Americans Still Relying on Bank Branches

Despite the proliferation of online banking apps and Web sites, Americans have yet to abandon the old-fashioned trip to the local bank branch.

A new study released by Bankrate finds that only one in five Americans have gone the past 12 months without a visit to a bank branch. Forty-five percent of those surveyed by Bankrate were at their bank branch in the past 30 days for personal business transactions.

However, bank branch visits differ significantly among income levels: 54 percent of people earning more than $75,000 per year visited a bank within the past month, compared to 40 percent of those earning less than $30,000 per year. Among those earning less than $30,000 a year, 13 percent of that demographic said they do not use a bank at all.

"The likelihood of having visited a branch in the previous 30 days declines with income," says Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com.