The top-performing credit unions of early 2026 did not win by running one ratio off the chart. They won by refusing to carry a weak balance-sheet link.

That is the clearest result from the Q1 2026 CU Wire Performance Index. The ten leaders range from $37.5 million to $3.19 billion in assets. Four are based in Texas. Two have fewer than 6,300 members. None needed merger-driven growth to reach the list.

The index scores eligible credit unions across capital, asset quality, earnings, liquidity, organic growth and stability. East Texas Professional Credit Union ranked first at 84.8. The tenth-ranked institution, First Community Credit Union in Missouri, scored 80.0. Across all 60 component scores in the top ten, the lowest was 62.4. There was no category collapse hiding under an impressive ROA or a burst of loan growth.

What the top-performing credit unions have in common

The group averaged a 1.86% return on average assets, a 15.82% net worth ratio and a 0.17% delinquency rate. Average year-over-year growth reached 9.78% in assets, 8.87% in loans, 9.05% in shares and 2.46% in members.

Those figures stand well apart from the system's middle. The NCUA's Q1 2026 median data show 2.8% asset growth, 0.6% loan growth, 2.4% share growth and a 0.5% decline in membership. Median ROA was 0.66%, while median delinquency was 0.63%. The comparison is between the top ten's average and the industry's median, but the spread is large enough to show how unusual this group was.

Liquidity was the most consistently strong component, averaging 87.9. Stability averaged 85.4 and earnings 84.7. Growth was less uniform at 77.5. That ordering matters. The strongest operators did not trade funding discipline for a bigger growth print.

The Q1 2026 top 10

  1. East Texas Professional Credit Union, Texas — 84.8. The list's strongest capital score at 97.8, backed by an 18.93% net worth ratio. Assets grew 9.74% year over year while the loan-to-share ratio held at 82.70%.
  2. Abilene Teachers Federal Credit Union, Texas — 82.2. Earnings led its profile at 91.6. ROA reached 1.92%, delinquency was 0.12% and cost of funds was 1.06%.
  3. Neches Federal Credit Union, Texas — 81.9. The strongest growth score in the top ten at 91.1. Loans grew 16.64%, shares 14.19% and members 3.93%, alongside a 2.15% ROA.
  4. Superior Credit Union, Inc., Ohio — 81.6. Asset quality scored 91.4. Delinquency was 0.11%, net charge-offs were 0.02% and loans grew 12.27%.
  5. DuGood Federal Credit Union, Texas — 81.4. Liquidity scored 94.2, the best in the group. Share growth of 9.74% nearly matched 9.99% asset growth.
  6. Patterson Federal Credit Union, Arkansas — 81.1. At $37.5 million in assets, Patterson was the smallest top-ten institution. It reported a 2.53% ROA, 17.27% net worth and 0.11% delinquency.
  7. Dynamic Federal Credit Union, Ohio — 80.8. A 19.73% net worth ratio paired with 2.36% ROA, zero net charge-offs and 12.94% share growth.
  8. Ravalli County Federal Credit Union, Montana — 80.4. Delinquency was 0.04%, net interest margin was 4.65% and cost of funds was 0.82%. Member growth led the group at 4.76%.
  9. Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union, Tennessee — 80.3. The largest institution in the top ten at $3.19 billion in assets. Its 87.4 stability score came with 12.47% loan growth and 4.78% member growth.
  10. First Community Credit Union, Missouri — 80.0. The group's strongest asset-quality score at 92.0. Delinquency was 0.05%, net charge-offs 0.03% and loan growth 12.95%.

Scale did not decide this ranking

Patterson and Dynamic matter because they break the usual leaderboard shape. A $37.5 million credit union and an $81.3 million credit union finished beside institutions with billion-dollar balance sheets. The index compares performance within asset peer groups before combining the six components, so a smaller institution is not penalized for lacking the raw scale of Tennessee Valley or Superior.

That does not make size irrelevant. Smaller credit unions face thinner staffing, vendor dependence and less room to absorb a bad quarter. It makes Patterson's mix more revealing: 10.01% loan growth, 5.40% share growth, 3.46% member growth and strong asset quality, without weakening capital. Dynamic took a different route, pairing 13.05% asset growth with 19.73% net worth and a 58.01% efficiency ratio.

What the CU Wire Performance Index measures

The index uses the NCUA's March 2026 Call Report data and same-quarter year-over-year history. Capital, asset quality and earnings each carry 20% of the score; liquidity and growth carry 15% each; stability carries 10%. Institutions must have at least $10 million in assets and 500 members, report positive ROA, and clear CU Wire's financial-health screen. Completed mergers that materially distort year-over-year growth are excluded from recognition.

This is a CU Wire analytical index, not an NCUA CAMELS rating and not a prediction of future performance. It measures reported financial performance through March 31, 2026. The underlying Call Report data are public; CU Wire's contribution is the peer-aware scoring, normalization and guardrails.

The top-performing credit unions in this quarter left very different footprints. The part worth copying is narrower: every board packet had more than one good page.

Reported and drafted with AI assistance, then reviewed against The Credit Union Wire's editorial standards.

Correction: This article has been updated to clarify the Superior entry and the First Community entry. The ranking and scores are unchanged.