We present simple but accurate analytical expressions for prediction of scalar and vector propagation constants for single-mode graded index fibers. Our formulation is based on the recently developed Chebyshev power series expression for the fundamental mode of graded index fibers. Taking parabolic index fiber as example, we show that our estimations agree excellently with the exact results. The concerned calculations involve very little computations. © 2005 Published by Elsevier GmbH.