Bond Calculator: Current Yield, YTM & Yield to Call
Three calculators, one per yield. Start with current yield below, or jump to the YTM calculator or the yield to call calculator.
Bond Current Yield Calculator
Current yield answers one question: how much income does this bond throw off relative to what it costs today? It's the fastest yield to calculate and the one that matters most if you buy for cash flow and never intend to sell.
Current yield = annual coupon payment ÷ current market price
Usually $1,000 per bond.
Pays $50.00/yr.
What you pay today.
Current Yield
5.26%
$50.00 ÷ $950.00
Notice that current yield ignores time entirely — no maturity date, no call date. That's its limitation. A bond bought at a discount also hands you the climb back to par at maturity, and a premium bond quietly gives some of your income back as its price drifts down. To capture that, you need YTM.
Bond YTM Calculator (Yield to Maturity)
Yield to maturity is the total annualized return if you buy at today's price and hold until the issuer repays par — coupons plus that price convergence, folded into one number. It's the headline yield quoted for most bonds because it puts bonds with different coupons, prices, and maturities on equal footing.
Price = Σ Coupon ÷ (1 + y)^t + Par ÷ (1 + y)^n → solve for y
Yield to Maturity
5.66%
held to maturity in 10 years
Current Yield
5.26%
coupon income only, for comparison
Compare the two results above. At a discount, YTM sits above current yield, which sits above the coupon rate. At a premium the order flips. At par all three are identical — there's no price gain or loss left to fold in. YTM also assumes you reinvest each coupon at that same rate, which is why it's a projection rather than a guarantee.
Yield to Call (YTC) Calculator
Many bonds are callable: the issuer can redeem them early at a set call price, and usually will once rates fall far enough to refinance cheaply. Yield to call is your return if that happens on the first call date. Enter the call price and call date to see it alongside YTM.
Price = Σ Coupon ÷ (1 + y)^t + Call price ÷ (1 + y)^c → solve for y
What the issuer pays to redeem early.
The first date the bond can be called.
Yield to Call
3.51%
called in 3 years at $1,020.00
Yield to Maturity
4.26%
if the bond is never called
Your yield to worst is 3.51% — the lower of the two, and the return to plan around, because the issuer decides whether to call. Here a call would cut your return short, which is typical for a callable bond trading above its call price.
The call option belongs to the issuer, not to you, so the conservative read is always the lower of the two figures — the yield to worst. A callable bond trading well above its call price is the classic trap: the quoted YTM looks generous, but a call in two years turns that into a much smaller return.
Bond Yield Formulas Explained
Current yield is plain division. Take the annual coupon — face value × coupon rate — and divide by what the bond costs right now:
Current yield = (Face × Coupon rate) ÷ Price
Yield to maturityis not a formula you evaluate — it's an equation you solve. The yield yis whatever rate makes the discounted value of all remaining cash flows equal today's price:
Price = Σ Coupon ÷ (1 + y)t + Par ÷ (1 + y)n
Because yappears in every denominator, you can't isolate it algebraically. Calculators find it by trial and error, narrowing the range until the priced-out value matches the market price. Since most U.S. bonds pay twice a year, the search runs on a six-month cycle: t counts half-year periods and each period discounts at y/2.
Yield to call is the same equation with two substitutions — the cash flows stop at the call date c instead of maturity, and the call price stands in for par:
Price = Σ Coupon ÷ (1 + y)t + Call price ÷ (1 + y)c
All three are present-value mechanics under different assumptions about when the money comes back. If discounting future dollars is unfamiliar, the compound interest formula walkthrough builds it up from scratch.
Bond vs. CD vs. HYSA
A yield only means something next to the alternatives. All three of these pay you to wait, but they differ in who guarantees the money and what happens if you need it early.
| Bond | CD | HYSA | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rate | Fixed coupon; your yield depends on the price you pay | Fixed for the term | Floats — can change any day |
| Principal risk | Price falls if rates rise; issuer can default | None if held to term | None |
| Backed by | The issuer (a government or company) | FDIC / NCUA insurance | FDIC / NCUA insurance |
| Early exit | Sell at market price — could be a gain or a loss | Allowed, with an interest penalty | Withdraw any time |
| Return comes from | Coupons plus the price move toward par | Interest only | Interest only |
| Ended early by | The issuer, if the bond is callable | Nobody — the term is set | You, whenever you like |
The pattern: a bond trades certainty for a locked-in yield and the possibility of capital gains, a CD trades access for a guaranteed rate, and a HYSA trades a guaranteed rate for complete access. Index funds sit further out on the same curve — more return, far more volatility. The HYSA vs. CD vs. index fund comparison runs those three head to head over 20 years.
Two things none of the yields above reveal. First, what the return is worth once prices rise — a 5% yield is barely 2% real if inflation runs at 3%, which the inflation calculator makes concrete. Second, what the coupons become if you reinvest them rather than spend them, which is the whole premise of the investment growth calculator.
Related Tools & Articles
Bond Yield Calculator
All three yields from a single set of inputs, plus how to read a bond quote
Tax-Equivalent Yield Calculator
What a taxable bond must pay to beat a tax-free municipal one
HYSA vs. CD vs. Index Fund
Where to park cash — accessibility, yield, and risk compared
Inflation Calculator
Turn a bond's nominal yield into its real, after-inflation return
Investment Growth Calculator
Project how reinvested coupons compound over time
CD vs. Savings Account Calculator
Compare a locked CD rate against an instant-access HYSA
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you calculate current yield on a bond?
Divide the annual coupon payment by the bond's current market price. A $1,000 bond with a 5% coupon pays $50 a year; if it trades at $950, the current yield is $50 ÷ $950 = 5.26%. Current yield ignores whether you'll gain or lose as the price moves toward par at maturity.
How do you calculate a bond's YTM?
Yield to maturity is the discount rate that makes the present value of every remaining coupon plus the par repayment equal today's price. Because that rate sits inside every denominator, there is no closed-form solution — a calculator searches for it, testing rates until the present value matches the price. The YTM calculator above runs that search on each keystroke.
Is YTM the same as current yield?
No. Current yield counts only coupon income against the price you pay. YTM adds the gain or loss you realize as the bond's price converges on par at maturity. Buy at a discount and YTM is higher than current yield; buy at a premium and it's lower. Only at par do the two match the coupon rate.
When should I use yield to call instead of yield to maturity?
Any time the bond is callable and trading above its call price. The issuer will usually call the bond when doing so is cheaper for them — typically after rates have fallen — so the return you should plan around is the lower of YTM and YTC, a figure known as the yield to worst.
Why is my bond's yield higher than its coupon rate?
Because you bought it below par. The coupon rate is fixed against face value, but yield measures the return against what you actually paid. Pay $950 for a bond that pays $50 a year and repays $1,000, and both your income and your final repayment beat the 5% coupon.
Does a bond calculator account for taxes and inflation?
The yields here are nominal and pre-tax, which is how bonds are quoted. To see what a yield is worth after prices rise, run it through the inflation calculator. To compare a tax-free municipal bond with a taxable one, use the tax-equivalent yield calculator.