NEW YORK—The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today released a report by its Community Development team finding that assets held by Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) shrank 3% between Q4 2023 and Q2 2025. The number of CDFIs also declined during that period, falling 6%.
The report, “Sizing the Community Development Financial Institution Industry: 2011-2025,” finds that much of the reduction in both assets and the number of CDFIs was driven by a decline in the number of CDFI-certified credit unions between 2023 and 2025. Assets held by CDFI credit unions fell by $18 billion during this period.
Other key findings:
- The nation’s 1,378 certified CDFI institutions held $446 billion in assets as of Q2 2025.
- Most CDFI assets are in CDFI-certified credit unions, which held $277 billion, roughly 62% of total industry assets, as of Q2 2025.
- Certified loan funds were the largest group of CDFIs by count, comprising 41% of the industry as of Q2 2025, well below the peak of 62% in 2011.
"The modest decline in both the number of certified CDFIs and their assets followed years of steady growth for both," said Jonathan Kivell, director of community investments on the New York Fed's Community Development team. "Much of this was driven by the decline in the number and total assets of CDFI-certified credit unions."
The report is part of ongoing work the Community Development team has released about the CDFI industry. It updates a 2023 report, “Sizing the CDFI Market: Understanding Industry Growth,” using more comprehensive data and a longer period of analysis. The team also released a 2024 report, “Examining the Origination and Sale of Loans by Community Development Financial Institutions” and wrote about creating a more robust secondary market for loans originated by CDFIs in a 2024 article on the New York Fed’s The Teller Window.
The Community Development team works to understand the economic experiences of lower-income households and communities to help build a stronger economy for all Americans. Community development is one of the Federal Reserve’s core functions as the U.S. central bank, rooted in the Fed’s mandates from Congress.
