How do I calculate the deposits-to-assets ratio for a bank?

Divide total deposits by total assets and multiply by 100. The result shows what percentage of the bank's balance sheet is funded by customer deposits rather than borrowings or other liabilities.

The formula is:

Deposits-to-Assets Ratio = (Total Deposits / Total Assets) × 100

Take a bank with $1.8 billion in total deposits and $2.2 billion in total assets. Dividing $1.8 billion by $2.2 billion gives 0.818, or 81.8%. That tells you deposits fund roughly 82 cents of every dollar on the bank's balance sheet.

Which Deposits to Include

The standard calculation uses total deposits, which covers every deposit category on the balance sheet:

Non-interest-bearing checking accounts

Interest-bearing checking and savings accounts

Money market accounts

Certificates of deposit (CDs) of all sizes

Core deposits are a narrower subset that strips out large time deposits (typically CDs above $250,000) and brokered deposits. These get excluded because they tend to be rate-sensitive: depositors who chased a high CD rate will move their money when a competitor offers better terms. A separate ratio, core deposits to total assets, gives a more refined picture of stable funding, but calculating it requires detail from the bank's call report or 10-K footnotes rather than the summary balance sheet.

Where to Find the Numbers

Both inputs sit on the consolidated balance sheet in SEC filings (10-K or 10-Q). Total deposits appears as a line item in the liabilities section. Some banks break deposits into subcategories right on the face of the balance sheet; others consolidate them into one line and provide the breakdown in the notes. Total assets is the bottom line of the asset section.

Both figures should come from the same reporting date. This ratio uses period-end balances rather than averages, since both the numerator and denominator are balance sheet items measured at the same point in time. Using the most recent quarter-end balance sheet gives you the current funding structure.

What Typical Results Look Like

Most community banks and smaller regional banks fall in the 80% to 90% range. These institutions rely heavily on local deposits as their primary funding source. Larger regional and national banks often run lower, in the 65% to 80% range, because they have greater access to wholesale funding markets including Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) advances, repurchase agreements, and subordinated debt.

A ratio above 90% signals a bank that depends almost entirely on deposits for funding. That's generally positive from a stability perspective, but it can also mean the bank has limited flexibility if deposit outflows occur during periods of stress. A ratio below 70% suggests meaningful reliance on non-deposit funding, which isn't automatically a concern but warrants a closer look at the composition and maturity of those alternative funding sources.

Reading Changes Over Time

The ratio can shift for reasons that have nothing to do with the strength of the deposit franchise itself. Because deposits sit in the numerator and total assets in the denominator, movement on either side changes the percentage.

Consider a bank that holds deposits steady at $1.8 billion but grows its securities portfolio from $300 million to $500 million, funded by FHLB borrowings. Total assets increase, deposits stay flat, and the ratio drops from 81.8% to roughly 75%. The deposit base hasn't weakened at all. The bank simply chose to fund part of its growth with wholesale borrowings instead of deposits.

The reverse happens too. A bank that pays down wholesale borrowings and replaces them with deposit growth will see the ratio climb, even if the absolute change in deposits is modest. Tracking the dollar changes in both deposits and total assets alongside the ratio gives you a clearer read on what's actually driving the movement.

Common Calculation Mistakes

A few errors come up frequently:

Mixing reporting dates. Using deposits from one quarter-end and total assets from another produces a ratio that doesn't represent any actual point in time. Both figures need to come from the same balance sheet.

Confusing total deposits with total liabilities. Total liabilities includes deposits plus all borrowings, subordinated debt, and other obligations. Substituting total liabilities in the numerator answers a different question and will always produce a higher number.

Using average assets when the goal is a point-in-time snapshot. The standard deposits-to-assets calculation uses period-end balances for both inputs. Average assets belong in income-based ratios like return on average assets (ROAA), not balance sheet composition ratios.

How It Connects to Other Balance Sheet Ratios

Deposits-to-assets is one of three ratios that together describe a bank's basic balance sheet structure. The loans-to-assets ratio shows what share of assets are deployed in lending, and the loans-to-deposits ratio shows how much of the deposit base has been lent out.

The three are mathematically linked: loans-to-deposits equals loans-to-assets divided by deposits-to-assets. If a bank shows 70% loans-to-assets and 85% deposits-to-assets, its loans-to-deposits ratio works out to about 82% (0.70 / 0.85). Checking this relationship is a useful cross-check whenever you calculate all three for the same bank. If the math doesn't reconcile, one of the inputs is wrong.