10-Year CD Calculator

What a 10-year CD is, and who it fits

A certificate of deposit holds one deposit at one fixed rate for one fixed term, here a full decade. The bank keeps the money, the rate never moves, and the account pays the promised interest until the maturity date. Ten years is the long end of the CD market, so the decision deserves more care than a 6-month or 12-month certificate.

Three features define the product. The rate is locked for the whole term. The deposit is illiquid, and leaving early triggers a penalty set in the account agreement. And the balance is insured, up to a ceiling described in the FDIC section below.

Rates as of early November 2026 show a wide spread. Bankrate's survey put the national average 5-year CD at 1.78 percent APY as of November 2, 2026 (Bankrate, 2026), while the strongest widely available 10-year yields listed by Forbes Advisor (2026) ran near 4.75 to 5.20 percent APY. The gap between an average account and a shopped one is unusually large here, so comparing offers is worth an hour.

The maturity formula and what APY measures

Banks advertise both a rate and an APY, and they are not the same number. The maturity value comes from A = P x (1 + r/n)^(nt), where P is the deposit, r is the nominal annual rate, n is the number of compounding periods per year and t is the term in years. The APY is the effective yearly yield once compounding is counted: APY = (1 + r/n)^n - 1.

• P = 20,000 dollars in the default example.
• r = 0.04, the nominal rate written in the account terms.
• n = 1 for annual compounding, 12 for monthly, 365 for daily.
• t = 10, so nt is 10 compounding periods annually or 120 monthly.

A nominal rate of 4.00 percent with monthly compounding carries an APY of (1 + 0.04 / 12)^12 - 1 = 0.040742, or 4.0742 percent. Comparing APY to APY is the safe way to shop. Comparing one bank's APY to another bank's nominal rate quietly hands the second bank nearly a tenth of a point it did not earn.

Worked example: $20,000 at 4.00 percent for 10 years

Deposit 20,000 dollars at a 4.00 percent nominal rate with annual compounding and leave it alone. The growth factor is 1.04^10 = 1.480244, so the maturity value is 20,000 x 1.480244 = 29,604.89 and the interest is 9,604.89 dollars, a gain of 48.02 percent on the deposit. The 4.00 percent here is an example rate chosen for clean arithmetic, not a quote from any bank.

Compounding frequency nudges the outcome without changing the headline rate.

Each extra compounding step adds less than the one before it. Daily compounding beats annual by 230.95 dollars here, which is 29,835.84 - 29,604.89, not the hundreds more that marketing copy sometimes implies.

The interest also arrives unevenly. After 5 years the balance is 24,333.06, so the second half of the term produces more interest than the first half on the same deposit.

What 10-year CD rates look like right now

Rate tables age fast, so check the date on any figure you use. On November 2, 2026, Bankrate's survey put national average APYs at 2.12 percent for 1-year CDs and 1.78 percent for 5-year CDs (Bankrate, 2026). Forbes Advisor's November 2026 roundup listed the leading 10-year yields between roughly 4.75 and 5.20 percent APY (Forbes Advisor, 2026). Neither figure is an offer; both are reporting, and the quote you get at a bank counter can differ.

The table shows what a 20,000 dollar deposit does across a range of plausible 10-year rates, compounded annually.

The spread between the weakest and strongest row is 33,203.77 - 24,379.89 = 8,823.88. At 5.20 percent the deposit gains 66.02 percent over the decade; at 2 percent it gains 21.90 percent. Over ten years the rate printed at signing ends up mattering more than almost anything else on the account.

The lock cuts both ways

A locked rate is insurance against falling rates and a wall against rising ones. If market rates climb two points after you sign, the account still pays the old rate, and the opportunity cost lasts the rest of the term. If rates fall, the lock becomes the best line in the whole account stack.

Long terms amplify both outcomes, which is why 10-year certificates only pay a real premium when the rate curve is flat or inverted. When short-term rates sit high, locking a decade out is a bet that rates fall and stay fallen.

Brokered CDs, sold through brokerages rather than banks, add a twist. They can be sold before maturity, but the sale price moves with the market, and the issuing bank often holds a call option that lets it redeem the CD early when rates drop. The SEC brokered CD investor bulletin (Securities and Exchange Commission, 2026) and FINRA guidance on brokered certificates (FINRA, 2002) both warn that selling before maturity can mean losing part of the principal. A bank CD carries no such market risk, only its fixed penalty schedule.

Early withdrawal penalties and the break-even question

Bank CDs charge a penalty set in the account agreement, usually quoted as a number of months of interest, sometimes with a floor large enough to reach principal on a young account.

Example with the default inputs. A 12-month penalty at 4.00 percent costs 20,000 x 0.04 = 800 dollars. Withdraw after 6 years and the balance is 25,306.38, of which 5,306.38 is earned interest; the penalty takes the net gain down to 4,506.38. Withdraw after a single year, when the interest earned is exactly 800.00, and the penalty erases the whole gain: the walk-away balance is back to 20,000.00.

Two practical notes. Penalties are quoted in months of interest, and the rate used is usually the rate on your own account, not the rate on offer elsewhere. And the penalty applies whether the interest earned covers it or not, which is how a withdrawal in month 2 can dip into principal.

FDIC insurance and the $250,000 ceiling

CDs at FDIC-insured banks are covered by deposit insurance up to 250,000 dollars per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category, per the FDIC deposit insurance page (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 2026). Coverage counts accrued interest along with principal, and every deposit you hold in the same ownership category at the same bank is added together against the cap.

A decade of compounding can push a large CD through that ceiling. A 250,000 dollar deposit at 4.00 percent reaches 370,061.07 by maturity, leaving 120,061.07 above the standard limit and uninsured if the bank fails. Splitting the money across banks, or across ownership categories such as single and joint, restores full coverage, and the FDIC's EDIE estimator does the arithmetic account by account.

Credit union share certificates carry equivalent protection from the NCUA, also 250,000 dollars per depositor per institution. Brokered CDs are insured at the issuing bank, so a broker spreading 500,000 across two issuers can be fully covered, while parking it all at one issuer is not.

Where a 10-year CD fits next to the alternatives

The closest government-backed rival is a 10-year Treasury note, bought through TreasuryDirect (U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2026). Treasury interest is exempt from state and local income tax, which can make a lower headline yield competitive, but the note's market price swings if you sell early, much like a brokered CD.

Other structures worth running through the calculator above: a 10-year ladder of shorter CDs, which trades a little yield for annual liquidity; a no-penalty CD, which removes the exit fee at the cost of a lower rate; and high-yield savings, which stays liquid but floats with the market instead of locking.

The arithmetic on this page covers interest only. It leaves out state income tax on CD interest, inflation, and any brokerage fee, and it cannot see what rates will do after you sign. Treat every figure as an estimate, and confirm the terms of a specific account with the institution before you fund it.