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We may have lost a fleeting national leader earlier this week, but your menu of opportunities to earn an elite CD rate are still robust. A whopping 27 certificates in our daily ranking of the best nationwide CDs are paying our “Benchmark Leaders” rate of 5.50% APY—or more.
Today’s highest rate across all CD terms continues to be 5.75% APY, available on a 1-year standard certificate from MapleMark Bank.
Key Takeaways
- The number of “Benchmark Leader” CDs in our rankings—which pay at least 5.50% APY—held today at 27. That’s up from 22 one week ago.
- Today’s top rate on a nationally available certificate of deposit (CD) is 5.75% APY on a 1-year term, or 5.76% APY for one year if you can manage a deposit of at least $100,000.
- For anyone in the market for a jumbo CD, the rate leader in the 18-month term rose today, to 5.65% from 5.58% APY.
- The longest duration on which you can lock in a rate of at least 5.00% remains three years, with a rate of 5.13% APY, or four years at 5.12% APY if you can deposit at least $100,000.
- The Federal Reserve won’t meet again on rates until mid-September, and it’s currently uncertain whether it will again nudge interest rates higher, or opt to hold them steady.
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.
Jumbo CD shoppers have a new higher-paying option in the 18-month term. You can now earn 5.65% APY on a 15-month offer in our best jumbo CDs ranking, up from yesterday’s leading rate of 5.58% APY.
For anyone wanting to secure one of today’s record rates for longer than two years, you can score 5.13% APY from the credit union leading our best 3-year CDs ranking, or 5.00% from one of three bank CDs in that term. Or if you can manage a deposit of at least $100,000, you can stretch your term to four years with a 5.12% APY jumbo certificate.
CD SHOPPER TIP
Think you need to stick with a bank CD because becoming a credit union member is too much trouble? Think again. The credit unions we include in our rankings are open to anyone nationwide and are easy to join. Though some require a donation to an affiliated nonprofit organization, the required amount is generally modest, and some require no donation or cost at all. The process for opening an account at a credit union is also the same as opening an account at a new bank.
Beware
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. Though today’s best jumbo offers, which typically require a deposit of $100,000 or more, beat the best standard rates in five CD terms, you can do just as well or better in the other three terms with a standard CD. So always be sure to shop every certificate type before making a final decision.
Will CD Rates Go Up in 2023?
This year has already seen CD rates hit record levels, but it’s possible they could inch still higher. That’s because the Federal Reserve announced another 0.25% increase in the federal funds rate on July 26, and it will hold at that level until at least Sept. 20. That matters because the central bank’s benchmark rate is a direct driver of the yields that banks and credit unions are willing to pay customers for their deposits.
The Fed has been aggressively combating decades-high inflation since March 2022, with 11 hikes to its benchmark rate over the past 12 meetings. The July bump took the cumulative increase to 5.25%, raising the fed funds rate to its highest level since 2001. That’s created historic conditions for CD shoppers, as well as for anyone holding cash in a high-yield savings or money market account.
The Fed’s official July announcement provided no strong indications on whether it will raise its benchmark rate even higher this year. The written statement simply reiterated the Fed’s commitment to bring inflation back down to its target level of 2%.
In his post-announcement press conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that the rate-setting committee has not made any decisions yet on whether to raise rates again in 2023, or if so, what timing or pace any increases would follow. He specifically stated that a hike and a pause were each possibilities at the next meeting, scheduled for September 19-20.
Various Fed governors have since made public remarks about their expectations on whether the committee will raise or hold rates going forward. Last week, two emphasized the need to watch the upcoming data and decide on a course meeting-by-meeting—including the possibility of implementing another increase—while a third indicated that unless something unexpected crops up in the data, he foresees rates being held without any further increases.
A fourth committee member spoke this week and indicated that though the central bank now can take some time to allow more data to come in, he’s not ready to declare the Fed’s hikes finished. He also suggested it would be 2024 or even 2025 before the Fed moves the other direction and cuts rates.
It’s possible the July hike could still push CD rates higher. But it’s also possible the impact will begin to wane until a clearer picture emerges about the Fed’s next move. In any case, once it appears the Fed is ready to end its rate-hike campaign for good, that will be the sign that CD rates have likely peaked.
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.