I bond rate November 2026: 5.51%, with a 1.40% fixed rate

I bonds issued from November 1, 2026, to April 30, 2027, pay 5.51 percent, according to TreasuryDirect. The rate combines a 1.40 percent fixed rate, which the bond keeps for its entire life, with a 2.04 percent semiannual inflation rate, which changes every six months. The fixed rate is the news: it is up from 0.90 percent and is the highest since November 2006, when it was also 1.40 percent. The composite is the highest on new bonds since November 2022, when it was 6.89 percent.

What your older I bonds earn now

The 2.04 percent inflation rate applies to every I bond ever issued, but each bond keeps the fixed rate of its issue date. That is why two bonds in the same account can pay very different rates for the same six months. Using the Treasury’s formula:

The new rate reaches an existing bond at its next six-month mark, counted from its issue month, not on November 1. A bond issued in May or November switches in November; one issued in June or December switches in December; one issued in October switches in April 2027.

Should you swap an old bond for a new one?

A 1.40 percent fixed rate reopens a question many holders of pandemic-era bonds have been asking: is it worth cashing a low-fixed-rate bond to buy a new one? The answer comes down to how long the higher rate needs to repay what the swap costs. The extra yield is the difference between the two composite rates. The cost, for a bond under five years old, is the forfeited last three months of interest, or about a quarter of its annual rate.

These recovery times hold the gap and the current composite constant, and estimate the penalty at the rate in effect now, so treat them as orders of magnitude. A bond past five years carries no penalty, which is the case for bonds bought before late 2021 and, as the months pass, for the zero-fixed-rate bonds bought through October 2022. For those, the column to read is the first: swapping adds up to 1.43 points a year from the start.

Three things can overrule the table. Redeeming ends the tax deferral, so all the interest accrued on the old bond becomes federally taxable in that year, and a large accrued gain can cost more than the higher rate repays soon. The purchase limit is $10,000 per person per calendar year, so an old bond larger than that cannot be swapped in one step, and using the allowance for a swap means not using it for new money. And the new bond restarts the clock: it cannot be redeemed for 12 months and carries the three-month penalty for five years. If you do redeem, TreasuryDirect credits interest monthly, so doing it early in a month rather than late avoids giving away days of accrual for free. For the penalty mechanics, see the best time to redeem an I bond.

How well the projection held up

This page projected the rate before the announcement, so it should also keep score. The method for the inflation half was exact: once the September CPI appeared on October 14, 2.04 percent was arithmetic, and the Treasury confirmed it. What failed earlier was the forecast of that one input. Until the release, our central case assumed September would repeat August, which gave a 1.44 percent semiannual rate, and our highest scenario gave 1.75 percent. The actual print came in above every scenario we had published.

The fixed rate has no published method, but it has tracked the real yield on five-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities closely. Before the announcement, the historical band pointed to 1.30 to 1.40 percent. The Treasury chose the top of that range:

Seven resets inside a band of 0.625 to 0.675 is a strong pattern, but still only a pattern; the Treasury owes no one that ratio at the next reset. The five-year real yield closed at 2.25 percent on October 30, above its six-month average, so nothing in the market argues for a lower fixed rate today. May 1, 2027, is when that gets tested.

Did buying in October cost anything?

Anyone who bought before the deadline at 4.26 percent, with a 0.90 percent fixed rate, gets the new inflation rate too, only six months later. Running $10,000 through the Treasury’s semiannual compounding to October 31, 2027, and assuming for simplicity that the May 2027 inflation rate repeats November’s:

The November bond is about $47 ahead after a year, and the larger difference is permanent: a half-point of fixed rate every year the bond is held. Someone who bought in October still has the option to buy again, because the $10,000 limit applies per calendar year, not per rate window, and any unused 2026 allowance can go to a new bond now.

None of this changes the one-year minimum holding period or the three-month interest penalty on bonds redeemed before five years. Buying now also requires a working login: TreasuryDirect has required ID.me since October 28.

For a fuller comparison against inflation protection priced by the market, see I bonds vs. TIPS; for the mechanics of the vehicle itself, start with I bonds explained.

Sources

• Composite rate, fixed rate, semiannual inflation rate, Treasury’s worked calculation and history of fixed rates: TreasuryDirect — I Bond Rates, read November 2, 2026.
• Series EE rate for bonds issued November 1, 2026, to April 30, 2027: TreasuryDirect — EE Bonds.
• CPI-U, not seasonally adjusted, U.S. city average, series CUUR0000SA0: Bureau of Labor Statistics — CPI databases, via the BLS public data API.
• Five-year TIPS real yields: U.S. Treasury — Daily Treasury Par Real Yield Curve Rates, 2023 through October 30, 2026; averages and ratios are our calculation.

If a CPI reading or rate on this page looks off against the current BLS or TreasuryDirect release, those sources are authoritative; let us know via contact and we will reconcile.