Guide
How to buy Treasury bills, step by step
Treasury bills are short loans to the U.S. government, from 4 weeks to a year. They’re backed by the government, and their interest is free of state and local income tax. In a state with income tax, that often makes them the most you can keep on cash, even when a CD or savings account shows a slightly higher rate.
Today’s Treasury bill yields
| Bill | Yield today | Auctioned |
|---|---|---|
| 4-week | 4.10% | Weekly, usually Thursdays |
| 6-week | see auction | Weekly, usually Tuesdays |
| 8-week | 4.18% | Weekly, usually Thursdays |
| 13-week | 4.22% | Weekly, usually Mondays |
| 17-week | 4.31% | Weekly, usually Wednesdays |
| 26-week | 4.34% | Weekly, usually Mondays |
| 52-week | 4.50% | Every 4 weeks, usually Tuesdays |
Yields: U.S. Treasury daily par yield curve for October 27, 2026, which tracks recent auction results closely. Auction days: TreasuryDirect.
Three ways to own them
At your brokerage
Usually the easiest. Most brokers sell new bills at auction with no commission, and many can roll them over automatically. Sell any day if you need the money.
Steps →At TreasuryDirect
Buy straight from the Treasury, from $100, with scheduled reinvestment. Clunkier, and selling early takes a transfer.
Steps →Through a fund
A Treasury money market fund or T-bill ETF does the rolling for you. One trade, next-day access, a small fee built in.
More →At your brokerage
- Open the trade menu and find Bonds or Fixed income.
- Choose new issues or Treasury auctions, and pick a bill. For cash you may need within months, 13 or 26 weeks is typical.
- Enter the amount. Brokers usually sell bills in $1,000 units. Auction orders fill at the auction’s yield, so there’s no price to choose.
- Turn on automatic rollover if your broker offers it, so the money reinvests at maturity instead of landing back in the low-rate sweep.
- Place the order before the broker’s cutoff, often a day or so before the auction. The cash leaves your account on the issue date.
Exact menus differ. Step-by-step guides for your broker: Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, Merrill Edge, E*TRADE, Interactive Brokers, Robinhood, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Raymond James, Ameriprise, Edward Jones.
At TreasuryDirect
- Open an account at TreasuryDirect.gov with your Social Security number and a bank account for funding.
- Choose BuyDirect, then Bills, and pick a term.
- Enter the amount, from $100 in $100 steps. The price is set at the auction, and the money is taken from your bank on the issue date.
- Schedule reinvestments so each bill rolls into a new one at maturity.
- At maturity, the money goes to your bank, unless you reinvested it.
To sell a bill before maturity, TreasuryDirect has you transfer it to a bank or broker first, which takes time. If you might need the money early, a brokerage is simpler.
Through a fund
A Treasury-only money market fund holds bills and rolls them for you, and most of its income is usually free of state tax too (check its yearly tax notice). A T-bill ETF trades like a stock. Either is one trade with access the next business day, at the cost of a small expense ratio. Several are in our comparison.
Taxes, simply
- Federal income tax: yes, at your ordinary rate, plus the 3.8% surtax if it applies to you.
- State and local income tax: none. That’s the edge over CDs and savings accounts.
- How you earn it: you pay less than face value and get face value back at maturity. The difference is your interest.
- When it’s taxed: in the year the bill matures or is sold. A 26-week bill bought in the summer is taxed the following year.
- You’ll get a 1099-INT. Ask your tax preparer about your situation.
Want money coming due regularly?
Split your cash across bills that mature at different times, a ladder, so some of it frees up every few weeks while the rest earns. Build a ladder at today’s yields →
Good to know
- Held to maturity, a bill pays exactly what it promised. Sold early, it gets the market price, which can be a little more or less.
- Bills aren’t FDIC-insured; they’re backed by the U.S. government directly.
- When the bill matures, the rate on the next one may be different. Automatic rollover keeps it going at whatever the new auction pays.
General information, not investment or tax advice. Yields change daily.