A thermoelastic problem of a circular annulus made of functionally graded materials with an arbitrary gradient is investigated. Different from previous works, our analysis neither requires a special form of the gradient of material properties nor demands partitioning the entire structure into a multilayered homogeneous structure. Instead, we propose a new method for solving the thermoelastic problem of a functionally graded circular annulus by transforming it to a Fredholm integral equation. The distribution of thermal stresses and radial displacement can be obtained by solving the resulting equation. Illustrative examples are given to show the effects of varying gradients on the thermal stresses and radial displacement for given temperature changes at the inner and outer surfaces. The results indicate that the thermal stresses can be relaxed for specified gradients, which is beneficial to design an inhomogeneous annulus to maintain structural integrity.