CD Calculator
See exactly what a certificate of deposit will be worth at maturity. Enter your deposit, the APY your bank quotes, and the term — the calculator shows the maturity value, total interest earned, and how the same deposit grows across every common CD term.
Banks quote APY — compounding is already included, so the frequency below is ignored.
$10,000.00 at 4.5% APY for 12 months
Value at maturity
$10,450.00
Total interest earned
$450.00
Same deposit across common CD terms
| Term | Value at maturity | Interest |
|---|---|---|
| 6 months | $10,222.52 | $222.52 |
| 12 months | $10,450.00 | $450.00 |
| 24 months | $10,920.25 | $920.25 |
| 36 months | $11,411.66 | $1,411.66 |
| 60 months | $12,461.82 | $2,461.82 |
How the CD math works
Banks quote CD rates as APY (annual percentage yield), and the APY already includes compounding. That makes the maturity formula simple:
Value = Deposit × (1 + APY)years
Worked example: a $10,000 CD at 4.50% APY for 18 months (1.5 years) is worth 10,000 × 1.0451.5 ≈ $10,682 at maturity — $682 of interest. If instead you have a nominal APR and a compounding frequency, switch the calculator to APR mode, which uses Value = Deposit × (1 + r/n)n·t where n is the number of compounding periods per year. The APY calculator converts between the two.
CD vs savings account: the tradeoff
A CD trades liquidity for certainty. The rate is locked for the full term — if market rates fall, you keep earning the old, higher rate. The cost is access: withdrawing early triggers a penalty, typically 3–12 months of interest depending on the term. A savings account works the other way around: the money is always available, but the bank can lower the rate whenever it wants. Money you might need soon belongs in savings; money with a known timeline belongs in a CD. Compare the long-run picture with the compound interest calculator or plan regular deposits with the savings calculator.
CD laddering: liquidity and rates at once
A CD ladder splits your money across several terms so a CD matures at regular intervals. Example with $20,000: put $5,000 each into a 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-year CD. After one year the first CD matures — spend it or roll it into a new 4-year CD. From then on, one CD matures every year, so a quarter of your money is never more than a year away, yet most of it earns longer-term rates the whole time. Ladders also average out rate changes: you are never all-in at a single moment’s rate.