRE concentration is the obvious case. The interagency CRE guidance measures concentration against total capital, and because CBLR banks no longer report tier 2 capital, the agencies have accepted tier 1 capital plus the allowance as the denominator since the first quarter of 2020. BankingLens uses tier 1 capital plus the allowance for credit losses for those banks and labels the ratio accordingly (see CRE concentration limits explained).
Peer medians thin out too. Under $300 million, a median total capital ratio describes the minority of banks that still report one. Tier 1 leverage is the only regulatory capital ratio all 4,238 banks reported, so it's the one to benchmark when a peer set mixes both kinds of filer.
Capital well past the requirement costs return on equity, and plenty of banks hold it: a quarter reported leverage above 13.00% and one in ten above 16.13% (see what is a good ROE for a bank).
UBPR peer groups for commercial banks
UBPR users compare against one of eight FFIEC peer groups for commercial banks. Savings banks are grouped separately and aren't in this table.
| Peer group | Total assets | Banks | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 | Over $100B | 29 | 9.49% |
| Group 2 | $10B to $100B | 114 | 10.27% |
| Group 3 | $3B to $10B | 227 | 10.40% |
| Group 4 | $1B to $3B | 529 | 10.45% |
| Group 5 | $300M to $1B | 1,273 | 10.70% |
| Group 6 | $100M to $300M | 1,080 | 11.16% |
| Group 7 | $50M to $100M | 320 | 12.13% |
| Group 8 | Under $50M | 133 | 13.29% |
Source: BankingLens, FFIEC call reports and UBPR peer group membership for the quarter ending June 30, 2026.
The UBPR's split at $50 million matters for capital: a median of 13.29% under $50 million, against 12.13% at $50 million to $100 million. From $1 billion to $100 billion the medians barely move, 10.27% to 10.45%.
Why the ratio moves between quarters
Most quarter-to-quarter movement traces to one of these:
- Growth. When assets grow faster than capital, the ratio falls, even at a bank with a strong ROA.
- Dividends. They come out of capital and are reported on Schedule RI-A, Changes in Bank Equity Capital. At a Subchapter S bank they include the distributions shareholders use to pay tax on the bank's income.
- Deposit inflows. Cash from a deposit surge lifts average assets and lowers the ratio without adding risk.
- AOCI. Banks not using advanced approaches could make a one-time, permanent election to exclude most AOCI from regulatory capital; existing banks decided on the March 31, 2015 call report. For a bank that opted out, unrealized losses on available-for-sale securities reduce GAAP equity but not tier 1 capital (see how much bank capital is still underwater).
Across all banks the median rose from 10.34% in the first quarter of 2023 to 10.96%. It slipped in each fourth quarter in our series, then rose again. Medians can't show the cause, but year-end dividends and seasonal deposits both push that way, so check both before reading a fourth-quarter dip at your own bank as a trend.
Frost Bank against its peer group
Frost Bank, a San Antonio commercial bank with $53.95 billion in assets, reported tier 1 leverage of 9.08% at June 30, 2026. That is the 17th peer group percentile among commercial banks with $10 billion to $100 billion in assets, where the median is 10.27%, so most of its peers hold more tier 1 capital against their assets.
Frost is well above the 5.0% well-capitalized line and too large to elect the CBLR. Large banks often manage to risk-based ratios rather than leverage, so a low leverage percentile says less about a large bank than about a small one using the framework. Frost's ratio and percentile are on the Frost Bank sample scorecard.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good tier 1 leverage ratio for a bank?
The median FDIC-insured bank reported 10.96% for the quarter ending June 30, 2026, with the middle half between 9.70% and 13.00%. A good ratio sits near the middle of the bank's size band, where medians run from 12.76% under $100 million to 9.44% over $100 billion, and well clear of the requirement that applies to it.
What is the minimum tier 1 leverage ratio to be well capitalized?
The prompt corrective action rule sets it at 5.0%, with 10.0% for total risk-based capital, 8.0% for tier 1 risk-based capital and 6.5% for common equity tier 1. A bank that qualifies for and elects the community bank leverage ratio framework is treated as meeting all four.
What is the community bank leverage ratio?
It is an optional capital framework for qualifying banks under $10 billion; a bank that elects it reports a leverage ratio instead of risk-based ratios. A final rule of April 23, 2026 lowered the requirement from more than 9% to more than 8% as of July 1, 2026, so the September 30, 2026 call reports will be the first filed under 8%.
How many banks use the community bank leverage ratio?
In the June 30, 2026 call reports, 1,798 banks reported a tier 1 leverage ratio and no risk-based capital ratios, which is how a bank using the framework files. That is 42.4% of the 4,238 FDIC-insured banks and 44.1% of the 4,080 under $10 billion.
How does the leverage ratio differ from the tier 1 risk-based ratio?
Both divide tier 1 capital by assets. The leverage ratio counts average total assets in full; the risk-based ratio uses risk-weighted assets, where cash and low-risk securities count for less, so it usually reads higher. The well-capitalized thresholds are 5.0% for leverage and 8.0% for tier 1 risk-based capital.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page is computed from the call reports of the 4,238 FDIC-insured banks and savings institutions that filed for the quarter ending June 30, 2026, the same count the FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile reports, plus earlier quarters for the trends. We leave out the 58 non-deposit trust companies that also file call reports, since they take no deposits and make almost no loans. You can see this ratio for a real bank, ranked against its FFIEC peer group, on the sample scorecard for Frost Bank. Plans that cover your state or every bank start at $29 a month (pricing).