U.S. Banks That Collapsed: What the 2000-2023 Data Really Shows

When Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank fell in March 2023, the shock reverberated through the financial world. Yet the full story of banks that collapsed over the past two decades reveals something surprising: these two institutions were extreme outliers in an otherwise pattern-filled history of bank failures.

Between 2000 and 2023, the U.S. experienced 565 bank failures—averaging roughly 25 per year. But this number masks dramatic swings in frequency and severity.

The Geography of Banking Crises: Where Banks That Collapsed Were Located

Four states dominate the landscape of failed banks since 2000: California, Florida, Georgia, and Illinois. California alone saw 42 failures, including Silicon Valley Bank. Yet despite being America’s banking hub, New York has experienced only six bank failures in the same period—though one of them was Signature Bank, the third-largest bank failure ever recorded.

The most striking pattern emerges in Florida and Georgia. Together, these two southeastern states accounted for nearly 30% of all U.S. bank failures this century. The housing and loan crisis of 2008-2012 devastated regional banking sectors in both states, triggering a cascade of collapses.

When the Wave Hit: The Post-2007 Banking Collapse

Bank failures remained relatively rare from 2001 to 2007, averaging just 3.57 per year. Then came the December 2007 recession announcement, which transformed the landscape entirely.

From 2008 to 2012, bank failures surged to an average of 93 annually. Of the 565 total failures spanning 2000-2023, a staggering 82%—465 banks—closed during these five years. The peak arrived in 2010: 157 banks that collapsed in a single year, more than double the failures recorded in the entire last decade combined.

Even at the 2010 peak, when 157 institutions failed, their combined assets totaled less than half the assets held by Silicon Valley Bank alone.

Why SVB and Signature Bank Broke the Pattern

Silicon Valley Bank held $209 billion in assets when it failed on March 10, 2023—roughly 2,000 times larger than Almena State Bank, which had failed in Kansas just three years prior with only $69 million in assets. SVB ranked as the 16th largest bank in the country and the second-largest banking failure in U.S. history, surpassed only by Washington Mutual’s $307 billion collapse in 2008.

Two days later, regulators shut down Signature Bank, which held $110 billion in assets, marking the third-largest bank failure ever. Until SVB’s collapse, more than a decade had passed since any bank with over $7 billion in assets had failed.

These banks that collapsed were exceptional not because failure itself was unusual, but because their massive size was. Most historical failures involved small, regional institutions. The previous bank failure before SVB—Almena State Bank—held assets of just $69 million. Three other 2020 failures held $136, $156, and $101 million respectively.

The Rhythm of Failures: When Banks Close

Ninety-five percent of the 565 failed banks since 2000 closed on Fridays. This timing wasn’t coincidental—it gave regulators the entire weekend to settle accounts, liquidate assets, and prevent panic before customers arrived Monday morning.

Signature Bank became a striking exception: it failed on Sunday, March 13, 2023, the only bank to do so in this entire period. Regulators accelerated the timeline because SVB’s rapid collapse had already triggered emergency withdrawal demands at Signature Bank. By acting immediately, authorities prevented a potential domino effect across the sector.

Monthly patterns also emerged: January, April, July, and October saw the highest concentration of failures, typically coinciding with fiscal quarter transitions.

The Long Quiet Periods Between Crises

Before SVB’s failure, the U.S. had gone 867 days without any bank failing—the second-longest drought since 1933. The record remains June 2004 through February 2007, nearly three years of stability immediately preceding the Great Recession.

The years 2021 and 2022 saw zero bank failures. From 2015 to 2020, fewer than five banks failed annually on average. This extended calm led many to believe the banking crisis was firmly in the past—until March 2023.

The Bigger Picture: Why These Particular Banks That Collapsed Mattered

The panic surrounding two failures in 2023 stands in stark contrast to historical norms. Yet context matters. Seeing dozens or even hundreds of small regional banks fail during the 2008-2012 period represented a systemic crisis; two mega-banks failing represented something different.

SVB serviced the nation’s tech and startup ecosystem as one of the most prominent lenders to innovation-driven companies. Its sudden collapse threatened not just depositors but an entire industry’s financial backbone. Signature Bank carried similar systemic importance within the cryptocurrency and fintech sectors.

The FDIC’s records show that most failed banks since 2000 operated below public radar—small institutions with limited geographic reach. SVB’s and Signature Bank’s failures broke through that obscurity precisely because their size and specialization made them irreplaceable within their markets.

Understanding why these particular banks that collapsed matters more than simply counting failures: it’s about recognizing which collapses threaten broader economic stability versus those that reflect natural market culling.