{"id":80,"date":"2026-07-21T16:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cdrate-calculator.com\/blog\/?p=80"},"modified":"2026-07-21T16:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:19:07","slug":"average-cd-rates-by-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cdrate-calculator.com\/blog\/average-cd-rates-by-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Average CD Rates by Year: 45 Years of Highs and Lows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Savers who opened a CD in 1981 locked in rates that sound like typos today \u2014 well into the double digits. Their grandchildren, opening CDs in 2021, were offered a fraction of one percent. Few financial products show the sweep of economic history as clearly as the humble CD. Here’s how average CD rates have moved across four and a half decades, and what actually drives them.<\/span><\/p>\n

A note on the numbers:<\/b> the figures below are approximate historical averages for short-to-mid-term CDs, drawn from Federal Reserve and FDIC historical data. Exact averages vary by term and source \u2014 treat these as the shape of the story, not decimal-point precision. Rates are quoted “as of” their era; for today’s math, use our <\/span>CD rate calculator<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

CD Rates by Era: The Big Picture<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Period<\/span><\/th>\nTypical Short\/Mid-Term CD Rates<\/span><\/th>\nWhat Was Happening<\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
1980\u20131984<\/span><\/td>\n~9% to 17%+<\/span><\/td>\nDouble-digit inflation; Fed rates at historic highs. The all-time peak \u2014 around 1981.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1985\u20131989<\/span><\/td>\n~6% to 9%<\/span><\/td>\nInflation tamed; rates descending but still generous.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1990\u20131999<\/span><\/td>\n~4% to 7%<\/span><\/td>\nLong expansion; CDs a mainstream savings staple.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000\u20132007<\/span><\/td>\n~2% to 5%<\/span><\/td>\nDot-com bust cuts, then a mid-decade climb back above 5%.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2008\u20132015<\/span><\/td>\n~0.3% to 2%<\/span><\/td>\nFinancial crisis; Fed near zero for years. CD dark ages begin.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2016\u20132019<\/span><\/td>\n~0.5% to 2.5%<\/span><\/td>\nSlow Fed hikes; online banks push top rates near 2.5-3%.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2020\u20132021<\/span><\/td>\n~0.1% to 0.6%<\/span><\/td>\nPandemic emergency cuts; the all-time floor.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2022\u20132023<\/span><\/td>\n~1% to 5%+<\/span><\/td>\nFastest hiking cycle in decades; 5%+ CDs return for the first time in ~15 years.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2024\u20132026<\/span><\/td>\n~3.5% to 4.5%<\/span><\/td>\nGradual easing off the peak; top online rates around 4.3% as of mid-2026.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The 1980s: The Rates Nobody Will See Again (Probably)<\/b><\/h2>\n

The early-80s peak wasn’t generosity \u2014 it was crisis. Inflation ran into double digits, and the Federal Reserve under Paul Volcker pushed its benchmark rate past 19% to kill it. CDs followed. A saver locking a 5-year CD near 15% in 1981 made one of the great safe-money trades in history: inflation collapsed, but their rate didn’t. The lesson still applies at smaller scale \u2014 <\/span>long CDs are most valuable exactly when rates look scary-high<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Long Slide: 1990s\u20132007<\/b><\/h2>\n

As inflation stayed controlled, CD rates settled into the 4-7% band for most of the 90s \u2014 high enough that CDs anchored many retirements. The 2000s brought the first taste of near-zero policy after the dot-com bust, then a recovery to 5%+ by 2006. Savers of this era learned the rhythm that still holds: <\/span>CD rates follow the Fed with a short lag, in both directions.<\/b><\/p>\n

The Dark Ages: 2008\u20132021<\/b><\/h2>\n

The financial crisis changed everything. With the Fed at zero for the better part of a decade, average CD rates fell below 1% and stayed there \u2014 bottoming during the pandemic, when a typical 12-month CD paid a rounding error. An entire cohort of savers concluded CDs were pointless. They weren’t wrong <\/span>for that decade<\/span><\/i> \u2014 which is precisely why so many people were caught off guard by what came next.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Comeback: 2022 to Today<\/b><\/h2>\n

When inflation returned in 2022, the Fed delivered its fastest hiking cycle since the Volcker era \u2014 and CDs woke up. By 2023, 5%+ CDs were common at online banks for the first time since 2007. Since then, rates have eased gradually; as of mid-2026, top nationally available CDs sit around the low-to-mid 4% range, with the best deals concentrated at online banks. Whether that’s “high” depends entirely on your reference decade \u2014 it’s triple the 2010s average and a quarter of the 1981 peak.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Actually Drives CD Rates<\/b><\/h2>\n