The new i bond rate is 5.51 percent, and savers who ignored these bonds for two years have a real reason to look again. The Treasury announced the rate on Friday, and it applies to every Series I savings bond issued from November 1 through April 30. The headline number is strong on its own. The detail underneath it is stronger, because one part of this rate stays with your bond for its entire life.
An I bond is a savings bond sold by the United States Treasury and built to protect money from inflation. Our Money hub tracks announcements like this one in a single place, so you can compare each new rate with the last one instead of relying on headlines alone.
New I Bond Rate: What the Treasury Announced
The composite rate on new bonds rises to 5.51 percent, up from 4.26 percent on bonds issued from May through October. That 5.51 percent is the rate a new bond earns for its first six months, and it is the highest composite rate since November 2022. It is still well below the famous 9.62 percent rate of 2022, when inflation hit a forty year high and buyers flooded the Treasury website.
The rate has two parts. The inflation part is set from the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers between April and September, and it came in at 2.04 percent for the six month period, which works out to 4.08 percent on a yearly basis, up from 3.34 percent. The Treasury combines the two parts with a set formula, adding the fixed rate to twice the inflation rate plus a small product of the two, and the result rounds to 5.51 percent. The Treasury also raised the fixed rate on new Series EE bonds to 2.90 percent, up from 2.40 percent, though the I bond news matters more for inflation protection.
The Fixed Rate Is the Real Story Here
Most coverage will lead with 5.51 percent, but careful savers should lead with 1.40 percent. That is the new fixed rate, up from 0.90 percent, and it is the highest fixed rate the Treasury has offered since November 2006. The fixed rate never changes. A bond bought in this window keeps its 1.40 percent fixed rate for up to thirty years, and every future inflation adjustment gets added on top of it.
That permanence is what makes this window different from a promotional bank rate. A bank can cut a savings yield next month. The Treasury cannot cut the fixed rate on a bond you already own. Even if inflation cools and the variable part falls, a bond bought now will always earn 1.40 percent above whatever inflation does, for as long as you hold it.
What Current Holders Get and What They Do Not
If you already own I bonds, read this part carefully, because the announcement helps you in one way and not in another. Your fixed rate stays whatever it was when you bought your bond, even if that rate is zero. The Treasury will not upgrade old bonds to 1.40 percent, and no announcement ever does.
What does change for you is the inflation part. The new 4.08 percent yearly inflation rate will reach every existing bond, but it arrives on the schedule set by your own issue month, in six month steps from the month your bond was issued. So your bond may pick up the new inflation rate months from now rather than on November 1. Interest on every bond is earned monthly and added to principal twice a year, and the composite rate can never fall below zero, even in a period when prices decline.
How the Rate Compares With CDs and Savings Accounts
Context decides whether 5.51 percent is a headline or a plan. A one year Treasury bill recently yielded about 4.42 percent, and the best CD rates in our October comparison reached 5.25 percent, while plenty of ordinary savings accounts still pay under 2 percent. The new I bond rate tops all of those for its first six months, and it carries two tax edges that bank products do not. Interest is free of state and local income tax, and federal tax can be put off until you cash the bond in or it matures.
Inflation is the reason this comparison matters right now. Our coverage of the employment cost index and pay that fell behind prices showed wages rising 3.1 percent over the year while prices rose faster. Cash that earns less than inflation loses buying power in silence. A government backed bond that adjusts with inflation is built for exactly that problem.
The Rules and Limits That Decide If It Fits
The limits are simple and strict. You can buy up to 10,000 dollars of I bonds per person in each calendar year, electronically, with a minimum purchase of 25 dollars. Bonds are sold only through TreasuryDirect, the Treasury website, and each buyer needs their own account. A couple can buy 20,000 dollars a year between two accounts, because the limit follows the person and not the household.
The lockup rules matter just as much. You cannot cash an I bond during its first twelve months at all. If you cash in before five years, you give up the last three months of interest. That makes I bonds a poor home for true emergency money you might need next month, and a strong home for money you know you can leave alone for at least a year. The bond earns interest for up to thirty years, so it can also serve as a quiet long term holding rather than a six month trade.
Your I Bond Plan Around the Calendar
Here is the usable part. If you have not bought your 2026 allotment yet, a purchase in November or December counts toward your 2026 limit and still earns the new 5.51 percent rate for its first six months. Then the limit resets on January 1, and you can buy a second 10,000 dollars in the new year while this same rate window is still open through April. Used together, those two steps let one person place 20,000 dollars at this fixed rate in a span of a few months. If you already reached the 2026 limit, your next chance opens in January, with time to spare before the window closes.
Two final checks before you buy. An I bond earns interest from the first day of its issue month, so a late November purchase still counts November in full. And decide in advance which money this is. Keep your emergency fund reachable in a savings account, and use the bond for the layer of cash that sits behind it. Write down your purchase date, your fixed rate and your five year date in one note, so future you never has to guess.
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