What would $1,000 invested in the S&P 500 be worth today?

$1,000 invested in the S&P 500 in January 2016 would be worth about $4,690 as of September 2026, with dividends reinvested — an annualized return of 15.7%.

Does the S&P 500 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 S&P 500 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 S&P 500 calculator go?

The monthly series begins January 1871. Early history is reconstructed from Robert Shiller's public S&P data; the modern tail is chained to SPY returns so it stays current.

S&P 500 Return Calculator: Dividends Reinvested & Inflation Adjusted

By year Year by year By month By week Trailing YTD Sectors Breadth Calculator Average

If you invested

$1,000

in the S&P 500

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 S&P 500 in January 2016 would be worth $4,690 as of September 2026 with dividends reinvested — 15.7% a year. Use the controls above to try any amount or starting month back to January 1871.

Over the same period, the same $1,000 in the Nasdaq-100 proxy QQQ would be worth $7,446.

Worth today

$4,690

Multiple

4.7×

Annualized

15.7%/yr

Max drawdown

-23.9%

12/31/2021 – 9/30/2022

Price-only value

$3,954

Growth of $1,000 in the S&P 500 since January 2016— monthly

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

201620182020202220242026

$4,690

September 2026

the S&P 500$4,690

the S&P 500 (the S&P 500). Total return approximated via dividend- and split-adjusted closes (no taxes or fees). Not investment advice.

What $1,000 in the S&P 500 would be worth today, by starting month— each bar = one starting month, held to today

$1,000

20162017201820192020202120222023202420252026

$1,000 invested in the S&P 500, by year— dividends reinvested, held to today

Invested in	Worth today	Multiple	Annualized	Same in QQQ
2016	$4,690	4.7×	15.7%	$7,446
2017	$3,909	3.9×	15.3%	$6,155
2018	$3,095	3.1×	14.0%	$4,486
2019	$3,172	3.2×	16.4%	$4,481
2020	$2,612	2.6×	15.6%	$3,411
2021	$2,229	2.2×	15.4%	$2,359
2022	$1,809	1.8×	13.8%	$2,034
2023	$1,971	2.0×	20.7%	$2,488
2024	$1,634	1.6×	20.8%	$1,746
2025	$1,295	1.3×	17.5%	$1,386

Methodology

The calculator uses a monthly S&P 500 total-return index reconstructed from Robert Shiller's public price and dividend history, chained from January 1993 onward to SPY's split- and dividend-adjusted closes. Price-only values use the corresponding price index. Inflation-adjusted values divide total return by CPI. Monthly contributions are fixed nominal dollar amounts; taxes, fees and transaction costs are excluded.

What a “buy” is priced at depends on which side of that seam it falls on. From January 1993 the value is a real closing price — the last trading day of the chosen month, or that exact day's close when a specific date is picked. Before it, only Shiller's monthly series exists, and its observation is the average of that month's daily closes; no investor could transact at that price, and no finer resolution is available that far back. There is no market-open or intraday basis on either side. Data runs from January 1871 through September 2026. See the 150-year returns analysis, the annual S&P 500 returns, or the SPY 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, or Nasdaq, Inc. "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. They are used here only to identify the indexes discussed. All index-related figures on this page are independently derived from public sources — SEC filings, Robert Shiller's public dataset, and our own computations — not from any index provider's data feed.

FAQ#

What would $1,000 invested in the S&P 500 be worth today?: $1,000 invested in the S&P 500 in January 2016 would be worth about $4,690 as of September 2026, with dividends reinvested — an annualized return of 15.7%.
Does the S&P 500 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 S&P 500 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 S&P 500 calculator go?: The monthly series begins January 1871. Early history is reconstructed from Robert Shiller's public S&P data; the modern tail is chained to SPY returns so it stays current.