Rates updated · Based on 36 tracked checking accounts
How much are you losing in a typical checking account instead of the best one?
A saver in a typical checking account gives up about $544 a year versus a top-available one — a gap of 2.17 percentage points (0.08% cohort median vs 2.25% best available) on a $25,000 balance.
Gap Spread
2.17%
percentage points
Best Available
2.25%
APY
Cohort Median
0.08%
APY
What the gap costs you per year
| Balance | Annual interest lost | 5-year cost |
|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $218 | $1,090 |
| $25,000 | $544 | $2,720 |
| $50,000 | $1,087 | $5,435 |
| $100,000 | $2,175 | $10,875 |
| $250,000 | $5,438 | $27,190 |
How the Checking Account Gap Index has moved
Each month's value is recorded as a dated snapshot. The full machine-readable series is published as a public dataset.
| Month | Index value | Gap | Tracked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2026 | $538/yr | 2.15% | 37 |
| Aug 2026 | $600/yr | 2.40% | 41 |
| Jul 2026 | $600/yr | 2.40% | 41 |
| Jun 2026 | $600/yr | 2.40% | 41 |
Methodology
Checking Account Gap Index = representativeBalance × (bestAvailableAPY − cohortMedianAPY)
representativeBalance is $25,000 — held fixed so the Index moves only when rates move. bestAvailableAPY is the average of the top-3 rates across the 36 actively tracked checking accounts in the SwitchWize rate database. cohortMedianAPY is the median rate across the same tracked set — the “typical” checking account a saver would otherwise pick.
The dated monthly series is published as a public dataset at /data/indices/checking-gap.
See today's top checking accounts
Compare every tracked checking account ranked by rate, then trust and access.
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