A CD quote on a disclosure form means little by itself. Is 2.10% on a 12-month term good or poor? The FDIC publishes a monthly table that gives you a point of comparison. This piece walks through that table, using the October 2026 figures, and shows how to check an offer against it.
The national rate is a calculated market baseline, weighted by deposit volume across domestic institutions, rather than an administrative ceiling on what a healthy bank can pay.
What the FDIC national rate table measures
The FDIC publishes a table each month. It lists a national rate for each standard deposit product, plus a rate cap for each one. The products include savings, interest checking, money market accounts and CDs. The CD rows cover 3-, 6-, 12-, 24-, 36- and 60-month terms. The source material we reviewed cuts off its product list, so the full set of CD terms is not confirmed. The 1-month and 48-month rows do not appear in the table we used.
Under 12 CFR 337.7(a)(1), the national rate is a weighted average of the rates paid by insured depository institutions and credit unions. Each institution is weighted by its share of domestic deposits. A bigger institution counts for more. That is the whole method. The number describes what the market pays. It does not recommend what you should accept.
The figures are dated, and that matters. The October 2026 table carries FDIC data as of October 19, 2026, taken from the last business day of September. The page we drew on also shows an update date of October 28, 2026, and the sources do not explain the gap between the two dates. FDIC monthly pages are titled by month, such as September 2026. Look for the page that matches the month of your offer.
The October 2026 numbers
Here are the CD national rates in the October 2026 table. The 3-month rate is 1.14%. The 6-month rate is 1.39%. The 12-month rate is 1.76%. The 24-month rate is 1.55%. The 36-month rate is 1.39%. The 60-month rate is 1.41%. Note that the 12-month term is the highest of the six. Longer terms did not pay more on average that month.
The same table shows non-CD products. Savings is at 0.38%, interest checking at 0.07% and money market at 0.63%. These are useful if you are deciding between locking money in a CD and leaving it in an account you can touch.
Now the caps. The 3-month CD cap is 5.79%. The 6-month cap is 5.95%. The 12-month cap is 6.20%. The 24-month cap is 6.61%. The 36-month cap is 6.75%. The 60-month cap is 6.86%. Savings, checking and money market share a single cap of 4.63%. Notice how far the caps sit above the national rates. The 12-month cap is 6.20% against a 1.76% national rate.
How the cap differs from the national rate
The two numbers answer different questions. The national rate describes the market. The cap is a ceiling. It binds only insured banks and savings associations that are less than well capitalized, under 12 CFR 337.7. For every other bank and credit union, the table works as a free, dated benchmark and nothing more.
The cap formula takes the higher of two figures. One is the national rate plus 0.75 percentage points. The other is 120% of a Treasury yield of similar maturity, plus 0.75 points. For savings, checking and money market accounts, the fed funds rate plus 0.75 replaces the Treasury leg.
A worked check shows how it plays out. For the 12-month CD, the national-rate leg is 1.76% plus 0.75, or 2.51%. The cap is 6.20%, so the Treasury leg must be the larger one. That was true for every product in October 2026. The Treasury leg set each cap, which is why the caps sit so far above the averages.
The practical point is simple. A less-than-well-capitalized bank may not offer a rate above the cap for the product. A rate above the cap, then, would be a flag worth asking about. But a rate above the national average is not a flag at all.
Using the table to check a CD offer
Start with the term. Find the matching row in the same monthly table. Then compare the offered rate with the national rate in that row. Do not mix a 12-month offer with a 24-month average.
Here is a hypothetical. A bank offers 2.10% on a 12-month CD. The October 2026 national rate for 12 months is 1.76%. The offer sits 0.34 percentage points above the average. That is a modest premium, and it is far below the 6.20% cap. If the bank offered 1.50%, it would sit 0.26 points below the average. The table does not tell you whether either offer is a good deal for you. It tells you where the offer falls in the market.
Treat the result as a comparison and not a verdict. The table is a benchmark. It says nothing about one bank's reasons for its price.
Before you rely on a small spread, confirm the basis of the rates. The sources we reviewed do not say whether the national rate is quoted as an annual percentage yield or a nominal rate, or how that would affect the comparison. Ask the bank how it quotes its figure, and check how the FDIC describes its own table.
Questions to ask and limits of the benchmark
The table is narrow by design. It records rates. It does not tell you everything about an account. These questions fill in the rest:
- Is the bank well capitalized? The cap applies only to banks that are less than well capitalized, so this status decides whether the cap binds. The sources we reviewed do not explain how to find that status, so ask the bank or the FDIC directly.
- Which monthly table, product and term does the offered rate correspond to? Match all three before you compare.
- What happens if you need the money early? The sources do not cover early-withdrawal penalties, so read the account terms.
- How do CDs of different terms compare? The sources do not address this either, so compare like with like.
The sources also leave out tax treatment and deposit insurance limits. Confirm those with the bank or the FDIC before you commit funds.
The FDIC table is a good first step. Use the month that matches your offer. Compare the same term. Then read the fine print.
Please seek a professional. This article is general information, not financial, tax or insurance advice. Please seek a licensed financial, tax or insurance professional about your own situation.
