Important points
Is your cash in the bank, but not in a high-yield savings account? Today’s best savings accounts pay out 5.00% or more, so you’re missing out on an easy opportunity to make big profits. The highest interest rate on a savings account available nationwide is 5.50% APY from Pibank. This is only slightly below the 20-year high interest rate of 5.55% recorded in the spring. The runner-up rate of 5.25% is available at both Newtek Bank and Openbank. It’s smart (and easy) to move funds out of bank accounts that have little or no income. The other 10 best high-yield savings accounts pay at least 5.00%. Interest rates on savings accounts can drop at any time, but it’s always wise to make sure you’re earning a competitive APY.
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Earn up to 5.50% with one of the nation’s best savings accounts
Interest rates on high-yield savings accounts have risen to their highest levels in more than two decades, thanks to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hike campaign in 2022-2023 aimed at curbing the highest inflation in decades. Although it peaked at 5.55% in April, the national key rate remains close to that, at 5.50% APY.
This allows you to earn great profits from the cash you have in the bank by simply stripping it of your money. A great advantage of a savings account is that you can withdraw your funds at any time without any commitment.
Please note the minimum balance requirements. Many high-yield savings accounts have no rules about how much money you need to keep in your account. However, depending on your account, you may not be able to earn a high APY if your balance falls below a specified minimum amount.
The following accounts offer the highest annual percentage yield (APY) of all savings accounts available in the country. One of these top 13 accounts will put you in the elite tier of savings rates.
Best savings account rates updated daily
You can always find out more about the top high-yield savings accounts by checking out our daily roundup of top APYs. We research rates from more than 100 federal insurance agencies every business day to keep our rankings up to date.
Top interest rates for high-yield savings accounts – October 29, 2024
To participate in the rankings, a bank or credit union must be federally insured by the FDIC or NCUA.
Are you worried that having deposits in other banks will be inconvenient? Don’t worry. Online banking makes it very easy to transfer money between banks. The transfer process takes 1-3 days, but it can be made easier by not moving all your savings to the new account. Instead, keep a small reserve with your major bank so you can quickly transfer it to a check if needed.
Where are savings deposit interest rates headed?
Savings accounts have variable interest rates. This means banks and credit unions can change interest rates at any time and without warning. One of the main factors in which financial institutions set interest rates on savings deposits is the Federal Funds Rate, which is the Federal Reserve’s benchmark interest rate. Banks and the Fed don’t move exactly in lockstep on interest rates, but they generally move in the same direction.
Unfortunately for savers, the Fed has begun a series of expected rate cuts, starting with a huge 0.50 percentage point cut on September 18th. Further rate cuts are expected in 2024 and 2025, and possibly in 2026. Each Fed will reduce its rate cuts. If this becomes a reality, there will be downward pressure on savings deposit interest rates.
But it’s good to have some perspective. For example, even if the top interest rates on savings accounts were to drop from the current 5.50% to perhaps 4.50% by the end of the year, or even 3.50% by the end of 2025, these would still be historically high returns. This can be easily seen in the graph below. Back in 2022, before the Fed’s rate hike campaign, the highest paying national savings account had an APY of just 0.70%.
Want to future-proof your rates? Consider one of the best CDs
If you can commit to not using any of your savings for months or years, it’s a smart time to open one of the nation’s best certificates of deposit (CD), which pays some of the highest interest rates in history. Although the APY of a new CD will decrease with the federal funds rate, a CD you open now has a guaranteed return and you can hold onto it until the CD matures.
Currently, you can lock in rates of up to 5.50% on the best 6-month CD and up to 5.00% on the best 1-year CD. For terms of 2 to 5 years, the highest CD interest rates range from 4.00% to 4.50%, with guaranteed interest rates lasting at least late 2026 and up to 2029.
However, if you want to open the CD, hurry. Like savings accounts, CD rates have also been lowered by the Fed’s new rate cut, with another rate cut widely expected on November 7th. That’s why it’s best to lock in a guaranteed CD interest rate as soon as possible.
Daily ranking of best CDs and savings accounts
Please note that the “best interest rate” quoted here is the highest interest rate available nationally, as determined by Investopedia in its daily interest rate survey of hundreds of banks and credit unions. This is significantly different from the national average, which includes all banks that offer CDs for that term, including many large banks that pay nominal interest. So while the national average is always very low, the best rates you can shop around and find are often 5, 10, or even 15 times higher.
How to find the best savings and CD rates
Every business day, Investopedia tracks interest rate data from more than 200 banks and credit unions that offer CDs and savings accounts to customers nationwide to determine a daily ranking of the highest paying accounts. To be on our list, a financial institution must be federally insured (FDIC for banks, NCUA for credit unions) and have a minimum initial deposit of $25,000 for the account. Must not be exceeded. You also cannot specify a maximum deposit amount less than $5,000.
To qualify as a nationally available bank, a bank must be available in at least 40 states. Additionally, some credit unions may require a specific charity or We ask that you donate to the association, but credit unions with contribution requirements of $40 or more are excluded. To learn more about how to choose the best rate, read our full methodology.
