The next I bond rate: what is already known before November 1
The Treasury announces the next I bond rate on November 1, 2026. Half of it is already set by the consumer price index: the inflation part will be 2.04 % for six months.
New I bonds from November 1, 2026, with this fixed rate
5.00 %
Inflation part worked out from the CPI-U of March and September 2026; the Treasury announces the official rate on November 1, 2026.
| Semiannual inflation rate | 2.04 % |
| Fixed rate used | 0.90 % |
| Your bond issued Jan 2022 (fixed 0.00 %) | 4.08 % |
| Your bond earns it from | January 1, 2027 |
CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted: 330.213 in March, 336.94 in September 2026 (BLS).
Worked out by Radif Partners · How we calculate · rates read on treasurydirect.gov and fiscaldata.treasury.gov · not personal financial advice
The I bond rate for bonds bought from November 1, 2026 to April 30, 2027 is announced by the Treasury on November 1, 2026. One of its two parts is already fixed by arithmetic. The inflation part is the change in the CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted, from March to September: 330.213 to 336.94, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on October 15, 2026, which gives 2.04 % for six months. This is our calculation with the rule of 31 CFR 359, not a Treasury figure. The other part, the fixed rate for new bonds, is set by the Treasury and has no formula. If it stayed at 0.90 %, new bonds would earn 5.00 %, against 4.26 % today. Bonds you already own do not depend on that fixed rate: a bond with a zero fixed rate will earn 4.08 % from its next six-month anniversary, one with 1.30 % will earn 5.41 %. This page is updated on November 1, 2026 with the official rates.
Two parts, one already known
The composite rate of an I bond is the fixed rate plus twice the semiannual inflation rate plus the product of the two (31 CFR 359). The inflation rate comes straight from a price index. For the November announcement, the Treasury uses the CPI-U of March and of September of the same year, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS series CUUR0000SA0). The September figure came out on October 15, 2026, so the arithmetic can be done today: (336.94 − 330.213) ÷ 330.213 = 2.04 %.
The fixed rate is different. The Treasury sets it each May and November without publishing a formula, and it has ranged from 0.00 % to 3.60 % since 1998. No estimate of it is a Treasury figure, and this page does not offer one.
What each fixed rate would give
The table pairs the known inflation part with a few fixed rates, including the one in force from May to October 2026. These rows are hypotheses to read the announcement quickly, not forecasts.
| Fixed rate | Composite with inflation of 2.04 % | |
|---|---|---|
| 0.00 % | 4.08 % | |
| 0.50 % | 4.59 % | |
| 0.90 % | 5.00 % | same fixed rate as May to October 2026 |
| 1.00 % | 5.10 % | |
| 1.30 % | 5.41 % |
Composite for a fixed rate you choose
New I bonds from November 1, 2026, with this fixed rate
4.59 %
| Semiannual inflation rate | 2.04 % |
| Fixed rate used | 0.50 % |
| Your bond issued Jan 2022 (fixed 0.00 %) | 4.08 % |
| Your bond earns it from | January 1, 2027 |
When the bonds you already own change
An existing bond keeps the fixed rate of its issue month and takes the inflation part of the latest announcement on its own schedule: every six months from the issue month. So the November announcement reaches bonds one month at a time, from November 2026 to April 2027, and each keeps it for six months.
| Issue month (any year) | New inflation part from | Next change |
|---|---|---|
| January | January 1, 2027 | July 1, 2027 |
| February | February 1, 2027 | August 1, 2027 |
| March | March 1, 2027 | September 1, 2027 |
| April | April 1, 2027 | October 1, 2027 |
| May | November 1, 2026 | May 1, 2027 |
| June | December 1, 2026 | June 1, 2027 |
| July | January 1, 2027 | July 1, 2027 |
| August | February 1, 2027 | August 1, 2027 |
| September | March 1, 2027 | September 1, 2027 |
| October | April 1, 2027 | October 1, 2027 |
| November | November 1, 2026 | May 1, 2027 |
| December | December 1, 2026 | June 1, 2027 |
For a bond with a fixed rate of zero, like those issued in June 2021 (fixed 0.00 %), the composite becomes twice the inflation part: 4.08 %. For one issued in January 2024 with 1.30 % fixed, it becomes 5.41 %. The I bond rates page gives the rate your bond earns today, before the switch.
October or November
A purchase is dated the first day of the month the Treasury receives the money. A bond bought at the end of October is an October bond: its fixed rate is 0.90 %, it earns 4.26 % until the end of March and then the November inflation part for six months. A bond bought on November 2 carries the new fixed rate for 30 years and earns the new composite at once. Over a long holding the fixed rate matters more than six months of inflation; over a short one the reverse is true. The early cashing calculator shows what a short holding loses to the penalty.
The inflation part in recent announcements
The figure for November 2026 is easier to judge next to the previous ones. Over the last six announcements the semiannual inflation rate was 1.97 % in November 2023, 1.48 % in May 2024, 0.95 % in November 2024, 1.43 % in May 2025, 1.56 % in November 2025, 1.67 % in May 2026. Doubled, those are the annual inflation rates that bonds with a zero fixed rate earned in each half-year. A semiannual change of 2.04 % is higher the 1.67 % of May 2026, so every bond's composite rate rises when it reaches its switch date, by 0.74 % for a bond with no fixed rate.
Because the rate of a bond is applied for six months and compounded, the difference shows in dollars slowly. On a bond worth $10,000, one extra percentage point of annual rate adds about $50 over a six-month period. The value table turns each rate into the amount the Treasury would pay.
How this page is updated
The site reads the Treasury's rate history when it is built. On November 1, 2026, the fixed rate and the inflation rate of the announcement are entered in the parameter file with the date they were read, the rate history is downloaded again, and every page that shows a current rate, from the fixed rate history to the value calculator, moves to the new figures the same day. Until then, the inflation figure above is labelled as our calculation from BLS data.