Research · November 6, 2026
CD or Treasury bill? Term by term, after tax
Best online CD we track versus the same-term Treasury: what $50,000 keeps in a year (22% federal, 5% state). Recomputed with every rate check.
What stood out
- CD interest is taxed by your state. Treasury interest isn’t. That gap is worth about the state tax rate times the rate.
- At 5% state tax, a CD needs about 4.63% to match a 4.33% 1-year bill.
- Treasury bills can also be sold any day at market price; most CDs charge a penalty to leave early.
How we did the math
Kept = balance × rate × (1 − federal rate − state rate × (1 − state-exempt share)). Treasury interest is fully state-exempt. Rates come from each provider’s own page or the U.S. Treasury’s daily yield curve; estimates are left out. Full method · Every option at your own numbers →
More research
- The highest rate doesn’t keep the most money
- What 9 brokerages pay on your cash by default
- In 19 states and D.C., a Treasury bill beats every CD we track
- What a 0.01% account costs you, by balance
- $50,000 at 0.01% has missed about $8,014 since 2022
Free to share with credit to Movable Capital. Not investment or tax advice.