Top CD Rates Today, July 9, 2024 - 10 Options to Lock In 5.40% to 6.00% Until 2025

Below you'll find featured rates available from our partners, followed by details from our ranking of the best CDs available nationwide.

Top Rates from 5.40% to 6.00%—With 10 Guaranteed Until 2025

NuVision Credit Union continues to wear the national CD rate crown, with its 6.00% offer on a 10-month certificate. Until last month, we hadn't seen a rate that high since the fall. But while this is easily the best CD return nationwide, NuVision's promotional certificate only accepts a $5,000 maximum deposit.

Holding steady in the runner-up spot is the 6-month CD term leader: a 5.60% offer from T Bank, available for 9 months. You might also like one of eight additional certificates paying 5.40% APY or better on terms of at least 6 months—which means they'll stretch into 2025. That includes a 5.55% rate on 11 months from Paramount Bank.

Multi-Year CDs Offer Up to 5.10%—Locked Until 2026 and Beyond

Since it's generally expected U.S. interest rates will decline over the next couple of years, it's smart to lock in a high multi-year rate while you can. The top 2-year CD rate is 5.10% APY. This rate is available from Credit Human on a term of your choosing between 18 to 23 months, or from USAlliance Financial for a full 24 months. These CDs would let you stretch this rate into 2026.

If you're looking for an even longer rate guarantee, consider the best 3-year CDs, which are paying 5.00% APY. Vibrant Credit Union promises that APY for 30 months, while DollarSavingsDirect offers it for a full 36 months.

To secure your rate further, the best 4-year CD pays 4.70%, or you can secure 4.80% for 5 years. Eight additional 5-year CDs are paying 4.50% and up.

CD Rates Are Near Their Highest Level in 20 Years

CD rates briefly touched a historic peak of 6.50% in October 2023, and they have drifted just slightly lower since then. In February of this year, 30 CDs in our daily ranking guaranteed at least 5.50% APY. Now, however, you'll find just 10.

Despite that, looking back over the past 20 years shows that today's CD rates remain exceptional. APYs above 4% still present a great investment opportunity, and it may be worth locking one in now—before the Fed cuts rates.

Note that you don't have to get the absolute highest APY to feel satisfied with your choice. If you find a certificate account with a term length and features you like, it may be wise to grab it now, rather than perhaps regret it later if rates go down and you miss your opportunity.

Jumbo CDs Sometimes Offer a Premium Rate

If you've got a big enough deposit for a jumbo CD, you can also shop our ranking of the best jumbo CDs. But in every term but one right now, you can earn more from the best standard CD. The one term where you can score a slight rate premium with a jumbo CD is the 5-year term, where Grow Financial Federal Credit Union is paying 4.86% vs. BMO Alto's standard-CD rate of 4.80% APY.

Where Are CD Rates Headed in 2024?

To combat decades-high inflation, the Federal Reserve aggressively hiked the federal funds rate between March 2022 and July 2023, raising the benchmark rate to its highest level in 22 years. That's important to savers because when the fed funds rate rises, banks and credit unions increase the interest rates they're willing to pay on customer deposits.

As a result, this past fall saw historically favorable conditions for CD shoppers and anyone holding cash in a high-yield savings or money market account. Rates on CDs rose to an October-November peak that was the highest we've seen in two decades.

However, the Fed has been in a holding pattern since its last rate hike in July 2023. As was all but certain, the Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee announced on June 12 that it was once again maintaining the federal funds rate at its current level. It was the seventh meeting in a row in which the central bank has held its benchmark rate steady.

That's because inflation has been cooling, allowing the Fed to stop raising interest rates. Yet, further inflation progress has been elusive. That puts the central bank in wait-and-see mode as it looks for evidence that inflation is falling enough to justify starting to lower the federal funds rate.

The written June 12 statement from the Fed again included familiar language about remaining focused on tamping down inflation that is still too high: "Inflation has eased over the past year but remains elevated. In recent months, there has been modest further progress toward the Committee's 2% inflation objective."

The rate decision was also accompanied by the quarterly "dot plot" release, which reveals where each Fed board member (represented by an unnamed dot on a graph) predicts the federal funds rate will be at the end of the current year and the next two years.

The June dot plot shows a median projection of one rate cut of 0.25 percentage points by the end of 2024. However, a sizable group predicted we'll see two rate decreases. At the other end of the spectrum, a 20% contingent forecasted the federal funds rate will stay where it is for the rest of this year.

During his customary press conference following the statement release, Fed Chair Jerome Powell made it clear that the committee is looking for continued evidence of a decline in inflation before implementing a rate cut.

"Goals have moved toward better balance, but the economic outlook is uncertain," Powell said. "We remain highly attentive to inflation risks. We've stated that we do not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range for the federal funds rate until we have gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%."

As a result, fed funds traders have increased their bets that a first rate cut will come in September. For the next meeting, concluding July 31, less than 5% of traders currently expect a rate cut. But by the Sept. 18 meeting announcement, almost three-quarters are predicting the Fed will have implemented a decrease.

In the meantime, Fed officials will continue watching and waiting for additional data before making any decisions. This means CD rates are generally expected to continue their plateau. When at some point the Fed signals it's ready to start cutting rates, which could happen in the not-too-distant future, that will begin driving CD yields down more quickly. So, it's a good time to lock in one of today's stellar CD rates while you can.

How We Find the Best CD Rates

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.