The Wealth of the Nation: Spatial Dimensions of U.S. Metropolitan Commercial Banking, 1970–1980

The overall purpose of this study is to describe the spatial patterns of U.S. metropolitan commercial banking from 1970 to 1980. Specifically, the objectives are to relate the level of banking deposits among major metropolitan areas with (1) corporate importance, (2) population size, and (3) local government revenues. The Stanback hypothesis and the urban systems development concept provide the research framework. The concentration of major commercial banks in a relatively small number of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States is a salient feature of the geography of banking. As hypothesized, commercial banks are spatially associated with metropolitan population size, the clustering of major corporations, and sizable government revenues. These associations are especially strong among the very largest metropoliton areas, though they hold among centers of 200,000 and larger as well.