CD rate statistics 2026

A certificate of deposit trades access for yield: lock the money for a set term, get a fixed rate that beats a savings account. Right now the trade is paying off. The 15 CDs FinanceRadar tracks average 4.07% APY, and 80% of them pay 4.00% or more, against a FDIC national 12-month CD average of just 1.71% as of August 17, 2026. A CD from the right bank pays more than double the national average, with the rate locked for the whole term.

Every rate below is read off the bank's own page and date-stamped. The figures are computed from the FinanceRadar rate tracker on September 17, 2026 and cover the spread of APYs, terms and minimums, the early-withdrawal fine print, where rates have moved, how the CDs we track compare with the federal benchmarks, and how to decide between a CD and a savings account.

What a CD actually pays

The average APY across the 15 CDs we track is 4.07%, with a median of 4.15%. Rates span 3.00% to 4.50%, and 12 of 15 CDs, or 80%, pay 4.00% or more. The top payer is the Bread Savings 18-month CD at 4.50%. Because a CD locks its rate for the full term, the number you see at opening is the number you keep, which is the CD's core advantage over a savings account whose rate can drop the day after you fund it.

The CDs we track pay materially more than the national baseline. The FDIC's national average is 1.71% for a 12-month CD and 1.36% at 60 months (effective August 17, 2026). Notice the shape of the national curve: short terms pay more than long ones. That inversion is the market pricing in expected rate cuts, and it is why the best value in our set sits in the 12-to-18-month range rather than the 5-year. Locking five years at a lower rate than you can get for one year only makes sense if you are convinced rates will fall far and fast, which the curve itself is already betting on. The full ranked list is on our best CD rates page; three to compare are the Bread Savings CD, Popular Direct CD, and Synchrony CD.

Terms, minimums, and the early-withdrawal catch

A CD's rate is only half the decision; the other half is what happens if you need the money early. On the CDs we track:

• 40% require no minimum deposit (6 of 15), though the highest advertised rates often ask for $1,000 to $10,000, so the top of the table is not always the most accessible.
• 100% disclose FDIC insurance (15 of 15), each to at least $250,000 per depositor. Like high-yield savings, the extra yield does not come with extra risk.
• None are no-penalty CDs. Every CD in our set charges an early-withdrawal penalty, and on the shortest terms the penalty can exceed the interest earned. On a 6-month CD, a 180-day interest penalty means an early exit can cost you principal, not just the interest you earned.

The practical rule this data supports: only commit to a CD term you are confident you can wait out. The penalty structure turns a CD from a flexible savings vehicle into a genuine commitment, and the shorter the term, the more the penalty stings relative to the interest. This is the single most overlooked line in the CD fine print, which is why we record the early-withdrawal terms on every product page rather than just the rate.

CD versus savings: which instrument

With a high-yield savings account averaging around three and a half percent and CDs averaging 4.07%, the yield premium for locking up your money is real but modest. The decision comes down to two questions: do you know you will not need the cash for the term, and do you want to lock today's rate against future cuts. If yes to both, a CD is the better instrument, because it fixes the rate while a savings account can be cut at any time. If there is any chance you need the money sooner, a high-yield savings account at a comparable rate, with no lockup and no penalty, is the safer choice. The inverted rate curve makes this easier: since short CDs pay the most, you rarely need to lock up money for years to capture the best CD rate available.

Why CD rates sit where they do

CD rates are anchored to the Federal Reserve's policy rate and to what the market expects that rate to do next. The FOMC's target range is 3.75% to 4.00%. Because banks price CDs on expected future rates, not just today's, an environment where cuts are anticipated pushes long-term CD rates below short-term ones, exactly the inversion the FDIC's term curve shows. Locking a rate today is a bet that rates will be lower when the CD matures, and the bank is taking the other side of that bet, which is why it will pay you a premium over savings to make the commitment.

Have CD rates moved?

FinanceRadar snapshots each CD's rate into a dated series. Across the 8 CDs in our panel, the average APY rose about 5 basis points over the window, from 4.08% on August 11, 2026 to 4.13% on September 17, 2026, with 2 banks raising a rate and none cutting. CD pricing moves more slowly than savings because banks reset CD rates deliberately rather than continuously, so a few basis points of drift over six weeks is the signal of a stable, slightly firming market rather than a trend. If the Fed signals a cut, expect CD rates to ease ahead of savings rates, since banks price the expectation in before the move.

Building a CD ladder

The classic way to use CDs is a ladder: instead of putting one lump sum into a single term, you split it across several terms, so a portion matures every few months. As each CD matures you either take the cash or roll it into a new top-rate CD. A ladder solves the two problems this report keeps circling. It keeps part of your money always within reach of maturity, softening the early-withdrawal penalty problem, and it hedges the rate-direction bet, so you are not forced to guess whether locking today is smart. In an inverted-rate environment like this one, where short terms pay more than long ones, a ladder weighted toward the 12-to-18-month terms that top our table captures most of the available yield while keeping regular access.

The mechanics are simple. Divide the money into equal parts, open CDs at staggered terms, and as each matures, reinvest at the longest rung of the ladder. The result is a rolling portfolio that averages out rate changes and always has a maturity coming up. It is more work than a single CD and far more predictable than trying to time the top of the rate cycle, which even the banks pricing these products do not attempt to do.

Reading the term curve

The inverted term curve is worth dwelling on because it changes the usual advice. Conventionally, longer CDs pay more to compensate you for locking up money longer. Right now the opposite is true: the FDIC national 12-month CD at 1.71% pays more than the 60-month at 1.36%, and the same pattern holds across the CDs we track, where the best rates cluster in the 12-to-18-month range. That inversion is the market's collective bet that the Federal Reserve will cut rates over the coming years, dragging future CD rates below today's. For a saver, the signal is not to reach for a 5-year CD in search of yield, because you will usually get less, but to lock the strong short-and-medium-term rates now, and to consider a ladder so you can re-lock as the picture clarifies. The bank offering you a lower 5-year rate is telling you what it expects rates to do, and it is worth listening to.

Common CD mistakes the data exposes

Three mistakes show up repeatedly in this market, and the numbers make each one avoidable. The first is chasing the longest term for a higher rate that no longer exists: with the curve inverted, a 5-year CD often pays less than a 12-month, so the extra lockup buys you a lower rate, not a higher one. The second is ignoring the early-withdrawal penalty until you need the money; since none of the CDs we track are no-penalty CDs, breaking one early can cost months of interest or even principal, which quietly turns a good rate into a loss. The third is letting a CD auto-renew at whatever the bank offers on the maturity date, which is frequently below the best available rate; the grace period at maturity is a decision point, not a formality, and it is when you should re-shop against the current best CD rates rather than roll over on autopilot.

The through-line is that a CD rewards planning and punishes improvisation. Decide the term you can truly commit to, note the maturity date, and treat the penalty as the real price of the yield rather than a footnote. Done that way, the 4.07% average our tracked CDs pay is a genuinely good, low-risk return; done carelessly, the penalties can erase the advantage over a no-lockup savings account.

How this data was measured

Every rate, term, and penalty in this report is read directly off each bank's own published page or disclosure and date-stamped, then re-verified on a rotating schedule; current values are computed from the FinanceRadar rate tracker on September 17, 2026. Averages are simple means of the 15 CDs that publish a numeric APY; we do not weight by deposit size. Each CD is counted once at its verified APY for the term shown. The change-over-time figures come from our dated RateSnapshot series and cover only the CDs with a full snapshot history in the window. External benchmarks (FDIC national CD rates, the federal funds target range) are cited inline and link to the primary source. Nothing here is financial advice; re-check the bank and the term before you commit.

Cite this report

• APA: Corneloup, L. (2026). CD rate statistics 2026. FinanceRadar Research. https://financeradar.com/reports/cd-rates-statistics
• MLA: Corneloup, Louis. "CD Rate Statistics 2026." FinanceRadar Research, 17 Sept. 2026, financeradar.com/reports/cd-rates-statistics.

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