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 $4,681 as of September 2026, with dividends reinvested — an annualized return of 15.6%.

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.

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 S&P 500'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. The index's long-run figure is about 10% a year compounded (CAGR) before inflation, arriving unevenly.

S&P 500 Investment Calculator: Compound Growth of Any Amount Since 1871

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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 $4,681 as of September 2026 with dividends reinvested — 15.6% a year compounded (CAGR). 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 $7,675.

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 $2,998.

Worth today

$4,681

Multiple

4.7×

Annualized

15.6%/yr

Max drawdown

-23.9%

12/31/2021 – 9/30/2022

Price-only value

$3,937

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

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

201620182020202220242026

$4,681

September 2026

the S&P 500$4,681

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	$4,681	4.7×	15.6%	$7,675
2017	$3,902	3.9×	15.1%	$6,345
2018	$3,089	3.1×	13.9%	$4,624
2019	$3,166	3.2×	16.2%	$4,619
2020	$2,607	2.6×	15.5%	$3,517
2021	$2,225	2.2×	15.2%	$2,432
2022	$1,806	1.8×	13.5%	$2,097
2023	$1,967	2.0×	20.3%	$2,565
2024	$1,631	1.6×	20.2%	$1,800
2025	$1,292	1.3×	16.7%	$1,428

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, 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 S&P 500 be worth today?: $1,000 invested in the S&P 500 in January 2016 would be worth about $4,681 as of September 2026, with dividends reinvested — an annualized return of 15.6%.
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.
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 S&P 500 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 index's long-run figure is about 10% a year compounded (CAGR) before inflation, but it arrives unevenly — the January 2016 start above shows the path, not just the endpoint.