I Bond Rate November 2026 Is 5.51% With a 1.40% Fixed Rate: When Your Rate Changes

The U.S. Treasury’s TreasuryDirect lists a 5.51% rate for Series I savings bonds (I bonds) issued from Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026 to April 30, 2027. The rate includes a fixed rate of 1.40%, which stays with each bond issued in that window for its life. Below are the math, the fixed-rate history, the months when a bond’s rate resets and a printable tracker.

How the 5.51% is built

TreasuryDirect, part of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, sets the combined rate from a fixed rate and an inflation rate. It bases the inflation rate on changes in the non-seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), all items, including food and energy. The semiannual inflation rate announced for Nov. 1, 2026 is 2.04%.

The Treasury’s formula is: fixed rate + (2 x semiannual inflation rate) + (fixed rate x semiannual inflation rate).

Step	Math	Result
Fixed rate	Set Nov. 1, 2026	1.40%
Two times the semiannual inflation rate	2 x 2.04%	4.08%
Fixed rate times the inflation rate	1.40% x 2.04%	0.0286%
Combined rate	1.40 + 4.08 + 0.0286	5.51% (rounded)

The previous rate, for bonds issued May 1 to Oct. 31, 2026, was 4.26% with a 0.90% fixed rate, per the Treasury’s rate chart “Series I Savings Bond Earnings Rates Effective May 1, 2026”. The new-bond rate rose by 1.25 percentage points. The page lists the inflation rate for May 1, 2026 as 1.67%.

What is the fixed rate history?

TreasuryDirect announces the fixed rate every May 1 and Nov. 1, and it applies for the life of the bond to every I bond issued over the next six months. The page’s list goes back to September 1998.

Date the fixed rate was set	Fixed rate
Nov. 1, 2026	1.40%
May 1, 2026	0.90%
Nov. 1, 2025	0.90%
May 1, 2025	1.10%
Nov. 1, 2024	1.20%
May 1, 2024	1.30%
Nov. 1, 2023	1.30%
May 1, 2023	0.90%
Nov. 1, 2022	0.40%
May 1, 2020 to May 1, 2022	0.00%

The 1.40% rate matches the rate set on Nov. 1, 2006, and every rate set between those two dates is lower, per the same list.

What rate does my existing bond earn?

An existing bond keeps its own fixed rate. TreasuryDirect says the date the rate changes for your bond is every six months from its issue date, so the new 2.04% inflation rate reaches an older bond only when its own change date comes. When it does, the same formula applies. This table shows the combined rate for six months at each fixed rate from the page’s list, using the 2.04% inflation rate:

Fixed rate	Math	Six-month rate
0.00%	0.00 + 4.08 + 0	4.08%
0.40%	0.40 + 4.08 + 0.0082	4.49%
0.90%	0.90 + 4.08 + 0.0184	5.00%
1.10%	1.10 + 4.08 + 0.0224	5.20%
1.20%	1.20 + 4.08 + 0.0245	5.30%
1.30%	1.30 + 4.08 + 0.0265	5.41%
1.40%	1.40 + 4.08 + 0.0286	5.51%

The figures are our calculation from the Treasury formula, rounded to two decimals, not a Treasury table.

When does my I bond rate change?

TreasuryDirect says the new rates are announced in May and November, but the rate on your bond changes every six months from the month it was issued.

Issue month	Rate changes on
January	July 1 and January 1
February	August 1 and February 1
March	September 1 and March 1
April	October 1 and April 1
May	November 1 and May 1
June	December 1 and June 1
July	January 1 and July 1
August	February 1 and August 1
September	March 1 and September 1
October	April 1 and October 1
November	May 1 and November 1
December	June 1 and December 1

What are the other I bond rules?

TreasuryDirect’s I bond pages state these rules:

• I bonds earn interest from the first day of the month they are bought, and the interest compounds twice a year.
• They earn interest until the bond is cashed or reaches 30 years old.
• A bond can be cashed after 12 months. Before 5 years, the last 3 months of interest are lost.
• In a calendar year, one Social Security Number or one Employer Identification Number may buy up to $10,000 in electronic I bonds.
• The combined rate can fall when inflation falls, but the Treasury stops it at zero.

Dates to mark for I bond rates

Date	What happens
Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026	New 5.51% rate starts for bonds issued Nov. 1, 2026 to April 30, 2027
Friday, April 30, 2027	Last day of issue at the 1.40% fixed rate
Saturday, May 1, 2027	Next fixed rate and inflation rate announcement

Circle Nov. 1 on the November 2026 printable calendar and May 1 on the May printable calendar, or keep both on a 2027 printable yearly calendar.

Other money numbers for 2027 are in the Social Security 2027 cost-of-living adjustment, the 2027 tax brackets and contribution limits and the year-end money deadlines.