Federal funds rate history: 1954 to November 2024

The Fed cut rates at its seventh meeting by 25 basis points on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, to a target range of 4.25% to 4.50%. This is the third cut we’ve seen since 2020.

Latest federal funds rate data at a glance

1. Current Fed rate: The Fed cut rates to a range of 4.25%–4.50% following the December 18, 2024 meeting⁽¹⁾
2. Effective federal funds rate: 4.83% as of December 18, 2024⁽⁴⁾
3. Previous meeting: Cut of 0.25% to 4.5%–4.75% on November 7, 2024⁽¹⁾
4. Rate this time last year: Held rates at a range of 5.25%–5.50% at its December meeting in 2023⁽¹⁾
5. Next meeting: January 28-29, 2025⁽²⁾
6. Highest rate since 1954: 19.1% monthly average recorded June 1981⁽³⁾
7. 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 finally cut rates in September, a trend that continued at the November and December meetings, bringing the target range from 4.5%–4.75% to 4.25%–4.5% following the eighth and final 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 were then held in June and increased by a further 25 basis point hike in July. Since then, there has been a string of holds until the final three meetings of 2024.

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.

• Data table

6 years of changes to the federal funds rate

Since 2018, the average federal funds rate has been 2.32%, which is about half of where we’re at today. However, during this period, the US saw historically low rates, in part due to Covid. Rates hit a record low of 0.05% for the months of April and May 2020.

The history of federal funds rate changes

It’s not a great sign that the Fed rate is up compared to its average over the last decade or so. However, following the rate cuts in September and November, the effective federal funds rate should be around 4.61%, which is in line with the average rate since 1954 (4.6%).

2025 FOMC meeting calendar

Eight meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee are scheduled for 2025.

Written by

Richard Laycock

Lead Editor & Insights Editor

Richard Laycock is Finder’s NYC-based lead editor & insights editor, spending the last decade data diving, writing and editing articles about all things personal finance. His musings can be found across the web including on NASDAQ, MoneyMag, Yahoo Finance and Travel Weekly. Richard studied Media at Macquarie University, including a semester abroad at The Missouri School of Journalism (MIZZOU). See full bio