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Federal Funds Rate History: 1954 to October 2026
The Fed Raises Rates for the First Time Since July 2023 at September 2026 Meeting.
The Fed held rates at its seventh meeting on Wednesday, October 28, 2026 at a target range of 3.75%-4%. This follows a hike at the September meeting.
Quick facts: Latest federal funds rate data at a glance (October 28, 2026)
Key takeaways
- Current Fed rate: The Fed maintained rates at a range of 3.75%-4% following the Wednesday, October 28, 2026 meeting
- Effective federal funds rate: 3.88% as of Wednesday, October 28, 2026
- Previous meeting: The Fed raised rate to 3.5% to 3.75% on Wednesday, September 16, 2026
- Rate this time last year: Cut rates at a range of 3.75%-4% at its October meeting in 2025
- Next meeting: Wednesday, December 9, 2026
- Highest rate since 1954: 19.1% monthly average recorded June 1981
- Lowest rate since 1954: 0.05% monthly average recorded April 2020
Changes to the federal funds rate in the last 24 months
Prior to the rate hike at the September 2026 meeting, the Fed held rates for its first 5 meetings of 2026, after cutting rates in back-to-back-to-back meetings in September, October and December 2025. Those three 25 basis point cuts brought the target range down from 4.25%-4.5% to the previous 3.5%-3.75%.
Before the September 2025 cut, there was a long string of holds, the Fed paused at the January, March, May, June and July 2025 meetings as it waited to see how tariffs and the labor market would shape inflation. The 2025 cutting cycle was preceded by three cuts at the end of 2024: a 50 basis point reduction in September, followed by 25 basis point cuts in November and December, bringing the target range from 5.25%-5.5% (held since July 2023) down to 4.25%-4.5% by the end 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.
8 years of changes to the federal funds rate
Since 2018, the average federal funds rate has been 2.91%, 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, with the the effective federal funds rate sitting at 3.88% that is actually lower than the average rate since 1954 (4.59%).
2025 FOMC meeting calendar
Eight meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee are scheduled for 2025.
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