Calculate the taxable equivalent yield of municipal bonds, compare muni vs taxable bond income after taxes, and find your optimal fixed-income allocation.
Municipal bonds offer income that is exempt from federal income tax and often state tax for in-state bonds. This tax advantage means a muni bond yielding 4% can be equivalent to a taxable bond yielding 5.5% or more, depending on your tax bracket. The higher your marginal rate, the more valuable the tax exemption becomes.
The tax-equivalent yield (TEY) converts a muni bond's tax-free yield into the yield a taxable bond would need to offer to produce the same after-tax income. This is essential for comparing municipal bonds against corporate bonds, treasuries, CDs, and other taxable fixed-income investments — you cannot compare yields directly because they're taxed differently.
This calculator computes your exact tax-equivalent yield using both federal and state tax rates, shows a bracket-by-bracket comparison, and determines whether municipal or taxable bonds produce more after-tax income at your specific tax rate.
Municipal bonds can look weaker than taxable bonds until you account for taxes. This calculator converts muni yield into the taxable yield needed to match it, making it easier to compare munis with Treasuries, corporates, CDs, and other fixed-income options.
Tax-Equivalent Yield = Muni Yield / (1 − Combined Tax Rate) Combined Rate (state-exempt) = Federal Rate + State Rate × (1 − Federal Rate) Combined Rate (not state-exempt) = Federal Rate only After-Tax Taxable Income = Taxable Yield × (1 − Combined Rate)
Result: TEY = 6.19%
A 4.0% muni bond for someone in the 32% federal + 5% state bracket has a combined rate of 35.4%. TEY = 4.0% / (1 − 0.354) = 6.19%. Any taxable bond would need to yield over 6.19% to beat this muni after taxes.
Use tax-equivalent yield to compare taxable and tax-free bonds on the same basis, especially when you are deciding between munis and higher-yield taxable issues.
Your federal bracket, state tax rate, and whether the bond is exempt from state tax all matter. Higher brackets and high-tax states usually increase the muni advantage, but the spread can still favor taxable bonds when yields are wide enough.
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This worksheet converts a municipal-bond yield into a taxable-equivalent yield using a simplified combined marginal-rate model. When the muni is treated as state-exempt, it includes both federal and state tax in the combined rate; otherwise it assumes only federal tax is avoided. It then compares the muni's annual income with the after-tax income from a taxable bond using the entered investment amount and taxable yield.
The output is meant for bond-comparison planning, not for exact tax reporting. It does not model every AMT, NIIT, state-specific exemption, or bond-premium edge case, so investors should confirm the actual tax treatment of the specific bond and their own return profile before making a final allocation decision.
TEY is the yield a taxable bond needs to offer to match a muni bond's after-tax income. It accounts for the fact that muni bond interest is federal tax-exempt.
Most municipal bonds are exempt from federal income tax. However, private activity bonds may be subject to AMT. State tax exemption usually only applies to in-state bonds.
Munis generally make sense for investors in the 24%+ federal bracket. Below that, taxable bonds often offer better after-tax yields. The higher your bracket, the bigger the muni advantage.
Buying bonds from your home state typically exempt interest from state tax too. This "double tax-free" status significantly increases TEY in high-tax states like California, New York, and New Jersey.
No — holding munis in an IRA or 401(k) wastes the tax exemption since these accounts are already tax-advantaged. Hold munis in taxable accounts and taxable bonds in tax-advantaged accounts.
Credit risk (municipal defaults, though rare), interest rate risk (price drops when rates rise), and liquidity risk (munis trade less frequently than corporates). Check credit ratings before investing.