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A new national survey shows a quarter of U.S. households don't have bank accounts and rely on expensive alternatives such as check-cashing services, but Minnesota has far fewer such households than most of the country.

The survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) ranked Minnesota third among states with the smallest percentage of households that lacked bank accounts. In Minnesota, the figure was 2.6 percent.

Minnesota also led the nation in the smallest percentage of households (11.1 percent) that, even with bank accounts, relied heavily on companies that offer costly payday loans or cash-checking services.

Lack of enough money headed the list of reasons people gave for why they didn't have checking or savings accounts, the survey said.

"The survey results are highly correlated with income levels, and simply reflect that Minnesota is a relatively prosperous state," said John Boyd, a banking professor at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. "If you were to take out the measurement of annual income, the other factors contributing to low use of the banking system probably wouldn't amount to much."

The government said the survey of the so-called unbanked and underbanked helps determine if banks are doing a good job meeting the needs of the people most likely to exist on the margins of the banking system. It also shows, more precisely than earlier surveys, who is less likely to use banks.

The least likely: those with a lower income, who lack a high school degree, who fall into the 15-to-24 age group, who are single female heads of households, are black or live in the South. The study broke no new ground there, because those are the same groups previously identified in other studies of poverty, said banking industry experts.

"We don't have big populations of illegal immigrants or illiterate people here," which would boost Minnesota's results, noted David Vang, a finance professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

Some experts pointed to the proliferation of branches in places such as grocery and discount stores that have helped banks reach customers with a broader range of income levels.

"Banks here have done a better job of reaching out to minority populations and lower income groups," said Bob Viering, a principal of River Point Group, a bank consulting firm in Monticello, Minn. "The Twin Cities has a history as a banking headquarters city, and I think the banks worked hard in their home market to get branch banks in good locations."

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said access to a bank account gives households "an important first step toward achieving financial security." By studying those who use banks little or not at all "we will be better-positioned to help them take that first step," she said.

Steve Alexander • 612-673-4553