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• The interest rate on savings accounts will vary depending on where you bank.
• Online banks and credit unions tend to offer the most competitive interest rates.
• Interest rates fluctuate for both traditional and high-yield savings accounts.
• See Insider’s list of the best savings accounts »

The average savings account in the US has an interest rate of 0.33%, according to data from the FDIC. But the type of savings account you have has a big impact on your interest rate. Switching your savings from a traditional savings account to a high-yield savings account could help your money grow much quicker.

Here’s what you should know about savings interest rates.

How we calculate the average national savings interest rate

We use data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC. The FDIC is a government agency that insures money deposited at banks. This way, if your bank unexpectedly shuts down, you won’t lose your money.

The FDIC tracks average interest rates paid on savings accounts nationwide and updates its data monthly. As of April 2021, the FDIC also started including rates paid by credit unions in its data, not just banks.

Savings account interest rates at national banks

Many banks offer savings accounts, but these traditional savings accounts earn fairly low interest rates.

Today’s savings account rates

Here are some of the savings account interest rates offered on all balance tiers for the most basic accounts at major banks:

With these low interest rates, it’s hard to make money grow, whether it’s 0.01% APY (Annual Percentage Yield) or 0.05% APY. But, you don’t have to settle for such low interest rates. 

Interest rates for linked checking and savings accounts

Some banks will pay you a higher rate on your savings account if you link it to a certain checking account. Here are some examples:

Keep in mind, sometimes there are additional criteria to earn the relationship savings rate. For example, with Chase, you also have to make five transactions per month from the linked checking account.

Relationship rates still aren’t competitive with what you’ll earn through an online high-yield savings account. But they could be useful if you know you prefer in-person banking.

Savings account interest rates at online banks

A high-yield savings account could help you grow your money quicker and make your money work harder, without any cost or inconvenience to you.

The following are all high-yield savings accounts:

High-yield savings accounts earn multiple times more than a traditional savings account. We’re not talking investment returns, here — more like 2.35% APY to 3.83% APY. That’s along the lines of the rates you’d see with some CDs, but with the flexibility to access your money when you need it. And, it’s still significantly higher than the 0.33% average.

Online banks don’t have the overhead that brick-and-mortar banks do, allowing them to pass on more money in interest. Based on the account interest rates above, it’s easy to tell just how wide the gap is between the interest offered by a traditional savings account and an online, high-yield savings account.

Savings account interest rates at credit unions

Many credit unions pay high interest rates on accounts. In some cases, they pay competitive rates on checking accounts, money market accounts, or CDs, but not on savings accounts. You usually have to open a basic savings account to become a member of a credit union, and those don’t always pay impressive rates.

However, some credit unions like Alliant and PenFed pay high rates on savings accounts. If you want to use a credit union rather than a bank, you could either choose one with a high-yield savings account or look at other high-yield accounts from the institution.

Savings account interest rates by balance

The balance you keep in your savings account could sway your interest rate. But at many banks, it won’t make much difference. The bank you choose makes more of an impact than the amount you keep.

Savings account interest rates can change

It’s worth noting that interest rates change often for both traditional and high-yield savings accounts. Banks move interest rates in step with the federal funds rate — the amount the Federal Reserve charges banks to borrow money. When the federal funds rate goes down, interest rates do as well, and vice versa.

As the Fed has raised interest rates several times in 2022, savings interest rates have slowly been going up, too. Even if they were to drop, however, it’s best practice to keep saving. That way, when rates inevitably do go back up, you’ll be earning interest on a larger amount of principal.