Current CD Rates for November 2024

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Certificates of deposit are one of the safest ways to save money you won’t need for a while. They’re similar to savings accounts in that your money earns interest and is insured up to $250,000 per depositor. But whereas savings accounts give you instant or near-instant access to your money, CDs hold your money for a predetermined period, called a term, while it earns interest.

Current CD Rates for November 2024

According to the most recent data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as of Oct. 21, current CD rates range from 0.23% to 1.81%, depending on the term. One-month CDs earn the lowest average rates, and 12-month CDs earn the highest.

Several banks and credit unions offer high-yield CDs with better-than-average rates. Here are some of the best current CD rates for 12-month CDs:

How Do CDs Work?

Whereas a checking account or savings account lets you open the account with a small deposit, or even no deposit, and then add to your balance over time, a CD is a usually one-time deposit. You select a dollar amount and a term, and the CD earns the corresponding rate of interest. Most CDs have a fixed rate.

The bank periodically compounds the interest and credits it to your balance. That interest continues to accumulate until the CD matures — i.e., reaches the end of the term. At that time, you can renew the CD at the current rate or withdraw your initial deposit and all the interest it accrued. In most cases, you’ll forfeit some interest if you withdraw your money before the CD matures.

How Do Banks Set CD Rates?

Banks set their own CD interest rates based on many factors, including economic conditions, financial considerations and marketing goals. In addition, they use a federal interest rate called the federal funds rate as a benchmark.

The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee sets the federal funds rate, raising or lowering it as economic conditions warrant, to keep prices stable and long-term interest rates moderate.

After reducing the federal funds rate twice in the early months of the pandemic to encourage people to spend, save and invest, the FOMC began increasing rates in early 2022 to help tame inflation. Between March 17, 2022, and July 27, 2023, the FOMC increased the rate 11 times in an effort to reduce the inflation rate to 2%, which is the Fed’s goal rate.

Here’s a look at those increases.

As you can see from the following chart, CD rates have moved in the same direction as the federal funds rate. But the change wasn’t immediate. However, they had jumped quite a bit by the most recent increase, on July 27, 2023.

Rates on most CDs continued to rise even after the final rate increase, illustrating the fact that, as important as the federal funds rate is, it’s not the only thing banks consider when they set rates.

Will CD Rates Keep Going Up?

CD rates continued to increase through the first weeks of September. The average rate for a 12-month certificate reached 1.88% on Sept. 16. But rates have fallen since then and could continue to drop now that the Fed has begun lowering the federal funds policy rate as inflation continues to decline.

The FOMC reduced the rate by 0.50% on Sept. 19 and 0.25% on Nov. 7. The current rate is 4.50% – 4.75%.

Although the FDIC hasn’t released average CD rates for November yet, the October 21 report is telling. The average 12-month CD rate was 1.81% as of that date — a 0.07% decline from the previous report, issued three days before the September federal funds rate drop.

In its projection issued on Sept. 18, the FOMC predicted continued federal funds rate cuts until 2026, when it expects the rate to reach and remain steady at 3.15% — about where it was in October 2022. If CD rates also drop to their October 2022 levels, 12-month CDs would earn an average rate of just 0.14%.

Rates are subject to change; unless otherwise noted, rates are updated periodically. All other information on accounts is accurate as of Nov. 11, 2024. 

*Capital One interest rates accurate as of 9/11/2025. See website for all current rates.

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