Today’s Certificate of Deposit (CD) rate hike completes a week of increases ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve announcement. You can now get a 1-year Certificate of Deposit (CD) that pays 5.50% (yesterday’s high for this term was 5.35%) and a 5-year CD that pays 4. 95% (from a high of 4.77% yesterday). There’s also a 5-year jumbo CD with an APY of 5.00%, but you’ll need to deposit at least $50,000 to get that rate.
You have even more options that also offer great pricing. Yesterday, our daily ranking of the best national CDs contained 29 options paying at least 5.25%. Today, that number is a new high of 31.
The highest rate for any CD is always 5.65%, which is available for a 9 month term.
We are three business days away from the Fed’s next decision on whether to raise the federal funds rate, which will be announced Wednesday afternoon. The Fed is widely expected to keep rates where they are this time around, which could means CDs are at or near peak levels.
Key points to remember
- The highest rate on a one-year CD available nationwide rose 15 basis points to 5.50% APY.
- There was an even bigger jump (18 basis points) in the best 5-year CD rate to 4.95% APY.
- You can now find 31 CDs paying at least 5.25% APY in our daily leaderboard, up from 29 yesterday.
- The maximum you can earn on any CD available nationwide remains 5.65% APY, offered for 9 months.
- The longer-term regular CD paying at least 5.00% is a 4-year certificate offering this threshold rate, but if you have $50,000 to deposit, you can lock in this rate for 5 years with a jumbo CD.
CD Terms | Yesterday’s National Best Rate | Best domestic rate of the day | Daily change (percentage points) |
3 months | 5.16% ABS | 5.16% APY | No change |
6 months | 5.65% APY | 5.65% APY | No change |
1 year | 5.35% APY | 5.50% APY | +0.15 |
18 months | 5.45% APY | 5.45% APY | No change |
2 years | 5.25% APY | 5.25% APY | No change |
3 years | 5.13% ABS | 5.13% ABS | No change |
4 years | 5.00% APY | 5.00% APY | No change |
5 years | 4.77% ABS | 4.95% APY | +0.18 |
Despite the suggestion that a larger deposit entitles you to a higher return, this isn’t always the case for jumbo certificate rates, which often pay less than standard CDs. Today’s best jumbo deals, which typically require a deposit of $100,000 or more, beat the best standard rates in five CD terms, but you can do better with standard CDs in the other three terms. Don’t forget to shop around for all types of CDs before making your final choice.
Where are CD rates going this year?
CD rates are very directly tied to the fed funds rate, with each move by the Fed generally pushing CD rates in the same direction. But with today’s CD rates already at their highest levels since 2007, whether they’ve peaked or climbed higher depends on what the Federal Reserve decides to do in its next meeting, which will end on June 14.
Over the past 15 months, the Fed has waged a campaign to combat high inflation for decades with aggressive increases totaling 4.25% in 2022 and three increases in 2023 to date totaling an additional 0.75%. This rise has been a boon for CD buyers, as well as those who store money in high-yield savings or money market accounts.
The Fed may suspend rate hikes
Market watchers have been closely monitoring financial and economic indicators over the past few weeks, as well as comments from members of the Federal Reserve Board, to predict what the Open Market Committee will decide at its next meeting. Over the past few weeks, several Fed officials have signaled that the central bank may pause rate hikes for the time being.
Last week, Fed Governor Philip Jefferson (who is also the Vice Chairman of the Fed) and Philadelphia Fed Chairman Patrick Harker both indicated that they believed the central bank would skip a rate hike at the June meeting.
But last Friday, new employment data showed a surprisingly large number of jobs were created in May, which could increase inflationary pressure. Another monthly inflation report will be released on Tuesday morning, giving the Fed another read on the impact its rate hikes have had so far on containing inflation.
All of this information indicates that 71% of fed funds futures traders expect rates to pause in June. However, this is more of a jump than a break, with 69.4% of traders currently predicting a Fed hike at the July 26 meeting.
Whatever the rate-setting committee announces next week or next month, CD rates are likely to follow suit, plateauing if the Fed pauses or rising further if it announces another hike. But since CD rates are already at their highest level since 2007, locking in a top-paying certificate would still guarantee an excellent rate that will pay dividends in the long run.
Note that the “highest rates” quoted here are the highest rates available nationwide that Investopedia has identified in its daily search of rates from hundreds of banks and credit unions. This is very different from the national average, which includes all banks offering a CD with this term, including many large banks that pay paltry interest. Thus, the national averages are always quite low, while the highest rates you can find while shopping are often five, 10, or even 15 times higher.
Disclosure of rate collection methodology
Each business day, Investopedia tracks rate data from more than 200 banks and credit unions that offer CDs to customers nationwide and determines the daily ranking of the highest-paying certificates for each major term. To qualify for our listings, 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 do not hold a certain type of employment), we exclude credit unions with a donation requirement of $40 or more. To learn more about how we choose the best rates, read our full methodology.