See how today’s top nationwide rate is trending for every CD term
Investopedia / Alice Morgan & Sabrina Jiang
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For a second time this week, we have a bigger-and-better top CD rate, boosting the country’s best rate across all CD terms to a record 5.75% APY.
The new market leader is INOVA Federal Credit Union, which is offering its 5.75% APY on a 14-month certificate. It displaces previous leader USAlliance Financial, which was crowned just this last Tuesday after unveiling a rate of 5.70% APY for an 18-month term.
Key Takeaways
- The highest nationwide rate in any CD term rose to 5.75% APY today, available for 14 months.
- A slightly longer term of 18 months can still earn 5.70% with the previous leading CD.
- You can now earn 5.35% APY or more with 28 options in our daily ranking of the best CDs, up from 27 yesterday.
- The longest term paying at least 5.00% APY is 3 years at 5.13% APY, or 4 years at 5.12% APY if you can deposit at least $100,000.
- Because the Federal Reserve is widely expected to nudge interest rates higher next week, many banks and credit unions have already raised their current CD yields, meaning additional increases may be slight.
To help you earn as much as possible, here are the top CD rates available from our partners, followed by more information on the best-paying CDs that are available to U.S. customers everywhere.
Today’s new industry leader bumps the top nationwide rate up by 5 basis points, from 5.70% to 5.75% APY. But it also significantly increases the leading rate for CD shoppers specifically looking for an option in the 1-year range, as the top nationally available rate for certificates ranging from 10-14 months was just 5.50% APY yesterday.
Anyone looking to extend a stellar CD rate much further into the future can score as much as 5.13% APY with the best 3-year certificate. And if you have a jumbo-sized deposit of at least $100,000, you can stretch that to four years and earn a comparable 5.12% APY.
Tip
Despite the suggestion that a larger deposit entitles you to a higher return, that’s not always the case for jumbo certificate rates, which often pay less than standard CDs. Today’s best jumbo offers, which typically require a deposit of $100,000 or more, beat the best standard rates in just three CD terms, while you can do better with standard CDs in the other five terms. So remember to shop every CD type before making a final choice.
Where Are CD Rates Headed This Year?
Though CD rates are already at record levels, it’s possible they could rise a bit more. That’s because the Federal Reserve is all but certain to increase the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point at its meeting next Wednesday. That’s important because the fed funds rate is a direct driver of the rates banks and credit unions are willing to pay customers for their deposits.
Since March 2022, the Federal Reserve has been aggressively combating decades-high inflation with 10 hikes to-date to its benchmark rate. The cumulative increase has so far totaled 5.00%, driving today’s savings and CD rates to their highest levels since 2007. It’s created a heyday not just for CD shoppers, but also for anyone holding cash in a high-yield savings or money market account.
On June 14, the Fed opted to hold its benchmark rate steady for the first time in 11 meetings, in order to better study the impact of previous rate hikes. Minutes from that meeting were released July 5, and combined with various post-meeting statements by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, signals were strong that two more rate hikes were still possible this year. As a result, financial markets are overwhelmingly confident the Fed will implement a quarter-point hike at its meeting scheduled to conclude on July 26.
But last week saw the prospect of additional increases after July dim a bit. First, last Wednesday’s monthly report of headline inflation showed that June prices rose just 3.0% year-over-year, a notable improvement over May’s 4.0% level. Then Thursday saw the release of a lower-than-expected inflation figure on wholesale prices. These signs of cooling inflation have investors adjusting their predictions about future Fed rate moves, with a strong majority of them now betting this July increase will be the Fed’s last one of 2023.
But you should view Fed rate forecasts cautiously, as they are not reliably predictable when extending several months down the road—they are just today’s best guesses. Every Fed rate decision is based on the latest economic data and financial news, and that landscape can change quickly.
What’s reasonable to predict is that any rate hike the Fed does implement will nudge CD rates a bit higher. But it’s expected the impact will be small, as many banks and credit unions have already raised their rates ahead of the almost-certain July increase. When it appears at some point in the future that the Fed is ready to halt its rate-hike campaign for good, that will signal that CD rates have probably reached their peak.
Note that the “top rates” quoted here are the highest nationally available rates Investopedia has identified in its daily rate research on hundreds of banks and credit unions. This is much different than the national average, which includes all banks offering a CD with that term, including many large banks that pay a pittance in interest. Thus, the national averages are always quite low, while the top rates you can unearth by shopping around are often five, 10, or even 15 times higher.
Rate Collection Methodology Disclosure
Every business day, Investopedia tracks the rate data of more than 200 banks and credit unions that offer CDs to customers nationwide and determines daily rankings of the top-paying certificates in every major term. To qualify for our lists, the institution must be federally insured (FDIC for banks, NCUA for credit unions), and the CD’s minimum initial deposit must not exceed $25,000.
Banks must be available in at least 40 states. And while some credit unions require you to donate to a specific charity or association to become a member if you don’t meet other eligibility criteria (e.g., you don’t live in a certain area or work in a certain kind of job), we exclude credit unions whose donation requirement is $40 or more. For more about how we choose the best rates, read our full methodology.
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