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Brian McKay

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Brian is the Co-Founder of MonitorBankRates.com. For over 18 years, he has utilized his background in enterprise infrastructure to engineer proprietary systems that track rates from over 8,000 financial institutions.

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| August 31, 2026 | 5 min read

High-Yield Savings Rates Fall Back Below 2.00%; Standard Savings Rates Rise

High-yield savings rates fell 0.132 points to 1.988% this week, back below an average rate of 2.00% two weeks after first passing it. Standard savings rates went the other way, rising to 0.802% after three weekly declines, and business savings rates climbed 0.047 points.

High-yield savings accounts pay an average 1.988% this week, down 0.132 points and back below an average rate of 2.00% two weeks after first passing it. Banks took back nearly everything they had added to high-yield savings rates in mid-August, so these accounts pay about what they paid at the start of the month. Most other savings account rates moved up: standard savings rates rose 0.018 points to 0.802% after falling three weeks in a row, business savings rates climbed 0.047 points to 0.529%, and credit union savings rates reached 0.274%. Jumbo savings rates slipped to 1.252%.

Banks pull high-yield savings rates back under 2.00%

Savings rates by account category, national average APY since late March

Average APYs from MonitorBankRates.com's nightly collection, the same series this report's figures come from, updated daily.

High-yield savings rates jumped 0.140 points in mid-August, held steady for a week, and have now given nearly all of that back. At 1.988%, these accounts pay 0.013 points more than they did at the start of August. Only a few hundred banks offer what we classify as high-yield savings, the smallest group we track, so when a handful of them reprice, national numbers move noticeably; in mid-August banks pushed rates up, and this week some pulled them back down. Even after the drop, high-yield savings accounts pay well over twice what standard savings accounts do, and no savings category changed places this week.

Standard savings rates stop falling

Standard savings rates, what most people earn on a basic branch savings account, rose 0.018 points to 0.802% after falling in three straight reports, from 0.834% in late July to 0.784% last week. Business savings rates posted the week's largest gain, up 0.047 points to 0.529%, and credit union savings rates added 0.012 points to 0.274%. With high-yield rates falling while standard rates rose, a high-yield account now pays 1.186 points more than a standard one, down from 1.336 last week. On a $25,000 balance that still adds up: about $200 a year in an average standard account versus about $497 in an average high-yield account, roughly $297 apart.

Weekly change by savings category (percentage points)

This report's averages, August 24 to August 31. Green bars rose; red bars fell.

Savings rates this week: August 24 vs. August 31

Markets now lean toward a September rate hike

The Federal Reserve's September 15-16 meeting looks different after Friday. In his keynote at the Jackson Hole symposium, Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said credit and loan markets are "showing few signs of policy restraint" with the benchmark rate parked at 3.50% to 3.75% since December, and he pointed to inflation that ran at 3.7% in July by the Fed's preferred measure, above the 2% target it has exceeded for more than five years. He set no timeline, but futures markets moved the odds of a quarter-point increase at the September meeting to about 60%, from roughly 40% before the speech. Savers don't need to do anything to be ready for that: savings rates are variable, so if the Fed raises its benchmark, banks can pass the increase through to existing accounts. When and by how much is each bank's choice, and this week's numbers show banks adjust in both directions on their own.

CDs pull further ahead of savings accounts

A 12-month CD now pays 0.842 points more than a high-yield savings account, up from 0.711 last week, and savings rates did all the moving: 12-month CD rates were essentially unchanged at 2.830% in this week's CD rate report. This week is also a plain example of what a CD protects against. Banks can lower a savings rate 0.132 points in one week; a CD opened at 2.830% keeps paying 2.830% until it matures. The savings goal calculator shows how long a target takes at any rate you're comparing. Savers checking local offers can line up Georgia savings rates against these national averages, and category history is on our savings rate history page.

The bottom line for savers

High-yield savings accounts pay less than they did a week ago and still pay nearly two and a half times what standard savings accounts do. A drop like this changes which bank has the best offer, not whether moving your money is worth it: on a $25,000 balance, an average high-yield account earns roughly $297 a year more than an average standard account. If your savings sit in a branch account earning near 0.802%, our checklist for opening a savings account covers what to have ready; applying takes about twenty minutes.