The best money market account rate from a nationally available institution is 5.35% APY, available from Brilliant Bank. That's more than eight times the FDIC's national average for money market accounts of 0.64% APY, and is just one of 15 or more top rates you can find in our rankings below. All money market accounts and rates in our rankings were collected, verified, and available to open as of Sept. 12, 2024. Money market accounts are smart for anyone who wants to earn a high-yield interest rate, but also wants check-writing privileges. Though you may not be able to find a money market APY quite as high as the best savings account, you can often get close, while adding an additional way to withdraw your funds. We've been researching bank deposit rates from over 200 nationwide banks and credit unions every weekday since 2019—and publishing our ranking of the best money market APYs since early 2023. Below are featured accounts from our partners, followed by our Top 15 ranking of the best money market rates available nationwide. Open a New Account × The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which we receive compensation. For more details, see our full advertiser disclosure. Institution Apy Min. To Earn Apy Highlights Open a New Account × The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Dotdash receives compensation. Money market accounts are not the same thing as money market funds or money market mutual funds. Those are investment-type accounts typically offered at brokerage firms, and their value can go up and down. In contrast, the money market accounts featured here are offered by banks and credit unions, and they operate as a hybrid between savings and checking accounts. Aside from any fees you incur, your funds cannot lose value. The best money market account rates in the country are listed below in order of APY. In cases where more than one institution has the same rate, we've ranked accounts by the size of their minimum balance requirement, with smaller requirements ranking higher on the list. These are the top contenders if you want to be able to write checks from a savings account. But if check-writing is not critical to you, you may find a better-paying option in our daily ranking of the best high-yield savings accounts. Notes: Online accounts from Brilliant Bank are not available to residents of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. This account will pay its top APY on a maximum balance of $500,000. Amounts over that will pay a significantly lower APY. Note: The Digital Money Market account is not available to customers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, or Michigan. Note: This account will pay its top APY on a maximum balance of $100,000. Amounts over that will pay a significantly lower APY. Note: This account will pay its top APY on a maximum balance of $100,000. Amounts over that will pay a significantly lower APY. The Fedheld rates steady for an eighth consecutive timeat its July 31meeting. The federal funds rate is at its highest level since 2001, but experts are projecting a rate cut in September. Money market account yields closely follow thefed funds rate and have held steady since November. But once the Fed starts cutting rates, money market account rates will fall. A money market account is a type of bank account that pays a better interest rate than what you can earn on the money in your checking account (which typically pays no interest) or in a regular savings account. That makes it a great place to move some of the funds that you don't need on an everyday basis, boosting the amount of interest you earn over the course of each month. Like a savings or checking account, money market accounts are liquid. That means you have the freedom to deposit and withdraw funds more or less as you choose. But unlike a savings account, money market accounts come with the option to write checks, making them a sort of hybrid between savings and checking accounts. Don't assume that because an account has the words "money market" in its name that it is a true money market account with check-writing privileges. In recent years, financial institutions have started to use the phrase "money market" as a marketing term, sometimes applied to accounts with no check-writing abilities and therefore they are essentially high-yield savings accounts. Pros Your balance earns interest Withdraw and deposit when you like Offers virtually risk-free safety If rates rise, your APY could increase Cons Scoring a high APY may require opening an account at another bank Easy access to your money can make it tempting to spend If rates drop, your APY could be lowered "Though there's a lot of uncertainty on when the Fed will begin lowering rates, the expectation is that we'll see the first rate cut sometime in 2024—with a possibility we could even see more than one decrease this year. Until then, money market account rates will likely hold roughly steady. But as soon as it becomes clear the Fed is ready to make a downward move, banks will start lowering their deposit rates." - Sabrina Karl, Investopedia Staff Writer The best money market account for you will be one that pays a competitive interest rate and has account requirements that will work for you. Some of the account features you'll want to consider are: To determine which of the factors above are the most important to you, think about how you expect to use the account, such as the minimum balance you feel confident you can maintain and how often you'll want to take funds out of the account. If you've never opened an account somewhere other than your primary bank or credit union, you may worry that top-paying small institutions or online-only banks are riskier, or that it will be inconvenient. Fortunately, your funds are as protected as they are at any federally insured institution, regardless of size or whether it has branches. And though transferring funds between institutions can take one to three days, today's online banking systems make transfers very easy. Once you've decided which money market account is best for you, opening the account should be pretty straightforward and will follow the same process as opening a savings or checking account. Wondering why these accounts are called money markets? It has to do with their highly accessible funds, which can be turned into cash very quickly. Hence the term "money market". Here are a few additional options to consider instead of, or in addition to, putting funds in a money market account. For money you know you won't need access to for a while, also consider one of the options in our daily ranking of the best nationwide CDs. You may be able to earn a higher APY than with a savings or money market account, and your rate will be locked for the full duration of the CD term. Every business day, Investopedia collects money market account rates from over 60 banks and credit unions that offer their products to customers nationwide. When ranking money market accounts, we ensure the institutions meet our requirement of being federally insured by the FDIC or NCUA, and we research the basic account features, such as minimum required balances, any fees, and other factors that will help readers choose the account that will best meet their needs. Launched in 1999, Investopedia has been helping readers find the best savings account and CD rates since 2019, and the best money market accounts since 2021. Money market accounts are an exceptionally safe place to keep your funds. First, every money market account in our rankings is federally insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)—or for credit unions, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)—with coverage up to $250,000 per depositor and per institution. FDIC and NCUA insurance works exactly the same regardless of the size of the institution. So banking with a bigger or smaller bank does not change your risk for deposits up to $250,000. Second, even if your money market account is offered by an online bank, you'll have federal protection there, too. If the bank is simply an online division of an existing brick-and-mortar bank that's FDIC-insured, then the online division is also protected. And even if the bank is internet-only, it likely is an FDIC member as well. Third, money market accounts are not investments—they are simply deposit accounts. So the money you put in always belongs to you and cannot lose value, aside from any banking fees you may be charged. A money market generally isn't a substitute for your checking account because many money market accounts limit how many transactions you can make in a month. In addition, not all money market accounts offer ATM or debit cards. Though the federal regulation limiting withdrawals to six per month was suspended in 2020, many banks and credit unions still impose withdrawal limits. That's because reducing the transactional costs of these accounts is what enables the bank to offer a higher interest rate. (Note, however, that ATM and in-branch withdrawals are always unlimited.) Some money market accounts do offer unlimited withdrawals of all types. So if that's important to you, be sure to research account features before making a final choice. A competitive rate for a money market account varies over time, based on the current interest rate environment. Across 2022 and 2023, rates surged due to the Federal Reserve's aggressive inflation-fighting campaign, resulting in the top money market accounts paying over 5%. But before the Fed's campaign, the best rates were less than 1%. What the future holds for money market rates is unpredictable, but if you shop from our daily ranking, you'll know you're choosing from the best rates that are currently available. Your earnings from a money market account depend on the average daily balance you hold in the account and the exact APY your account is paying. But we can make an estimate of what you'd earn if we assume an interest rate of 5.00% APY. On a $10,000 balance held in the account for one year, your earnings would be approximately $500, or roughly $41/month. If you're lucky enough to have a $100,000 balance in the account, your earnings would be about $5,000 for the year, or about $416/month. Yes, the interest rates on money market and savings accounts can change at any time, and without notice. That means choosing an account with the highest APY is not guaranteed to always be a rate leader. Today's money market accounts are paying record rates due to the Fed's current rate-hike campaign. But that could soon come to an end. And when the Fed at some point begins to lower its benchmark rate, money market and savings account rates will also decline. If you instead want to lock in a fixed interest rate on money you won't need for a while, one of the top-paying certificates of deposit (CDs) is a great option right now. Though savings, money market, and certificate of deposit (CD) rates were on a tear in 2022 and 2023, rising to their highest levels in more than 20 years, it's unlikely they'll rise much above their current levels. If the Fed were to implement another rate hike—a big "if"—then money market rates could indeed climb a bit higher. But any additional Fed increase wouldn't be expected to be large enough to push money market rates to 6%, never mind 7%. In addition, it's more likely the Fed will begin lowering rates in 2024, with no further increases—in which case money market rates will begin to decline from their record highs. The biggest drawback to putting your savings in a money market account is that the rate is not guaranteed. What you earn will be at the mercy of general interest rate fluctuations, so your money market rate can be expected to fall once the Federal Reserve starts lowering the federal funds rate. In contrast, money put in a CD will earn a fixed and guaranteed rate until the end of the certificate's term. Some money market accounts put a limit on the number of withdrawals you can make. If you choose one of these accounts with restrictions, a downside could be that you're not able to withdraw funds as freely each month as you may like. For those with a lot of cash on hand that they want to keep liquid while still earning a return, there are various ways to have more than $250,000 covered by federal FDIC insurance. The easiest is by holding your deposits in more than one name (like yours and your spouse's), in more than one FDIC institutions, or both. The FDIC coverage limit applies per person and per institution. So that means if you and your spouse each have accounts at an FDIC bank (in your own names, not jointly held), you would have coverage up to $500,000. Alternatively, if you want to keep all the funds in your own name, you can put up to $250,000 in more than one bank. Just remember: All your deposit accounts at a bank count toward the same $250,000 limit, so you'll need to tally up your balances of checking, savings, CD, and money market accounts to know how close you are to the $250,000 cap. We regularly review the rates of the following FDIC banks and NCUA credit unions: 5Star Bank, All America Bank, Ally Bank, Amalgamated Bank, American Heritage Credit Union, BankUnited, Bellco Credit Union, Bethpage Federal Credit Union, BluPeak Credit Union, Brilliant Bank, Chevron Federal Credit Union, CIT Bank, ConnectOne Bank, Connexus Credit Union, Dept of Commerce Federal Credit Union, Digital Federal Credit Union, Discover Bank , EverBank, Finworth, First Capital Bank, First Foundation Bank, First Internet Bank, Forbright Bank, Genisys Credit Union, Hanscom Federal Credit Union, Hughes Federal Credit Union, Ideal Credit Union, KS StateBank, Latino Federal Credit Union, Luana Savings Bank, Merchants Bank of Indiana, Mountain America Credit Union, MutualOne Bank, My eBanc, MYSB Direct, Nationwide by Axos, nbkc bank, Northern Bank Direct, Northpointe Bank, Pen Air Credit Union, PenFed Credit Union, Presidential Bank, Prime Alliance Bank, Princeton Federal Credit Union, PSECredit Union, Quontic Bank, Redneck Bank, Republic Bank of Chicago, Sallie Mae Bank, Seattle Bank, Self-Help Federal Credit Union, Spectrum Federal Credit Union, Summit Credit Union, Synchrony Bank, TAB Bank, The Federal Savings Bank, UFB Direct, U.S. Bank, USAlliance Financial, Utah First Federal Credit Union, Webster Bank, and Zeal Credit Union. Every business day, Investopedia researchers and fact-checkers track the rate data of more than 60 banks and credit unions that offer money market accounts to customers nationwide, resulting in a daily ranking of the top-paying money market accounts. To qualify for our list, the institution must be federally insured (FDIC for banks, NCUA for credit unions), and the account's minimum initial deposit must not exceed $25,000. The account also must allow check-writing. Banks and credit unions 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. If the account is accessible only through a mobile app, we require that the app be available on both the iOS and Android platforms. Investopedia was founded in 1999, and our coverage of the best money market accounts began in 2019. For more about how we choose the best money market accounts, read our full methodology. Best Money Market Account Rates
Tip
Brilliant Bank, Surge Money Market – 5.35% APY
MYSB Direct, Direct Money Market – 5.25% APY
Republic Bank of Chicago, Digital Money Market – 5.21% APY
UFB Direct, Portfolio Money Market Account – 5.15% APY
Merchants Bank of Indiana, Money Market Savings – 5.00% APY
Quontic Bank, Money Market Account – 5.00% APY
Northern Bank Direct, Money Market Premier – 4.95% APY
All America Bank, Mega Money Market Checking – 4.75% APY
Redneck Bank, Mega Money Market Checking – 4.75% APY
Sallie Mae Bank, Money Market Account – 4.55% APY
Prime Alliance Bank, Personal Money Market Account – 4.50% APY
Presidential Bank, Money Market Advantage Checking – 4.37% APY
U.S. Bank – 4.25% APY
Ally Bank – 4.20% APY
BankUnited – 4.00% APY
Discover Bank – 4.00% APY
In the News
What Is a Money Market Account?
Warning
Pros and Cons of Money Market Accounts
Pros Explained
Cons Explained
How to Choose the Best Money Market Account for You
Tip
How to Open a Money Market Account
Alternatives to Money Market Accounts
Tip
Why You Should Trust Us
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Money Market Accounts Safe? Are They FDIC Insured?
Can I Use a Money Market Account as My Checking Account?
What is a Good Money Market Account Rate?
How Much Can I Earn on $10,000 in a Money Market Account? What About $100,000?
Will My Money Market Account Rate Change?
Will Rates Go Up to 6% in 2024? What About 7%?
What Is the Downside of a Money Market Account?
What If I Want to Hold More than $250,000 in Money Market Accounts?
Banks We Reviewed
How We Find the Best Money Market Account Rates
Learn More About Money Market Accounts
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/BestMoneyMarketAccountRates-2ef5579747b046948bb148957f4185a7.jpg "Best Money Market Accounts for September 2024—Up to 5.35% APY (1)")
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FDIC. "National Rates and Rate Caps."
CME Group. "FedWatch Tool."
Federal Reserve. "Open Market Operations."
Federal Reserve. "Federal Reserve Issues FOMC Statement."
TreasuryDirect. "I Bonds."
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