Our Best Bank Methodology

How We’ve Selected This Year’s Winners

GOBankingRates looked at a number of important factors to determine this year’s Best Banks. We focused on the aspects of a bank or bank account that matter most to our audience, including:

Total assets

Number of branch locations

Monthly fees

Minimum balances needed to earn interest

Minimum deposits needed to open an account

Interest rates

Mobile app ratings

How We Chose the Best Checking Accounts

To find the Best Checking Accounts, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors: 

• Total assets
• Number of branch locations
• Minimum deposit to open an account
• Monthly checking fee ratio 
• APY 
• Overdraft fees 
• Average mobile app ratings

How We Chose the Best CD Rates

To find the Best CD Rates, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors:

• Total assets
• Number of branch locations
• Minimum deposit to open an account
• 12-month CD APY rate
• 60-month CD APY rate
• Average mobile app ratings

How We Chose the Best National Banks

To find the Best National Banks, GOBankingRates looked at the top national institutions with branches in 25+ states and/or over $400 billion in total assets. To determine rankings, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors:

• Total assets
• Checking account minimum deposit
• Monthly checking fees
• Savings account minimum deposit
• Savings APY
• Bauer rating
• Range of products and services offered
• Average mobile app ratings

How We Chose the Best Banks by State

To discover the Best Banks by state, GOBankingRates analyzed the top institutions (excluding online banks and neobanks) by state branch locations. To determine rankings, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors:

• Total assets
• Checking account minimum deposit
• Monthly checking fee ratio (percentage of the minimum to avoid fees compared to the monthly fee itself)
• Savings product minimum deposit
• Savings product APY
• Bauer rating
• Products/services offered
• Average mobile app rating

How We Chose the Best Online Banks

To determine rankings, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors across exclusively online banks:

• Total assets 
• Monthly checking fees
• Savings APY
• 1-year CD APY
• Bauer rating
• Range of products and services offered
• Average mobile app ratings

How We Chose the Best Neobanks

Neobanks are fintech firms that offer apps, software and other technologies to streamline mobile and online banking. These fintechs generally specialize in a particular financial product or products, like checking and savings accounts.

To determine rankings, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors:

• Monthly checking fees
• Minimum needed to earn interest
• Savings APY
• Range of products and services offered
• Average mobile app ratings

How We Chose the Best Money Market Accounts

To determine rankings, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors:

• Total assets 
• Number of branch locations
• Minimum deposit to open an account
• APY
• Minimum balance needed to earn the APY
• Monthly fees
• Average mobile app ratings

How We Chose the Best High-Yield Savings Accounts

To determine rankings, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors:

• Minimum deposit to open an account
• Monthly savings fee ratio
• Minimum needed to earn APY
• Savings APY
• Average mobile app ratings

To be considered for the category, the product offered had to have an APY above 0.45%.

How We Chose the Best Premium Checking Accounts

To determine rankings, GOBankingRates looked at the most premier/costly checking accounts from the top 25 banks in terms of total assets. The factors analyzed included:

• Total assets 
• Minimum deposit to open an account
• Monthly checking fees
• APY 
• Benefits and perks