By Robin Arnfield

Contributing writer

About one-third (32 percent) of U.S. adults, or 35 percent of cellphone owners, now bank using their mobile phones, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center's Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Pew also found that 51 percent of U.S. adults, or 61 percent of Internet users, bank online.

Pew commissioned Princeton Survey Research Associates International to interview 1,003 U.S. adults in July about their mobile banking usage and to survey 2,252 U.S. adults in April and May about their online banking usage.

Both online and mobile banking are on the rise in the U.S., said Susannah Fox, associate director, digital strategy, at the Pew Research Center. In 2010, 46 percent of U.S. adults, or 58 percent of Internet users, said they banked online. In 2011, 18 percent of cellphone owners said they had used their phone to check their balance or transact business with a bank, according to previous Pew research.

Based on its 2013 surveys, Pew estimated that 85 percent of American adults currently use the Internet, while 91 percent of the U.S. adult population has a cellphone. In addition, 56 percent of U.S. adults have smartphones, the survey found.

Young adults are ahead of other age groups, Pew said, particularly people aged 65 and over, in their use of mobile banking. Among survey respondents aged 18 to 29, 54 percent of cellphone users said they carry out mobile banking, while in the 30-49 age group, 40 percent of cellphone users bank via mobile devices. In the 50-64 age group, 25 percent of cellphone users bank via mobile devices, compared to just 14 percent in the 65-plus age group.

Pew found that non-white cellphone owners are more likely than white cellphone owners to carry out mobile banking, and said 32 percent of white, non-Hispanic cellphone owners bank with a mobile device, compared to 39 percent of black, non-Hispanic cellphone owners and 41 percent of total non-whites, including Hispanics.

Among both male and female cellphone users, the percentage using mobile banking in 2013 is 35 percent, Pew said.

Nearly one-third (31 percent) of cellphone owners with an annual income of under $30,000 bank via mobile devices, while 32 percent of cellphone owners who earn $30,000 to $49,999 do so. Among cellphone owners with an annual income of $50,000 to $79,999, 45 percent use mobile banking, while 44 percent of cellphone owners with an income of more than $80,000 bank via mobile devices.

Pew said its findings dovetail with an August 2012 survey by the American Bankers Association. The ABA survey found that in 2012, 39 percent of U.S. adults preferred to bank online, up from 36 percent in 2010, and 6 percent preferred to bank on a mobile device, up from 3 percent in 2010.

Adults aged between 18 and 34 are driving the growth in online and mobile banking, according to the ABA. Its survey of 1,000 adults, carried out by IPSOS Public Affairs, found that 15 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds banked via mobile devices in 2012.

Learn more about mobile banking.