Top Savings Account Rates Today, May 10

The Federal Reserve's recent rate hike is starting to nudge up returns on the country's best high-yield savings accounts. Though the highest nationwide rate is holding at 5.02% APY, several institutions have increased their yields to move up the ranks, giving you more options to stash your cash for a great rate.

Our full daily ranking of the best high-yield savings accounts includes 17 options that offer 4.75% APY or better.

Top National Savings Rates by Ongoing Balance Requirement

By shopping around, you can easily earn 10 to 12 times the national average savings account rate, which is currently 0.39% APY.

If you've never held savings at a bank that's different from where your primary checking account resides, you might worry that it's inconvenient having your funds at two different banks. While transfers between banks usually take one to three days, if you don't think you'll need to move money quickly, online banking makes the process incredibly easy.

You may notice that many of the best-paying institutions for high-yield savings accounts are either internet-only banks or online divisions of brick-and-mortar banks. Online banks carry the same federal deposit insurance that physical banks do. Just look for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) logo or the words "FDIC Member" on the website of any bank where you're considering opening an account (or NCUA membership if it's a credit union). That means that up to $250,000 of your deposits—per person and per institution—are federally insured should the institution fail.

Where Are Savings Account Rates Headed?

Savings account interest rates are likely approaching the highest levels they'll reach for some time. That's because the Federal Reserve signaled last week that it may soon end its interest-rate-hike campaign. In fact, a Fed rate decrease is even reasonable to expect sometime this year.

Since March 2022, the Federal Reserve has aggressively raised the federal funds rate in an effort to combat inflation that had reached a 40-year high. In 2022, it implemented seven hikes totaling 4.25%, while this year it has added an additional three increases of 0.25% each.

The fed funds rate's dramatic ascent is directly responsible for the highly elevated rates that high-yield savings accounts have been paying this year, reaching a record rate of 5.05% APY for about a week in mid-March before settling since then at 5.02% APY.

But the Fed's upward moves could soon be coming to an end, with its latest announcement indicating it may or may not continue to raise rates. This is a change from language in the previous announcement, which signaled the Fed had more inflation-fighting work to do.

If the Fed does cease its rate hikes at its next meeting, scheduled for June 13-14, returns on savings accounts will plateau. And when the Fed ultimately lowers the federal funds rate, savings account rates will follow suit.

That makes now an excellent time to consider moving a portion of your savings into one of the top-paying nationwide CDs if you can manage without it for a period of time. Buying a CD would allow you to lock a guaranteed rate, at today's record levels, for months or years into the future.

Top Savings and CD Rates vs. National Average Rates

Rate Collection Methodology Disclosure

Every business day, Investopedia tracks the rates of more almost 100 banks and credit unions that offer savings accounts to customers nationwide, using that data to determine daily rankings of the top-paying accounts. To qualify for our lists, the institution must be federally insured (FDIC for banks, NCUA for credit unions), and the savings account'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 high-yield savings accounts, read our full methodology.