How much interest you earn can vary quite a bit, but interest rates tend to be lower at big brick-and-mortar banks and higher at online banks. Banks raise rates when they want to gather money. If they need to get deposits in the door, a high rate on savings accounts attracts customers. If, on the other hand, they don’t need cash, they can keep rates lower. Banks have different approaches to earning money. Some take deposits and lend them out, while others take a more varied approach (earning revenue and fees from other services like credit cards and ancillary business). Organizational structure is also important. Some banks have shareholders demanding that the bank grow (and/or share income with the shareholders), and those demands may make it harder to pay high rates to depositors. However, some banks are able to keep only what they need to pay the bills and share the rest of the revenue (from loans, ATM fees, etc.) with account holders. Small banks and credit unions are most likely to fit the latter model.