US federal funds target range upper bound at year-end, 2010–2025

The upper bound of the Federal Open Market Committee's federal funds target range remained near zero through much of the 2010s and during the pandemic before rapidly increasing in 2022 and 2023. Higher policy-rate targets generally push up new borrowing costs, penalizing some borrowers and aiding some savers, while intended inflation control can benefit households if it succeeds. The measure reports an instrument of policy, not a direct measure of mortgage rates, inflation outcomes, or the net welfare effect. | Year | Value (% upper bound at 31 December) | |---|---:| | 2010 | 0.25 | | 2011 | 0.25 | | 2012 | 0.25 | | 2013 | 0.25 | | 2014 | 0.25 | | 2015 | 0.25 | | 2016 | 0.75 | | 2017 | 1.50 | | 2018 | 2.50 | | 2019 | 1.75 | | 2020 | 0.25 | | 2021 | 0.25 | | 2022 | 4.50 | | 2023 | 5.50 | | 2024 | 4.50 | | 2025 | 3.75 | Each point is the upper endpoint of the FOMC target range in effect on 31 December of the named calendar year, reconstructed from the Board of Governors' dated target-range history. It is not a calendar-year average or the effective market federal funds rate. When the FOMC did not act exactly on December 31, the most recent applicable target interval is carried forward. All values are percentages, not basis points. Higher inflation erodes purchasing power when nominal incomes do not keep up, though producers' receipts, debts, wages and costs change differently. Monetary-policy tightening can benefit some savers, while borrowers refinancing or taking new loans may face higher charges. These distributional effects must be established with separate wages, household-budget and financing data; this one series does not identify individual gains or causal responsibility. The government and central bank make distinct decisions: fiscal choices, interest-rate settings and international price shocks should not be conflated. A historical time series establishes when the measure moved, not which policy alone caused it. Compare with other price, wage and credit indicators and the named monetary-policy driver. Changes in collection methods, statistical revisions, dates and observation windows must be reported rather than silently blended into a different series. Future readings may change the interpretation of persistence and financing pressure. - Primary statistical record - Official cross-check - Central-bank methodology Related driver: us-federal-reserve-rate-cycle-2022-2026.