FEDFUNDSFederal Funds Effective Rate — Current Value & Historical Data
Gray bands: NBER recessions·Dashed lines: key policy events
What is Federal Funds Effective Rate?
The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which U.S. depository institutions lend reserve balances to each other overnight, and the primary tool the Federal Reserve uses to conduct monetary policy. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) sets a target range at each of its eight scheduled meetings per year; the effective rate is managed within that range through interest on reserve balances and the overnight reverse repo facility. Changes in the federal funds rate transmit through Treasury yields, mortgage rates, corporate borrowing costs, and eventually inflation and employment. The Fed cut the target to 0–0.25% during the 2008 financial crisis and again in March 2020 for the COVID emergency, before lifting it to 5.25–5.50% in July 2023 — the highest level since 2001 — to fight post-pandemic inflation. Cuts resumed in September 2024 as inflation cooled back toward the Fed's 2% target.
Current Federal Funds Effective Rate Value
As of May 1, 2026, the current federal funds effective rate is 3.63 Percent. This is the most recent observation available for this series, updated monthly.
Historical Trend
Federal Funds Effective Rate fell 0.27% month-over-month. Over the past year, federal funds effective rate fell 16.17% from April 2025. In the series' tracked history, the highest recorded value was 19.10 (June 1981), and the lowest was 0.05 (April 2020).
Methodology & Source
Source: Federal Reserve Board
Frequency: Monthly
Units: Percent
Daily Federal Funds Rate from 1928-1954 (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/categories/33951). The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions trade federal funds (balances held at Federal Reserve Banks) with each other overnight. When a depository institution has surplus bal...