Top CDs Today: New Option to Earn Nation-Leading Rate for 6 Months

Shoppers for short-term CDs gained a new attractive option today, allowing you to earn the leading nationwide rate of 5.75% APY on a 6-month term. Five other CDs are sharing the rate crown with competing 5.75% offers, but those certificates range in duration from nine to 15 months.

The new national co-leader comes from USAlliance Financial, available with just a $500 minimum deposit.

For CD shoppers wanting to extend one of today's record rates further into the future than the 15 months available from the current market leaders, you can score 5.55% APY with the best 2-year CD, or 5.23% with the best 3-year CD. For terms of 4 years and 5 years, the leading rates are 4.82% and 4.89% APY, respectively.

If you have a jumbo-sized deposit, you can earn more than the leading standard rate. The top jumbo rate is currently 5.85% APY—available on a 6-month certificate requiring at least a $100,000 deposit—with additional options paying a close 5.80% APY in the 1-year and 18-month terms.

How High Will CD Rates Go This Year?

The Fed has been aggressively combating decades-high inflation since March of last year, with fast-and-furious 2022 hikes to the federal funds rate, and then easing to more moderate increases in 2023. On July 26, the Fed bumped rates for the 11th time in 12 meetings, taking the cumulative increase to 5.25%. That raises the benchmark rate to its highest level since 2001. In turn, it's created record rate conditions for CD shoppers, as well as for anyone holding cash in a high-yield savings or money market account.

The Fed's next meeting will conclude Sept. 20, and traders are pricing in a greater than 90% chance that rates will remain stable, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. But the probability of the Fed hiking rates at its November meeting currently stands at 40-45% odds.

That's due to inflation still remaining stubborn, as reported in the latest inflation data released this morning. For a second month in a row, inflation rose month-over-month. And while the Fed's preferred measure of "core" inflation, which excludes volatile gas and food prices, did not rise as much, it was still slightly higher than economist forecasts. This could lead the Fed to implement a 12th rate hike in November or December.

In an Aug. 25 speech, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said further rate increases were on the table if inflation doesn't come down enough in the coming months. Other Fed Board members have since echoed the sentiment that future rate hikes are still a possibility.

If the Fed does increase rates in the future, it would certainly nudge CD rates a bit higher. But September's expected hold will leave markets—and CD shoppers—guessing if the pause is temporary or permanent. Once the end of the Fed's campaign is more confidently in sight, that will signal that CD rates have likely peaked.

Rate Collection Methodology Disclosure

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.