Federal Reserve Districts Explained

History of the Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve System was established by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on December 23, 1913. The legislation was a response to a series of financial panics — most notably the Panic of 1907 — that exposed the fragility of the US banking system. Before the Federal Reserve, the country had no central bank to provide stability, manage the money supply, or serve as a lender of last resort during banking crises.

The architects of the Federal Reserve deliberately avoided creating a single central bank in one city, fearing that such a concentration of financial power would be politically unacceptable and geographically biased toward the East Coast. Instead, they created a decentralized system of 12 regional Reserve Banks, each serving a specific geographic district. This structure was designed to ensure that the diverse economic interests of different parts of the country would be represented in monetary policy decisions.

The Reserve Organizing Committee, made up of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Comptroller of the Currency, was tasked with determining the number and locations of the Federal Reserve Banks. They received applications from 37 cities across the country and ultimately selected 12 locations based on factors including geographic distribution, transportation networks, banking activity, and commercial importance. The 12 banks opened for business on November 16, 1914, and the district boundaries have remained largely unchanged since then.

Why 12 Districts?

The Federal Reserve Act specified that there should be between 8 and 12 Federal Reserve districts. The committee chose the maximum of 12 to ensure broad geographic coverage and regional representation. At the time, the US population and economic activity were concentrated in the eastern half of the country, which is why 7 of the 12 Reserve Banks are located east of the Mississippi River.

The district boundaries were drawn based on early 20th-century economic geography: trade routes, transportation links, and the flow of commerce. Some districts are geographically compact (like the 3rd District serving parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware), while others are enormous (like the 12th District, which covers the entire western third of the country, including Alaska and Hawaii). These boundaries have not been substantially redrawn despite dramatic shifts in population and economic activity over the past century.

The 12 Federal Reserve Districts

Geographic Coverage by District

Each Federal Reserve district covers a specific set of states and territories. Some states are split between two districts, with different counties falling under different Reserve Banks. Here is the geographic breakdown:

• 1st District (Boston): Connecticut (except Fairfield County), Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
• 2nd District (New York): New York, northern New Jersey, Fairfield County (Connecticut), Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands
• 3rd District (Philadelphia): Eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware
• 4th District (Cleveland): Ohio, western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky
• 5th District (Richmond): Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, most of West Virginia, District of Columbia
• 6th District (Atlanta): Alabama, Florida, Georgia, eastern Tennessee, southern Mississippi, southern Louisiana
• 7th District (Chicago): Iowa, most of Illinois, most of Indiana, southern Michigan, southern Wisconsin
• 8th District (St. Louis): Arkansas, eastern Missouri, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, western Kentucky, western Tennessee, northern Mississippi
• 9th District (Minneapolis): Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, northern Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
• 10th District (Kansas City): Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, western Missouri, northern New Mexico
• 11th District (Dallas): Texas, northern Louisiana, southern New Mexico
• 12th District (San Francisco): Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands

Branch Offices Within Districts

Most Federal Reserve districts have one or more branch offices in addition to the headquarters Reserve Bank. These branches were established to extend the Federal Reserve's services across the large geographic areas covered by each district. For example, the 6th District (Atlanta) has branches in Birmingham, Jacksonville, Miami, Nashville, and New Orleans. The 12th District (San Francisco) has branches in Los Angeles, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Seattle.

In total, there are 24 branch offices across the 12 districts, for a total of 36 Federal Reserve Bank locations. The branch offices serve many of the same functions as the headquarters, including providing financial services to depository institutions in their area. The third and fourth digits of a routing number identify the specific branch or processing center within the district, which is how the 9-digit routing number can pinpoint the exact Federal Reserve office associated with a bank.

How Routing Number Prefixes Work

The first two digits of a routing number correspond to the Federal Reserve district, but the exact mapping includes additional ranges. Digits 01–12 correspond directly to the 12 districts. Digits 21–32 indicate thrift institutions (savings banks, credit unions) in the same districts. For example, a routing number starting with 07 belongs to a commercial bank in the Chicago district, while 27 belongs to a thrift institution in the same district.

You can learn more about routing number structure, including the 3-7-1 checksum algorithm and how to find these numbers on a check, in our dedicated guides.

The 61–72 Prefix Range Explained

The 61–72 prefix range is reserved for electronic transactions and maps to the same 12 Federal Reserve districts (offset by 60). For example, prefix 61 corresponds to the 1st District (Boston), and prefix 72 corresponds to the 12th District (San Francisco). These numbers were originally introduced to facilitate electronic check processing and differentiate electronic transactions from paper ones.

In practice, the 61–72 range is relatively uncommon in everyday banking. Most consumers and businesses will encounter routing numbers in the 01–12 or 21–32 ranges. However, the 61–72 range is still valid and appears in certain electronic transaction contexts. When validating a routing number, all three ranges (plus the 80 prefix for traveler's checks) should be accepted as legitimate.

The Role of Federal Reserve Banks Today

While the Federal Reserve districts were originally created to facilitate check sorting and clearing, the role of the regional Reserve Banks has expanded dramatically over the past century. Today, the Federal Reserve Banks serve multiple critical functions:

• Monetary policy input: Each Reserve Bank president participates in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which sets interest rates and monetary policy. Five of the 12 presidents vote at each meeting on a rotating basis (New York always votes).
• Bank supervision: Reserve Banks supervise and regulate state-chartered member banks and bank holding companies in their districts.
• Financial services: They provide payment services to depository institutions, including check clearing, ACH processing, Fedwire transfers, and currency distribution.
• Economic research: Each Reserve Bank conducts economic research focused on its district, providing grassroots economic intelligence that informs national policy decisions.
• Community development: Reserve Banks promote fair lending, community reinvestment, and financial literacy in their districts.

Impact on Modern Electronic Payments

In the era of electronic payments, the geographic significance of Federal Reserve districts has diminished considerably. When you initiate an ACH transfer or wire, the transaction does not physically pass through the Reserve Bank in your district — it is processed electronically through centralized systems. A bank in California with a 12th District prefix can process an ACH payment to a bank in New York with a 2nd District prefix just as quickly as a local transfer.

However, the district prefix in routing numbers remains important for several reasons. It serves as a validation check — a routing number that starts with 15, for example, is invalid because there is no 15th district. It helps identify the approximate origin of a bank, which can be useful for fraud detection. And it maintains backward compatibility with the enormous existing infrastructure of payment processing systems that depend on the routing number format.

The Federal Reserve's financial services division continues to maintain the routing number system and process payments through both legacy and modern systems. As newer payment rails like FedNow expand, the routing number — including its district prefix — will continue to serve as the primary identifier for US financial institutions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are there 12 districts?

The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 allowed for between 8 and 12 districts. The Reserve Organizing Committee chose the maximum of 12 to ensure broad geographic representation. The committee considered applications from 37 cities and selected locations based on population, banking activity, commercial importance, and transportation infrastructure. The number 12 reflected the diversity and geographic expanse of the United States at the time, and the district structure has remained unchanged since 1914.

Does the district matter for electronic transfers?

For the speed or cost of your transfer, no. Modern electronic payments are processed centrally regardless of which district the sending and receiving banks are in. A transfer between two banks in the same district settles just as fast as one across the country. However, the district prefix is still used for validation purposes. If a routing number starts with digits outside the valid ranges (01–12, 21–32, 61–72, or 80), it is invalid. The district prefix also helps with fraud detection, as an unexpected geographic origin can be a red flag.

What if my bank is in a different state than its routing number suggests?

This is more common than you might think. When banks merge or acquire other banks, the surviving institution may retain routing numbers from the acquired bank's original district. A bank headquartered in California might have routing numbers with a New York prefix if it acquired a New York-based bank. Similarly, online-only banks may be chartered in one state but serve customers nationwide, and their routing number reflects where they were originally established, not where their customers are. The routing number's district prefix tells you where the bank was registered in the Federal Reserve system, not necessarily where it operates today. For more on how routing numbers work, see our detailed guide.

What are the 61–72 prefix ranges for?

The 61–72 range is designated for electronic transactions. These prefixes map to the same 12 Federal Reserve districts as the 01–12 range but with an offset of 60. For example, 61 corresponds to the 1st District (Boston) and 72 to the 12th District (San Francisco). This range was introduced to differentiate electronic check processing from paper check processing. While less commonly encountered in everyday banking, these prefixes are valid routing number identifiers and should be accepted by any routing number validator.

Check Your Routing Number

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