:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/1016-9c4a4fb96fbd4c798c3901985903b484.png "Top CD Rates Today: Leaders Are Paying 5.75% to 6.50%")
Friday’s surprise of a new national leader paying a half a percentage point more than the runner-up CD is still with us, offering an eye-popping rate of 6.50% APY. That offer is from Financial Partners Credit Union on an 8-month term. But beware—it comes with a significant caveat: You can put only up to $5,000 in this special CD.
For deposits larger than that, the nation-leading rate remains 6.00%, available for a take-your-pick term of 12 to 17 months from Credit Human. You also have lots of other stellar options, with almost another dozen CDs paying around 5.75% APY on terms as short as 6 months.
Key Takeaways
- The market-leading rate in our daily ranking of the best nationwide CDs is holding at 6.50% APY, available on an 8-month term but with a maximum deposit of $5,000.
- For a deposit above $5,000, you can earn a top rate of 6.00% APY on a term of your choosing from 12 to 17 months.
- Eleven additional CDs are paying 5.75% or better, on terms starting at 6 months.
- Shoppers in five states can earn 6.25% APY with a top regional CD.
- The Fed is widely expected to hold interest rates steady for the second consecutive time when it meets on Nov. 1, but another rate hike remains possible in December or January.
Below you’ll find featured rates available from our partners, followed by details from our complete ranking of the best CDs available nationwide.
Looking to lock in a great rate for a longer term? The top 2-year CD is paying 5.60% APY, a rate increase that was unveiled last week. If that’s still not long enough, you can secure 5.32% APY for 30 months down the road, or 5.25% APY for 36 or 40 months. All three of those can be found in our daily ranking of the best 3-year CDs.
If you have the option to make a jumbo deposit of at least $100,000, you can boost your 2-year rate to 5.63% APY or your 30-month rate to 5.47% APY.
Note
When asked where they would put an unexpected $10,000 windfall, almost 1 in 5 recently surveyed Investopedia readers said they would choose a CD. Selected by 18% of readers, CDs were the most popular response, outpacing stocks, money market funds, and index funds.
Nationwide CDs aren’t your only option. Leading rates are sometimes offered by banks and credit unions that serve select regions. While sometimes these territories are small, one particularly competitive CD—paying 6.25% APY—is available to anyone living in one of five lucky states.
Note that jumbo CDs don’t always pay a higher return than standard certificates. Sometimes you can do just as well—or better—with a standard CD. That’s currently the case in six of the eight terms above, so it’s smart to shop both certificate types before making a final decision.
How High Will CD Rates Go This Year?
The Federal Reserve has been aggressively combating decades-high inflation since March of last year, raising the federal funds rate with fast and furious hikes in 2022 and then more moderate increases in 2023. With its most recent hike on July 26, the Fed has implemented 11 increases in 13 meetings, for a cumulative increase of 5.25%. This has created favorable rate conditions for CD shoppers, as well as for anyone holding cash in a high-yield savings or money market account.
On Sept. 20, the Fed announced a rate hold, maintaining the central bank’s benchmark rate at its highest level since 2001. In his post-announcement press conference, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell made it clear that holding rates is about pausing to see how much impact previous hikes will continue to have and allowing more economic data to come in for the Fed’s consideration.
The next two-day meeting will conclude on Nov. 1, and financial markets widely expect the Fed to hold rates steady yet again. According to CME’s FedWatch Tool, approximately 90% of fed funds futures traders are currently betting on a Nov. 1 hold.
Several Fed members have signaled in recent weeks that they expect the committee’s rate-hike campaign has reached its end, with yet another Fed member echoing that sentiment today. But until more inflation and employment data is released, another interest rate increase in December or January is still possible, with markets assessing roughly 35% odds for one more hike being announced at one of those meetings.
As we always caution, predicting Fed rate moves several weeks or months down the road is an imperfect exercise, since the economic landscape can change quickly and potentially alter the Fed’s course. So while rates may seem to be stabilizing right now, only time will tell whether a future rate hike is still on the horizon. And that, in turn, will determine whether CD rates have reached their peak or may still edge a bit higher.
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.
Investopedia / Alice Morgan
