For purposes of this discussion, I define local banking markets as counties in rural areas and as Metropolitan Statistical Areas in urban areas. 5  The patterns for return on equity (ROE) are similar to those for ROA, although community banks as a whole had negative ROE in both 2009 and 2010.
The largest community banks, with $ billion to $ billion in assets, suffered much greater negative returns on equity in these years than did smaller community banks. Midsize community banks, with $ million to $ billion in assets, fared better than their larger and smaller counterparts. The smallest community banks showed an unusual pattern in their ROEs.