What to look for in a money market account
Obviously, you'll want to look for a competitive annual percentage yield (APY). Just like with checking and savings accounts, the best money market APYs are typically (but not always) offered by online-based banks, so that's a good place to start your search.
If you aren't familiar with the phrase, the APY is the effective yield you get on savings and is slightly different than the concept of interest rate. In a nutshell, APY is the important number to know with a money market account (or any other type of interest-bearing bank account). For example, if you put $10,000 into an account with an APY of 4%, you can expect interest to accumulate in your account at the rate of $400 per year.
In addition to APY, it's important to look at the ways you can deposit and withdraw money from the account, especially if the bank is online and doesn't have branches. Most money market accounts allow customers to withdraw money with a debit card and also provide a checkbook, but these are not universally offered, so be sure to check.
Money market accounts often have minimum balance requirements, which aren't as common with checking and savings accounts. There are some money market accounts you can open with as little as $1, while others require $1,000 or more. Others will allow you to open an account with a rather small deposit but require a certain minimum balance to get the best interest rate.
Also, be sure that the money market is FDIC-insured, which protects you in case of a bank failure. The standard FDIC insurance limit is $250,000 per person per bank, but there are some banks that use networks of banking partners to offer considerably more FDIC protection for high-balance customers.