Typical APY on savings accounts, money-market accounts and CDs — average vs top-of-market rates. ✓ APY by type
| Account type | National average APY | Competitive APY |
|---|---|---|
| Checking account | 0.07% | 0.50% |
| Traditional savings (big bank) | 0.40% | 0.50% |
| Money-market account | 0.60% | 4.20% |
| High-yield savings | 4.30% | 5.00% |
| 1-year CD | 1.80% | 4.50% |
| 3-year CD | 1.50% | 4.10% |
| 5-year CD | 1.40% | 4.00% |
Where you keep your cash makes a big difference. Big-bank savings accounts often pay a national average of just 0.40% APY, while high-yield savings accounts at online banks pay several times more — often 4% or higher. Certificates of deposit (CDs) reward you for locking money up for a set term, and money-market accounts sit in between, usually with easier access. The gap between the average and the top of the market is large, so shopping around genuinely pays.
Deposit rates rise and fall with Federal Reserve policy: when the Fed raises rates, high-yield savings and new CD rates climb; when it cuts, they fall. A fixed-rate CD locks its rate until maturity, which can be an advantage when rates are falling. Plan your interest with our savings calculator, CD calculator and APY calculator.
APY (annual percentage yield) includes the effect of compounding, so it's the number to compare between accounts. These are US editorial averages based on FDIC national data and public bank rates; savers in the UK, Canada and Australia can apply the same shop-around principle to their own markets.
Deposit products differ less in headline rate than in what you give up for it. A high-yield savings account stays liquid and its rate floats, so it falls when short-term rates fall. A certificate of deposit fixes the rate for a term but charges an early-withdrawal penalty, usually expressed as a number of months of interest. A money-market account sits between the two.
The figure to compare is APY, not the nominal rate, because APY already includes the effect of compounding and is therefore directly comparable across products with different compounding schedules. Comparing a nominal rate against an APY quietly favours the wrong account.
Two further points decide most real choices. Fixing a rate is a bet on the direction of interest rates: a CD wins if rates fall during the term and loses if they rise, and a laddered set of maturities is the standard way to avoid taking that bet all at once. And every dollar should sit inside the FDIC limit of $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per ownership category — a limit that applies per institution, not per account.