EE bond rate history by issue date.

Four rate eras, one bond series

TreasuryDirect publishes EE bond rates in four separate pages because the way a bond earns depends on when it was issued. The tables below are those four pages combined, newest first, with the rule for each era. Use the calculator above to see which era a bond falls in, the rate announced for it on November 1, 2026, the date its doubling guarantee lands, and the month it stops earning altogether.

Bonds issued May 2005 and later: fixed rate by issue window

Each November 1 and May 1 Treasury sets a fixed rate that applies to every EE bond issued in the following six months, and that bond keeps the rate for its first 20 years. TreasuryDirect says a bond bought now will be worth at least twice what you paid at 20 years, with a one-time adjustment if interest alone fell short, and that the guarantee also covers any EE bond bought as far back as June 2003. At 20 years Treasury may change the rate or earning method for the last 10 years; a holder who does not want the change can cash the bond at 20 years, by which point it has at least doubled. The current rate, 2.90%, applies to bonds issued November 1, 2026 through April 30, 2027.

Bonds issued May 1997 through April 2005: 90% of the 5-year Treasury average

These bonds earn a variable rate equal to the average yield of 5-year Treasury securities over the previous six months multiplied by 90 percent. A new rate is set each May 1 and November 1 and, in TreasuryDirect’s words, each rate applies to the 6-month rate periods starting on or after the date the rate was set. A bond’s own periods begin on the first of its issue month and six months later, so a bond issued in September changes rates on September 1 and March 1. Original maturity is 17 years for bonds issued May 1997 through May 2003 and 20 years for June 2003 through April 2005; at that date the bond is worth at least double its purchase price. The rate set November 1, 2026 is 4.02%.

Bonds issued May 1995 through April 1997: short-term then long-term rate

These bonds earned a short-term rate for their first five years and switch to the long-term rate, 85% of the six-month average of 5-year Treasury yields, from the sixth year. Every bond in this era is now past its fifth year, so all of them earn the long-term rate; the one announced November 1, 2026 is 3.80%. TreasuryDirect guarantees the bond is worth at least double its purchase price at original maturity, 17 years from issue, and the bond stops earning at 30 years, which for this era means between May 2025 and April 2027. Bonds issued through November 1996 have already reached that point.

Before November 2001 TreasuryDirect published a short-term and a long-term rate side by side. The long-term rate first mattered in May 2000, when the oldest bonds of this era turned five; through November 1999 every bond was under five years old and earned only the short-term rate.

Bonds issued January 1980 through April 1995: guaranteed rate or market rate, whichever paid more

Paper EE bonds of this era cost one-half of face value. Each bond earned under two parallel paths, a guaranteed rate that depended on the issue date and a market-based rate equal to 85% of the average 5-year Treasury yield, and received whichever gave the higher value over the whole holding period. The market rate was rounded to the nearest 0.01% for bonds issued May 1989 and later and to the nearest 0.25% before that. Bonds that entered an extended maturity period from May 1989 through February 1993 had a 6% guaranteed minimum; all other extended periods carried 4%. Every bond in this era has passed its 30-year final maturity, the last of them in April 2025, so none is still earning.

Rules that apply to every era

• Interest is added monthly and the value compounds semiannually; cashing mid-period forfeits interest accrued since the last addition.
• A bond can be cashed after one year. Cashed before five years, it loses the last three months of interest, and TreasuryDirect’s displayed values for bonds under five years old already leave those three months out.
• Every EE bond earns until it is cashed or reaches 30 years, whichever comes first.
• Electronic EE bonds are sold at face value in any amount from $25 to $10,000 to the penny; paper bonds were sold at half their face value in set denominations.

Worked example

An electronic bond bought for $500 in June 2024 sits in the May 2024 window, so it earns a fixed 2.70% for 20 years. Its doubling guarantee lands in June 2044, when it is worth at least $1,000, and it stops earning in June 2054. A paper bond bought in March 1992 for $50 (a $100 face value) carried a 6% guaranteed rate and a 12-year original maturity, so it reached face value by March 2004 and stopped earning at final maturity in March 2022; it should be cashed. A bond issued September 2001 earns 90% of the 5-year Treasury average: its periods start each September 1 and March 1, so the 4.02% rate set November 1, 2026 reaches it on March 1, 2027. It doubled by its 17-year original maturity in September 2018 and earns until September 2031.

Method

The four tables are transcribed from TreasuryDirect’s EE bond rate pages as published on November 11, 2026. The calculator assigns an issue month to its era by date, reads the fixed rate from the issue window for bonds issued May 2005 and later, and derives the doubling date from the original maturity TreasuryDirect states for each era (20 years, 17 years, or the guaranteed-rate period for 1980 to 1995 bonds). Final maturity is the issue month plus 30 years. It does not compute a current redemption value; TreasuryDirect’s Savings Bond Calculator does that from the serial number and denomination.

What this does not cover

• Series E bonds issued before 1980, Series I bonds (see the I bond rate history), and HH bonds.
• The exact dollar value of a bond today. Use the savings bond value calculator or TreasuryDirect for that.
• Federal income tax treatment, the education exclusion, or state tax rules.

Figures read from the sources below on November 11, 2026. Last updated November 11, 2026.

Sources

• TreasuryDirect: EE bonds issued May 2005 and later (fixed rates, 20-year doubling guarantee) (retrieved November 11, 2026)
• TreasuryDirect: EE bonds issued May 1997 through April 2005 (90% market-based rates) (retrieved November 11, 2026)
• TreasuryDirect: EE bonds issued May 1995 through April 1997 (short-term and long-term rates) (retrieved November 11, 2026)
• TreasuryDirect: EE bonds issued 1980 through April 1995 (guaranteed and market-based rates) (retrieved November 11, 2026)