Treasury par yield curve · 3-month estimated return
How much did a 3-month Treasury bill return each year?
In 2025 a 3-month Treasury bill returned an estimated +4.32%, or +1.60% after inflation (estimated from Treasury par yields, month-ends through ).
The 3-month Treasury bill, estimated return by month and year
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Whole year | After inflation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | +0.306 | +0.306 | +0.306 | +0.308 | +0.307 | +0.308 | +0.323 | +0.319 | +0.326 | +0.350 | – | – | +3.20 | – |
| 2025 | +0.364 | +0.359 | +0.360 | +0.360 | +0.359 | +0.363 | +0.368 | +0.368 | +0.353 | +0.335 | +0.324 | +0.323 | +4.32 | +1.60 |
| 2024 | +0.450 | +0.452 | +0.454 | +0.455 | +0.455 | +0.455 | +0.457 | +0.451 | +0.434 | +0.394 | +0.387 | +0.382 | +5.35 | +2.39 |
| 2023 | +0.368 | +0.392 | +0.407 | +0.404 | +0.425 | +0.460 | +0.453 | +0.463 | +0.463 | +0.463 | +0.466 | +0.454 | +5.34 | +1.93 |
| 2022 | +0.005 | +0.018 | +0.029 | +0.043 | +0.071 | +0.097 | +0.143 | +0.201 | +0.247 | +0.278 | +0.352 | +0.364 | +1.86 | −4.31 |
| 2021 | +0.008 | +0.005 | +0.003 | +0.003 | +0.001 | +0.001 | +0.004 | +0.005 | +0.003 | +0.003 | +0.004 | +0.004 | +0.04 | −6.53 |
| 2020 | +0.129 | +0.129 | +0.106 | +0.009 | +0.008 | +0.012 | +0.013 | +0.008 | +0.009 | +0.008 | +0.008 | +0.007 | +0.45 | −0.90 |
| 2019 | +0.204 | +0.201 | +0.204 | +0.200 | +0.203 | +0.196 | +0.177 | +0.173 | +0.166 | +0.157 | +0.128 | +0.133 | +2.16 | −0.12 |
| 2018 | +0.116 | +0.122 | +0.138 | +0.144 | +0.156 | +0.161 | +0.161 | +0.169 | +0.176 | +0.183 | +0.195 | +0.198 | +1.93 | +0.02 |
| 2017 | +0.043 | +0.043 | +0.044 | +0.063 | +0.067 | +0.082 | +0.086 | +0.089 | +0.084 | +0.088 | +0.096 | +0.106 | +0.89 | −1.19 |
Each chip is one month. The mark in its middle is zero: a fill to the right of it is a rise and a fill to the left a fall. A longer, brighter fill is a larger change, in five steps up to 0.460 and over; the last two columns have a scale of their own, up to 5.28 and over. Every chip prints its figure and sign. A dash is a month or a year with no figure. A year still running is counted through its last month: . The older years in the closed part below the table have the same columns and the same scales.
Earlier years: 1990 to 2016
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Whole year | After inflation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | +0.013 | +0.028 | +0.028 | +0.018 | +0.018 | +0.028 | +0.022 | +0.023 | +0.028 | +0.024 | +0.028 | +0.040 | +0.30 | −1.74 |
| 2015 | +0.003 | +0.002 | +0.002 | +0.003 | +0.001 | +0.001 | +0.001 | +0.007 | +0.007 | 0.000 | +0.007 | +0.018 | +0.05 | −0.67 |
| 2014 | +0.006 | +0.002 | +0.004 | +0.004 | +0.003 | +0.003 | +0.003 | +0.003 | +0.003 | +0.002 | +0.001 | +0.002 | +0.03 | −0.72 |
| 2013 | +0.004 | +0.006 | +0.009 | +0.006 | +0.004 | +0.003 | +0.003 | +0.003 | +0.003 | +0.002 | +0.003 | +0.005 | +0.05 | −1.43 |
| 2012 | +0.002 | +0.005 | +0.007 | +0.006 | +0.008 | +0.006 | +0.008 | +0.009 | +0.008 | +0.008 | +0.009 | +0.007 | +0.08 | −1.63 |
| 2011 | +0.010 | +0.013 | +0.013 | +0.008 | +0.003 | +0.005 | +0.003 | +0.008 | +0.002 | +0.002 | +0.001 | +0.001 | +0.07 | −2.81 |
| 2010 | +0.005 | +0.007 | +0.011 | +0.013 | +0.013 | +0.013 | +0.015 | +0.013 | +0.012 | +0.013 | +0.010 | +0.014 | +0.14 | −1.34 |
| 2009 | +0.009 | +0.020 | +0.022 | +0.018 | +0.012 | +0.012 | +0.016 | +0.015 | +0.013 | +0.012 | +0.004 | +0.005 | +0.16 | −2.50 |
| 2008 | +0.280 | +0.163 | +0.154 | +0.115 | +0.119 | +0.158 | +0.158 | +0.140 | +0.143 | +0.077 | +0.038 | +0.001 | +1.56 | +1.46 |
| 2007 | +0.418 | +0.427 | +0.430 | +0.420 | +0.409 | +0.394 | +0.402 | +0.413 | +0.334 | +0.318 | +0.328 | +0.263 | +4.65 | +0.55 |
| 2006 | +0.340 | +0.373 | +0.385 | +0.386 | +0.398 | +0.405 | +0.418 | +0.425 | +0.421 | +0.408 | +0.423 | +0.419 | +4.91 | +2.31 |
| 2005 | +0.185 | +0.209 | +0.230 | +0.233 | +0.242 | +0.249 | +0.261 | +0.285 | +0.293 | +0.296 | +0.332 | +0.329 | +3.19 | −0.22 |
| 2004 | +0.079 | +0.077 | +0.080 | +0.079 | +0.082 | +0.090 | +0.111 | +0.121 | +0.133 | +0.143 | +0.159 | +0.186 | +1.35 | −1.85 |
| 2003 | +0.102 | +0.098 | +0.100 | +0.095 | +0.094 | +0.093 | +0.075 | +0.080 | +0.082 | +0.079 | +0.080 | +0.078 | +1.06 | −0.80 |
| 2002 | +0.145 | +0.147 | +0.149 | +0.149 | +0.148 | +0.145 | +0.142 | +0.143 | +0.141 | +0.131 | +0.120 | +0.102 | +1.67 | −0.69 |
| 2001 | +0.491 | +0.416 | +0.404 | +0.358 | +0.329 | +0.303 | +0.304 | +0.295 | +0.281 | +0.200 | +0.171 | +0.148 | +3.76 | +2.18 |
| 2000 | +0.444 | +0.480 | +0.482 | +0.490 | +0.485 | +0.469 | +0.490 | +0.523 | +0.526 | +0.519 | +0.532 | +0.518 | +6.12 | +2.65 |
| 1999 | +0.373 | +0.373 | +0.388 | +0.374 | +0.379 | +0.388 | +0.398 | +0.396 | +0.415 | +0.407 | +0.427 | +0.442 | +4.87 | +2.12 |
| 1998 | +0.447 | +0.433 | +0.443 | +0.430 | +0.417 | +0.419 | +0.425 | +0.425 | +0.413 | +0.364 | +0.361 | +0.381 | +5.07 | +3.40 |
| 1997 | +0.434 | +0.429 | +0.435 | +0.446 | +0.440 | +0.413 | +0.438 | +0.438 | +0.437 | +0.422 | +0.434 | +0.435 | +5.33 | +3.56 |
| 1996 | +0.425 | +0.421 | +0.418 | +0.428 | +0.428 | +0.432 | +0.432 | +0.443 | +0.441 | +0.428 | +0.431 | +0.428 | +5.28 | +1.89 |
| 1995 | +0.473 | +0.500 | +0.495 | +0.490 | +0.489 | +0.484 | +0.467 | +0.467 | +0.454 | +0.450 | +0.457 | +0.457 | +5.83 | +3.21 |
| 1994 | +0.256 | +0.254 | +0.289 | +0.297 | +0.331 | +0.359 | +0.355 | +0.366 | +0.390 | +0.400 | +0.433 | +0.477 | +4.29 | +1.57 |
| 1993 | +0.263 | +0.247 | +0.251 | +0.246 | +0.248 | +0.261 | +0.258 | +0.258 | +0.257 | +0.248 | +0.258 | +0.268 | +3.10 | +0.35 |
| 1992 | +0.330 | +0.328 | +0.336 | +0.346 | +0.316 | +0.316 | +0.304 | +0.271 | +0.269 | +0.229 | +0.253 | +0.282 | +3.64 | +0.72 |
| 1991 | +0.553 | +0.531 | +0.518 | +0.493 | +0.473 | +0.476 | +0.476 | +0.475 | +0.458 | +0.438 | +0.413 | +0.373 | +5.83 | +2.68 |
| 1990 | – | +0.667 | +0.670 | +0.673 | +0.673 | +0.668 | +0.667 | +0.645 | +0.636 | +0.614 | +0.612 | +0.603 | – | – |
Observed .
Largest fallOurs
No month in the table has a negative return, so the compounded return has no fall.
The numbers behind the table
What were the highest and lowest months and years of the 3-month Treasury?Ours
| Measure | When | Estimated return, percent | After inflation, percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highest month | April 1990 | +0.673 | n/a |
| Lowest month | October 2015 | 0.000 | n/a |
| Highest year | 2000 | +6.12 | +2.65 |
| Lowest year | 2014 | +0.03 | −0.72 |
What is the average yearly return?Compound yearly rate
1991 to 2025: +2.68% a year. This is the compound yearly rate over the 35 whole years shown, the one rate that, repeated every year, gives the same total growth as those years do. It is not the mean of the yearly figures.
After inflation, 1991 to 2025: +0.12% a year, the compound yearly rate over the 35 whole years in that span that have a figure after inflation.
How are these returns worked out, and what do they leave out?Method, limits and source
Method and limits
- These are estimates for a bond of constant length, worked out from Treasury's yields. They are not the prices or returns of a real bond or fund, and they leave out costs, taxes and trading.
- A month-end is the last day Treasury published a curve in that month, which can be up to three days before the month ends. A month appears once the next month's first curve day exists.
- Each month a 3-month bill earns one twelfth of the previous month-end's 3-month par yield, and no change of price is counted. When yields rise this runs about 0.2 to 0.5 points a year higher than repricing a bill each month would give (2022: 1.86 percent here, about 1.4 percent when each month's bill is repriced with Treasury's 2-month yield, which exists from October 2018).
- A year is its twelve months compounded, worked out from the unrounded months, so it can differ in the last digit from compounding the printed months. After inflation, a year is divided by the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted) from December of the year before to December of the year. The index is for a month and the yield for its last curve day, so the two are close in time, not the same days.
- A month has a figure only when the 3-month par yield is published on its month-end and on the month-end before. A year has a figure only when every month of it does, and the year still running shows its months and a figure through its last month, and none after inflation until both Decembers of the index are published. Nothing is filled in.
- The par yield is a value on a curve Treasury fits each business day, not the yield of one security.
Source: U.S. Treasury, daily par yield curve rates; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), all items, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted, series CUUR0000SA0.
Observed .
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