Top Bonds
The top 25 bond and income products, compared on yield, risk and tax efficiency. Ranked by total return since inception within each category. Treasuries, munis, corporates, REITs and dividend payers.
About this page
Compare income investments across the spectrum on one table: Treasuries, municipal bonds, investment-grade and high-yield corporates, REITs and dividend equities, with yields, risk metrics and the tax-adjusted yield that makes them genuinely comparable.
The tax adjustment is the step most income comparisons skip. Treasury interest is exempt from state tax, muni interest from federal, and qualified dividends enjoy preferential rates, so the highest printed yield is frequently not the highest take-home yield for your bracket.
What is tax-equivalent yield?
The pre-tax yield a taxable bond would need to match a tax-exempt one. A 3.5% muni is worth 5.4% pre-tax to someone in a 35% bracket, which is how munis with lower printed yields still win for high earners.
Are Treasuries or corporate bonds better?
Treasuries carry no credit risk and hedge recessions best; corporates pay a spread for default risk that fattens in good times and bites in bad ones. The right mix depends on whether the bonds are ballast or yield.
Are dividend stocks a substitute for bonds?
Only partly. They pay income but carry full equity risk, falling with the stock market rather than cushioning it, as 2008 and 2022 both demonstrated.