What would $1,000 invested in the Dow Jones be worth today?

$1,000 invested in the Dow Jones in January 2016 would be worth about $3,839 as of October 2026, with dividends reinvested — an annualized return of 13.4%.

Does the Dow Jones return calculator include dividends?

Dividends reinvested is the default. It can be turned off to show price appreciation alone; taxes, fund fees and trading costs are excluded.

Can the calculator adjust Dow Jones returns for inflation?

The After inflation option deflates total returns by CPI and shows the ending value in purchasing-power dollars.

How far back does the Dow Jones calculator go?

The monthly series begins January 1998, the first full month of DIA's record — the fund that tracks the Dow Jones — and runs to October 2026.

How does this compare with a compound interest calculator?

A compound interest calculator grows a deposit at one fixed rate; this one grows it at the Dow Jones's actual month-by-month returns with dividends, and shows the same amount at a flat 5% a year compounded beside it for the same dates.

Dow Jones Investment Calculator: Compound Growth of Any Amount Since 1998

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Annual returns Yearly charts By month By week Trailing YTD Calculator Average

If you invested

$1,000

in the Dow Jones

once in

Dollar-cost averaging invests the same amount every period, so the chart compares value against what you put in.

January 2016

Priced at a real closing price — the month's last trading day, or that exact day's close when you pick one.

and held until

today

Monthly data: valued at the closing price on the last trading day of that month.

A $1,000 investment in the Dow Jones in January 2016 would be worth $3,839 as of October 2026 with dividends reinvested — 13.4% a year compounded (CAGR). Use the controls above to try any amount or starting month back to January 1998.

Over the same period, the same $1,000 in the Nasdaq-100 proxy QQQ would be worth $7,777.

At a flat 5% a year compounded — what a compound interest calculator or a high-yield savings account assumes — the same $1,000 would be $1,683; the index beat it by $2,156.

Worth today

$3,839

Multiple

3.8×

Annualized

13.4%/yr

Max drawdown

-22.6%

12/31/2019 – 3/31/2020

Same $ in SPY

$4,724

Growth of $1,000 in the Dow Jones since January 2016— monthly

$1,000$2,000$3,000$4,000

201620182020202220242026

the Dow Jones$3,839SPY$4,724

October 2026

the Dow Jones$3,839

SPY$4,724

the Dow Jones (the Dow Jones). Total return approximated via dividend- and split-adjusted closes (no taxes or fees). Not investment advice.

What $1,000 in the Dow Jones would be worth today, by starting month— each bar = one starting month, held to today

$1,000

20162017201820192020202120222023202420252026

$1,000 invested in the Dow Jones, by year— dividends reinvested, held to today

Invested in	Worth today	Multiple	Annualized	Same in QQQ
2016	$3,839	3.8×	13.4%	$7,777
2017	$3,102	3.1×	12.4%	$6,429
2018	$2,302	2.3×	10.1%	$4,685
2019	$2,356	2.4×	11.8%	$4,680
2020	$2,041	2.0×	11.3%	$3,563
2021	$1,882	1.9×	11.8%	$2,464
2022	$1,580	1.6×	10.3%	$2,124
2023	$1,596	1.6×	13.6%	$2,599
2024	$1,399	1.4×	13.4%	$1,824
2025	$1,178	1.2×	10.3%	$1,447

Methodology

The calculator grows the investment at DIA's split- and dividend-adjusted closes, the fund that tracks the Dow Jones — its record is the index's investable history, which is why the series begins January 1998 and runs through October 2026. A “buy” is priced at a real closing price: the last trading day of the chosen month, or that exact day's close when a specific date is picked. Price-only values use the unadjusted closes; inflation-adjusted values divide total return by CPI. Monthly contributions are fixed nominal dollar amounts; taxes, fund fees and transaction costs are excluded. See the annual Dow Jones returns, or the DIA fund page. Past performance does not predict future results; not investment advice.

ChartRow is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, S&P Global, Nasdaq, Inc., Robert Shiller, RSBB-I, LLC, or Yale University. "S&P 500®" and "Dow Jones®" are registered trademarks of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC; "Nasdaq-100®" is a registered trademark of Nasdaq, Inc.; "CAPE®" is a registered trademark of RSBB-I, LLC. They are used here only to identify the indexes and series discussed. All index-related figures on this page are independently derived from public sources — SEC filings, the public Shiller S&P 500 monthly series, and our own computations — not from any index provider's data feed.

FAQ#

What would $1,000 invested in the Dow Jones be worth today?: $1,000 invested in the Dow Jones in January 2016 would be worth about $3,839 as of October 2026, with dividends reinvested — an annualized return of 13.4%.
Does the Dow Jones return calculator include dividends?: Yes. Dividends reinvested is the default total-return basis. You can turn it off to see price appreciation alone. Taxes, fund fees and trading costs are excluded.
Can the calculator adjust Dow Jones returns for inflation?: Yes. The After inflation option deflates the dividends-reinvested total-return series by CPI, expressing the ending value in the starting investment's purchasing-power dollars.
How far back does the Dow Jones calculator go?: The monthly series begins January 1998, the first full month of DIA's record — the fund that tracks the Dow Jones — and runs to October 2026.
How does this compare with a compound interest calculator?: A compound interest calculator grows a deposit at one fixed rate. This calculator grows it at what the Dow Jones actually returned month by month, dividends included, and states the flat-rate equivalent beside the result: the same $1,000 at 5% a year compounded is shown for the same dates so the two can be read against each other. The Dow Jones's own figure since 1998 is on the result card, and it arrives unevenly — the January 2016 start above shows the path, not just the endpoint.