America's Best Banks 2023
With inflation high and interest rates rising, you need a bank that helps you make the most of every dollar more than ever
After months of record-breaking price increases on food, gas and other basics of everyday life, it's never been more important to bank with a financial institution that helps you maximize the power of every dollar.
While no bank or credit union offers payouts that come close to keeping pace with inflation, institutions have been steadily hiking their rates this year in response to the Federal Reserve's record interest-rate increases. Last October, the average savings account paid out just 0.06 percent interest. Today, it's 0.21 percent, and some top-yielding accounts pay more than 3 percent. Payouts haven't been that high since 2010.
Still, that's just a drop in the proverbial bucket compared with the staggering 8.2 percent annualized rise in consumer prices over the past 12 months. That makes top rates only one factor to consider when choosing a bank these days. Finding an institution that offers bigger incentives, like cashback or other rewards programs and fewer-than-average fees, also ranks highly for customers on the hunt for a new bank this year, a J.D. Power survey found.
Some banks have been listening. Over the past year, major players, like Capital One, Bank of America, Citibank and U.S. Bank, have reduced or eliminated their fees for overdrafts, non-sufficient funds and overdraft transfers or provided customers with more ways to avoid the fees. "Many people view these overdraft fees as predatory," says Ken Tumin, founder of the bank comparison site DepositAccounts.com. "This change will help a lot of people, particularly those who can least afford to pay a $35 overdraft fee."
Many institutions, though, give with one hand and take with the other, by increasing different charges to offset the lost revenue from overdraft fees, says Tumin. Free paper statements are all but a thing of the past. And ATM fees continue to rise as more people use digital payment systems like Zelle instead of cash, making it costlier for banks to maintain their ATMs.
To help you find the financial institution that best serves your needs—one that combines high rates, low fees and the services and rewards that suit your lifestyle—Newsweek has once again partnered with LendingTree, the online marketplace and comparison site for financial services, for our annual Best Banks ranking. We've evaluated thousands of FDIC-insured banks and credit unions, as well as the individual savings and checking accounts they offer, on more than 50 different factors in order to identify the best-in-class options in 26 different categories. One of our winners is sure to be right for you.
— Kerri Anne Renzulii, Senior Reporter
| State Name | Best Small Bank winner | Number of branches |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Troy Bank & Trust Company | 15 |
| Alaska | Northrim Bank | 16 |
| Arizona | Horizon Community Bank | 6 |
| Arkansas | Relyance Bank | 20 |
| California | Westamerica Bank | 78 |
| Colorado | Bank of Colorado | 44 |
| Connecticut | Newtown Savings Bank | 16 |
| Delaware | The Bank of Delmarva | 4 |
| District of Columbia | Industrial Bank | 3 |
| Florida | First Federal Bank | 23 |
| Georgia | Colony Bank | 29 |
| Hawaii | Central Pacific Bank | 28 |
| Idaho | First Federal Savings Bank of Twin Falls | 13 |
| Illinois | Midland States Bank | 43 |
| Indiana | Lake City Bank | 52 |
| Iowa | MidWestOne Bank | 35 |
| Kansas | Equity Bank | 36 |
| Kentucky | Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company | 60 |
| Louisiana | First Guaranty Bank | 27 |
| Maine | Bangor Savings Bank | 60 |
| Maryland | Shore United Bank | 25 |
| Massachusetts | Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank | 24 |
| Michigan | ChoiceOne Bank | 31 |
| Minnesota | Minnwest Bank | 29 |
| Mississippi | BankPlus | 65 |
| Missouri | Southern Bank | 39 |
| Montana | TrailWest Bank | 12 |
| Nebraska | Union Bank and Trust Company | 30 |
| Nevada | Meadows Bank | 5 |
| New Hampshire | Northway Bank | 15 |
| New Jersey | Columbia Bank | 65 |
| New Mexico | Century Bank | 8 |
| New York | Trustco Bank | 87 |
| North Carolina | HomeTrust Bank | 20 |
| North Dakota | Bravera Bank | 19 |
| Ohio | Peoples Bank | 57 |
| Oklahoma | Armstrong Bank | 26 |
| Oregon | Bank of Eastern Oregon | 15 |
| Pennsylvania | Mid Penn Bank | 42 |
| Rhode Island | Washington Trust Company | 23 |
| South Carolina | First Palmetto Bank | 22 |
| South Dakota | CorTrust Bank | 22 |
| Tennessee | First Citizens National Bank | 23 |
| Texas | Southside Bank | 43 |
| Utah | Cache Valley Bank | 21 |
| Vermont | Community National Bank | 11 |
| Virginia | The National Bank of Blacksburg | 24 |
| Washington | Heritage Bank | 44 |
| West Virginia | Citizens Bank of West Virginia | 6 |
| Wisconsin | Town Bank | 22 |
| Wyoming | Central Bank & Trust | 5 |
Visit our rankings portal To identify America's Best Banks and Bank Accounts, Newsweek worked in partnership with LendingTree, which culled candidates from an initial universe of more than 4,900 FDIC or NCUA-insured financial institutions (credit unions were excluded from consideration for overall bank winner categories but included for individual account winner categories). LendingTree applied filters to create a short list of candidates in each category, based on the most salient features for each bank type or account, supplied the data and made recommendations for scoring. The final proprietary ranking system was developed by Newsweek, based on the factors that would be most important to consumers. Data sources for the project included: DepositAccounts.com, information published by each bank or credit union, quarterly call reports filed with the FDIC by banks or NCUA by credit unions, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) complaints and mobile app reviews.
Best Bank winners were selected from among 4,800 financial institutions and assessed on more than 30 separate factors, covering the overall health of the bank, customer service performance and features, digital and branch presence, account and loan options, interest rate offerings and fees. Among the specific data collected: the average service charges collected on deposit accounts during the first quarter of 2022; average interest paid on deposit accounts during the first quarter of 2022; the number of complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and how quickly the bank responded, the kinds of loan and account products offered; mobile app scores; the kinds of customer service features offered; overall health of the bank as determined by DepositAccounts.com; and, depending on the Best Bank accolade, branch presence.
For Best Bank state winners, the Best Big Bank in each state needed to have at least one branch per 100,000 residents and at least $10 billion in assets, while the Best Small Bank in each state needed less than $10 billion in assets, had to be headquartered in the state and among the five banks with the most branches in the state. For Best Customer Service, a bank needed to have responded to at least 97 percent of complaints filed with the CFPB in a timely fashion to be considered; other features such as languages provided on the bank's website and app as well as banking and credit card service lines were also evaluated. Financial institutions needed at least one branch to win for best checking, savings and traditional checking accounts. Only banks without a single physical branch were considered for the online bank categories.
Individual Best Bank account winners were selected from a pool of more than 4,927 financial institutions that included 127 credit unions open to anyone to join. Criteria included: current interest rate; average interest rate over the past year; minimum deposit required to open an account, the monthly service fee charged to maintain the account and how easily it could be avoided; fees charged for nonsufficient funds, overdraft, or/and overdraft protection; amount charged to use an out-of-network ATM; amount refunded for out-of-network ATM usage; cost to replace a debit card; whether requirements like online banking or debit card usage must be met to get top rates; the bank's average mobile app score; branch presence; the bank's financial strength; and, for CD accounts, number of days of interest lost for withdrawing early. For all categories, no accounts were considered if they required you to also have another existing account with the financial institution.
The weighting given to each factor varied depending on the Best Bank accolade; Newsweek exercised final editorial judgment when selecting winners. The complete data set was last updated by LendingTree on August 28, 2022. Current interest rate information is accurate as of November 7, 2022 and represents the highest possible rate a customer could earn, if all qualifications are met.
