Top CD rates today: April 21, 2025 | Highest APYs range 4.15%-4.50%
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Key takeaways
- Today's highest CD rate across terms is 4.50 percent APY, offered for a six-month term.
- Highest CD rates on some terms are nearly twice the national averages.
- The Federal Reserve has held its benchmark rate steady in 2025, and competitive APYs remain higher than they’ve been in decades, outside the current rate cycle.
As we enter the third full week of April, it’s been a somewhat stable month for changes to top rates on certificates of deposit (CDs). Some decreases did occur last week, however, when Bask Bank lowered the annual percentage yields (APYs) on various short-term CDs. It had offered the highest rates on those terms since February. This brought some new leading banks into those spots on Bankrate’s table below.
Today, we added two new banks to the list that are more widely available than the credit unions that had appeared there before: Marcus by Goldman Sachs and Synchrony Bank. In all, the highest rate on any CD remains 4.50 percent APY, which is offered on a six-month term. Longer terms of one to five years are earning top APYs from 4.15-4.25 percent.
The table below shows the highest yields offered on widely available CDs, by term. It also lists national average CD rates and how much you’d earn for each term with a $5,000 investment.
Today's best CD rates by term
| CD term | Institution offering top APY | Highest APY | National average APY | Estimated earnings on $5,000 with top APY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-month | Popular Direct | 4.40% | 1.43% | $54 |
| 6-month | Bread Savings | 4.50% | 1.91% | $111 |
| 9-month | CIBC Bank USA | 4.31% | N/A | $161 |
| 1-year | Marcus by Goldman Sachs | 4.25% | 2.01% | $213 |
| 18-month | TAB Bank | 4.16% | 2.25% | $315 |
| 2-year | SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union | 4.15% | 1.77% | $424 |
| 3-year | America First Credit Union | 4.15% | 1.69% | $649 |
| 4-year | America First Credit Union | 4.20% | 1.82% | $894 |
| 5-year | Synchrony Bank | 4.15% | 1.69% | $1,127 |
Note: Annual percentage yields (APYs) shown are as of April 21, 2025. APYs for some products may vary by region.
N/A: Not available; Bankrate doesn’t track national averages for the 9-month CD term due to limited available data. Estimated earnings are based on the highest APYs and assume interest is compounded annually.
Is a certificate of deposit safe?
When shopping around for a CD, be sure to go with one in which the funds are federally insured. This means you won’t lose your money if the financial institution were to fail. Choose a bank that’s insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) or a credit union insured by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). Under such federally insured institutions, CDs and share certificates are each insured for up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank or credit union, for each account ownership category.
How the current rate environment impacts CDs
Recent federal funds rate changes: The Federal Reserve has held the Federal Funds rate steady so far in 2025. This comes after officials cut the rate three times in late 2024. The rate currently stands at a target range of 4.25-4.5 percent. Prior to the 2024 rate cuts, the Fed had gradually raised rates 11 times in 2022 and 2023, and rates stood at a 23-year high leading up to the September 2024 cut.
What this means for deposit accounts such as CDs: Yields on competitive savings accounts and CDs tend to move in lockstep with the Fed’s interest rate moves. As such, many banks increase their yields when the Fed raises rates, and they lower yields when the federal funds rate drops. The Fed’s previous rate cuts spurred decreases in CD APYs, although officials' current holding pattern could mean an overall stabilization in CD rates.
Prior to the September 2024 rate cut, the Fed had held rates steady since July 2023. Meanwhile, top CD APYs peaked in late 2023 and have since been decreasing gradually, as illustrated below.
CD glossary
Here are some terms you’ll likely come across when choosing a CD.
- Add-on CD: An add-on CD enables you to make additional deposits after your initial investment. This feature affords more flexibility than traditional CDs, which only allow one deposit at the beginning of the term.
- Annual percentage yield (APY): A percentage that indicates how much interest a CD earns in one year, which takes into account the effect of compounding.
- Brokered CD: A type of CD issued by a bank but sold through a brokerage firm or other financial institution.
- CD ladder: An investment strategy that involves purchasing multiple CDs with varying maturity dates to provide liquidity and take advantage of higher rates.
- Early withdrawal penalty: A fee charged if funds are withdrawn from a CD before the maturity date. Penalties often range anywhere from 90 days to 365 days’ worth of interest.
- Grace period: A specific time after the maturity date during which an account holder can make changes to the CD without penalties. A grace period typically ranges from five to 14 days.
- IRA CD: A CD that’s held within an individual retirement account.
- Minimum opening deposit: The lowest amount of money required to open a CD account, which can vary by institution. Some institutions don’t have a minimum deposit requirement.
- No-penalty CD: A type of CD that allows you to withdraw your money without facing a penalty while providing a fixed APY.
- Promotional CD: Also known as a bonus or special CD, it’s a CD with an above average APY. These may be offered by banks and credit unions as a way to obtain new customers.
- Jumbo CD: A CD that has a high minimum balance requirement, typically $100,000, sometimes as low as $95,000. This type of CD tends to offer a higher interest rate than regular CDs with the same term.
- Bump-up CD: Also known as a “raise-your-rate CD,” a bump-up CD provides savers with the option to increase the CD’s APY without having to change its term. Generally, only one rate increase is allowed during its term.