Federal funds rate history: 1954 to May 2024
Fed holds interest rates at its third meeting of 2024.
Hold
Fed holds rates
to a range of 5.25% to 5.50% on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
The Fed held rates at the its third meeting in May of 2024, a trend that has persisted since mid-2023.
Latest federal funds rate data at a glance
- Current fed rate: Held at 5.25% to 5.50% following the April 30-May 1, 2024 meeting(1)
- Effective federal funds rate: 5.33% as of April 30-May 1, 2024(4)
- Previous rate change: Hold at 5.25% to 5.50% on March 20, 2024(1)
- Rate this time last year: Raised rates by 0.25% to range of 5-5.25% a its first meeting in May, 2023(1)
- Next meeting: June 11-12, 2024(2)
- Highest rate since 1954: 19.1% monthly average recorded June 1981(3)
- Lowest rate since 1954: 0.05% monthly average recorded April 2020(3)
Changes to the federal funds rate in the last 12 months
The Fed held rates at a target range between 5.25% and 5.50% following the third Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of 2024.
Over the last 24 months or so we’ve seen a lot of movement in the Fed rate, with the Fed raising rates four times in 2023, starting with consecutive rate increases of 25 basis points in February, March and May 2023, rates holding in June only increased by a further 25 basis point hike in July. Since the it’s been string of holds — September, through till now.
The Fed raised rates seven times in 2022, which is the highest number of Fed rate hikes in a single year since 2005. While 2005 saw more Fed rate hikes in total (8), individual increases were just 25 basis points, whereas the changes in 2022 have ranged from 25 to 75 basis points.
Fed rate forecast
Finder’s Fed panel correctly predicted that the Fed would hold rates at the May 2024 meeting.
6 years of changes to the federal funds rate
Since 2018, the average federal funds rate has been 1.89%, which is roughly three times lower than it is today. During this period, however, the US saw historically low rates, in part due to COVID, with rates hitting a record low of 0.05% for the months of April and May 2020.
The history of federal funds rate changes
While it’s not a great sign that the fed rate is way up, currently holding at 5.33%, it’s pretty close to the average rate since 1954 — which is 4.6%.
2024 FOMC meeting calendar
Seven meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee are scheduled for 2024.
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