How to Use the TreasuryBonds.com Bond Screener

Compare Treasuries, corporate bonds and municipal bonds in one place.

Finding a bond with an attractive stated yield is easy. Determining whether that bond fits your tax situation, time horizon and tolerance for risk requires more work.

The TreasuryBonds.com Bond Screener brings Treasuries, corporate bonds and municipal bonds into one searchable table. It allows investors to narrow a large bond universe by issuer, asset class, TB Score, yield and maturity. It also estimates the after-tax yield of each bond using the investor’s effective federal tax rate and state of residence.

This guide explains how to use the screener and how to interpret the information it provides.

The filter panel allows investors to compare bonds by issuer, asset class, TB Score, yield, maturity and estimated after-tax income.

Start with your tax information

Before comparing bonds, set the effective federal tax rate and state of residence shown in the Filter panel. These inputs matter because two bonds with similar quoted yields can produce different amounts of spendable income after taxes.

Interest from most corporate bonds is generally subject to federal and state income taxes. Interest from U.S. Treasury securities is subject to federal income tax but generally exempt from state and local income taxes. Interest from many municipal bonds is exempt from federal income tax, and it may also receive favorable state tax treatment when the investor lives in the issuing state. Certain municipal bonds can have different tax treatment, including exposure to the alternative minimum tax, so investors should verify the details of an individual security.

The screener uses the information you provide to estimate an after-tax yield for comparison. This is a useful screening tool, but it is not a personalized tax calculation. Your actual tax rate may differ based on your income, filing status, deductions, account type and the bond’s specific tax treatment.

For bonds held inside an IRA or another tax-advantaged account, after-tax comparisons may be less relevant because interest is not taxed annually in the same way as interest earned in a taxable brokerage account.

Choose the bond market you want to search

The Asset Class menu lets you include any combination of three categories:

• Corporate bonds, which are issued by companies and normally offer additional yield to compensate investors for credit risk.
• Treasuries, which are backed by the U.S. government and are commonly used when capital preservation and liquidity are priorities.
• Municipal bonds, which are issued by states, cities and other public entities and may offer tax advantages.

You can examine one asset class by itself or select several to make a direct comparison. Comparing all three can be especially useful in a taxable account because the highest pretax yield may not produce the highest after-tax income.

Select one or more asset classes to compare different parts of the bond market.

Narrow the results with the filters

The remaining controls help turn a broad list of bonds into a more relevant group of candidates.

Issuer

Use the Issuer field when you want to find bonds from a particular company or government entity. Searching by issuer can reveal multiple bonds with different maturities, prices and yields from the same borrower.

This is useful because an issuer does not have just one borrowing cost. A company may have bonds maturing in five, 10, 20 and 30 years, and each security can offer a different combination of income, interest-rate sensitivity and call risk.

TB Score

Use the TB Score filter to narrow the list by the platform’s bond-quality assessment. The score is designed to provide a quick comparison across securities, but it should be treated as a starting point for research rather than a guarantee of repayment or future performance. Investors can use the information icon beside the score to review the current methodology and should still examine the issuer, maturity, call terms and underlying credit risk.

Yield range

The Yield Range slider allows you to set a minimum and maximum yield. A minimum yield can help remove securities that do not meet an income target. A maximum yield can also be useful because unusually high yields often signal greater credit risk, liquidity risk, call complexity or market concern.

A high yield should prompt another question: what risk is the market asking you to accept in exchange for that income?

Maturity

The Maturity filter narrows bonds by the amount of time remaining until principal is scheduled to be repaid. Shorter maturities normally have less sensitivity to changing interest rates, while longer maturities typically experience larger price movements when rates change.

Maturity should reflect when you may need the money. An investor building a bond ladder may search several maturity ranges and purchase bonds scheduled to mature in different years. An investor with a near-term spending goal may focus on shorter maturities to reduce price volatility and reinvestment uncertainty at the target date.

How to read the results table

After the filters are set, the results table presents the surviving bonds side by side. Each column answers a different question.

Issuer and asset

The first two columns identify the borrower and the type of security. This provides the basic context for the risk you are considering. A Treasury bill, for example, carries a different credit and tax profile than a long-term corporate bond.

Yield to worst

Yield to worst, or YTW, estimates the lowest annualized yield an investor would receive if the issuer exercised an allowed redemption option on the date that produces the least favorable return, assuming the issuer does not default.

For a noncallable bond, yield to worst will generally align with yield to maturity. For a callable bond, it may reflect an earlier call date instead. This makes YTW more useful than the coupon rate when comparing bonds that trade above or below face value or can be redeemed before maturity.

Yield to worst remains an estimate. It assumes the bond is held to the relevant redemption date, scheduled payments are made, and interim cash flows can be reinvested at the calculated rate. Selling before that date can produce a different return.

After-tax yield

The After-Tax column estimates how much of the bond’s yield remains after applying the tax assumptions entered in the filter panel. This puts taxable and tax-advantaged bonds on a more comparable basis.

Suppose a corporate bond has a 6.00% yield and the relevant tax rate is 32%. A simplified calculation would leave an after-tax yield of approximately 4.08%:

6.00% × (1 − 0.32) = 4.08%

The treatment of Treasury and municipal interest can differ, which is why the state selection also matters. The estimated after-tax yield should be used for screening, followed by verification of the specific bond’s tax status.

TB Score

The TB Score provides a quick way to compare the securities remaining after the other filters are applied. Sorting by the score can help move stronger candidates toward the top of the table, but the score should be considered alongside yield, maturity, price and call terms.

Maturity

The Maturity column shows the time remaining until the bond’s scheduled maturity. A bond maturing in four months has a very different risk profile from one maturing in 30 years, even if both issuers are financially strong.

Longer maturity generally means greater exposure to changes in interest rates and inflation expectations. It also means investors are committing capital to the issuer for a longer period.

Price

Bond prices are generally quoted as a percentage of face value. A price of 92.58 means an indicated cost of approximately $925.80 for each $1,000 of face value, before accrued interest and transaction costs. A price below 100 is a discount, while a price above 100 is a premium.

Price affects the investor’s return. A discount bond may generate a gain as it moves toward face value at maturity, assuming repayment. A premium bond can lose that premium as it approaches maturity or an earlier call date. Yield to worst incorporates these price effects more effectively than the coupon rate alone.

Next call

The Next Call column shows the next date on which the issuer may have the right to redeem a callable bond before maturity. “Not Callable” indicates that the security does not include that feature under its current terms.

Call risk matters most when a bond trades above face value or has an attractive coupon. If market rates decline, the issuer may refinance and repay the bond early. The investor receives principal back sooner than expected and may have to reinvest at a lower yield. Always compare the next call date with the stated maturity and use yield to worst when evaluating a callable bond.

A practical screening process

A disciplined search can follow five steps:

1. Enter your tax assumptions. Select your effective federal tax rate and state of residence.
2. Choose the relevant asset classes. Compare corporate bonds, Treasuries and municipal bonds when the money will be held in a taxable account.
3. Match maturity to the goal. Decide when the principal may be needed and filter out bonds that mature too early or too late.
4. Set a reasonable yield range and TB Score. Remove bonds that do not meet your income or quality criteria, while remembering that higher yields normally come with additional risk.
5. Sort and investigate. Compare yield to worst and after-tax yield, then review the price, next call date, issuer and full security details before making a decision.

For example, an investor seeking income over the next five years could select Treasuries, corporate bonds and municipal bonds, enter the applicable tax information, limit the maturity range to roughly one through five years, and set a minimum TB Score. The remaining securities could then be sorted by after-tax yield. This process identifies candidates for further research without assuming that the first bond in the table is automatically the best choice.

What the screener cannot decide for you

A screener organizes information. It cannot determine whether a bond is appropriate for a particular investor.

Before purchasing any bond, review the issuer’s ability to repay, the security’s seniority, liquidity, call provisions, maturity, tax status and position within the rest of the portfolio. Also confirm the live price and yield with the broker executing the trade, since bond prices and available inventory can change.

The strongest use of the TreasuryBonds.com Bond Screener is to compare many securities on a consistent basis, reduce the list to a manageable group and make the tradeoffs easier to see. From there, the final decision should reflect the investor’s need for income, liquidity, tax efficiency and principal stability.