How Savings and CD Rates Have Changed Since 2023

Plus: how often the national average actually moves

Written by Cedrick Reese · How this page is verified

As of September 2026, the national average savings account rate is 0.37%, according to FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), which tracks FDIC's national rate data monthly. That average has changed just 11 times in the past 24 months and only 3 times in the past 12, even through the Fed's rate-cutting cycle. The full monthly history since January 2023 is below.

Where Rates Stand Right Now

The U.S. national average interest rate on a savings account was 0.37% as of September 2026, according to FRED, which publishes this figure from FDIC's national rate data. This is FDIC's simple national average across all FDIC-insured banks and thrifts, not an advertised top rate, so it sits far below the yields marketed by online-only banks.

All figures above are current as of September 2026 and sourced from FRED, which publishes FDIC's national rate data (FDIC is the underlying data originator). FDIC also publishes these figures directly on its own National Rates and Rate Caps page, which is a useful secondary reference if you want to see FDIC's presentation of the same underlying data.

The Multi-Year Trend

The chart below plots the national average savings rate every month from January 2023 through September 2026, using FRED's SNDR series. The rate climbed steadily through 2023, peaked at 0.47% in January and March 2024, and has drifted down unevenly since, landing at 0.37% in September 2026, only slightly above where it started in January 2023.

The table below shows the first and last points, the peak, and the full most recent 12 months. Every one of the 45 monthly points behind this chart, from January 2023 through September 2026, is in the downloadable CSV.

How Often Does the Rate Actually Change?

Computed directly from the 45-point FRED SNDR pull above: the national average savings rate changed value 11 times across the 24 monthly readings from October 2024 through September 2026, and just 3 times across the 12 monthly readings from October 2025 through September 2026. Most months, the published average simply repeats the prior month's figure.

Frequently Asked Questions

What This Means for Savers

The national average is sticky: it does not track the Federal Reserve's benchmark rate moves one-for-one, and it lags behind them by months at a time. A bank cutting its own rate the same week the Fed cuts, or holding steady for half a year after a cut, is common, not unusual. That gap is exactly why it pays to actively compare your own account against current options rather than assume your bank is quietly tracking the Fed on your behalf.

Use these calculators to check where your own savings or CD actually stands against current rates:

• High-Yield Savings Calculator — see what a competitive online rate is worth compared to a low-rate account.
• CD Calculator — project what a CD is worth at maturity at today's rates.
• APY Calculator — convert a nominal rate and compounding frequency into an APY you can compare directly.
• CD Ladder Calculator — model spreading a deposit across staggered CD terms instead of one.

Methodology and Limitations

Every rate figure on this page comes from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis's FRED database, which publishes FDIC's national rate data as a set of monthly series. The specific series used are:

• SNDR — National Rate: Savings (the full 45-month timeline and the current savings rate)
• NDR3MCD — National Rate: 3-Month CD <100M
• NDR6MCD — National Rate: 6-Month CD <100M
• NDR12MCD — National Rate: 1-Year (12-Month) CD <100M
• NDR24MCD — National Rate: 2-Year (24-Month) CD <100M
• NDR60MCD — National Rate: 5-Year (60-Month) CD <100M

The savings rate timeline covers January 2023 through September 2026 (monthly, not seasonally adjusted). The CD-by-term figures are a single current snapshot as of September 2026, not a historical series; this page does not track CD rate history month by month.

FDIC's national average is a simple average rate across all FDIC-insured banks and thrifts nationwide, not an advertised or promotional rate. This is not the same number as the "current APY" examples used elsewhere on this site's own calculators, which typically illustrate competitive or top-advertised rates rather than the FDIC-wide average; do not confuse the two when comparing figures across this site.

The CD-by-term figures above were cross-sourced through FRED rather than independently confirmed on FDIC's own National Rates and Rate Caps page, which returned repeated access errors when checked directly during research. FRED credits FDIC as the source for these series, so the underlying data originator is still FDIC; only the direct-verification step differs from the savings-rate figure, which was checked on FRED's own series page.

Data accessed September 25, 2026. Because these are monthly series, the current figures may be superseded by a newer FRED release after that date; check the FRED links in the sources below for the latest reading.

Sources

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