On this page is an interactive history of S&P 500 sales growth – the year-over-year change in the index's trailing twelve-month revenue per share, going back to 1947. Switch between nominal and real growth and snap the summary stats to any window you want.

The S&P 500 sales growth calculator

Using the S&P 500 sales growth calculator

The tool opens on nominal year-over-year sales growth, drawn as one bar per year. Change the basis or drag the chart and it recomputes immediately.

• Nominal / Real (CPI-adj) – read growth in current dollars, or with inflation taken out of both years.
• Highlights cards – the latest annual change, the average for your chosen window (shown with the full-history figure), and the fastest and slowest years within it.
• Chart range – choose a span with the 10Y / 20Y / 30Y / 50Y / Max shortcuts or drag the slider beneath the chart. Send the data to a spreadsheet with the buttons on the right.
• By-year table – one row per December, newest first, sortable, with nominal and real growth columns.

S&P 500 sales growth by year

Below is the year-by-year history of S&P 500 sales growth (December over December), in both nominal and real terms. Click to expand.

What is S&P 500 sales growth?

Sales growth is the percentage change in the index's trailing-twelve-month revenue per share from one year to the next, measured December over December.

Revenue growth is usually much tamer than earnings growth – the top line does not take the write-downs and one-time charges that whip earnings around, so it rarely posts the violent swings earnings did in 2008–2009. It tends to track the broad economy, dipping in recessions and rising with nominal output.

Two caveats to the story:

• Real growth strips inflation out, which is a big deal for the 1970s, when much of the headline sales gain was simply higher prices rather than more business.
• The series is spliced: revenue from 2000 on is from S&P Dow Jones Indices, while the years before that are a DQYDJ compilation from older sources, so growth rates in the early decades are rougher than the modern ones.

Methodology and sources

Revenue from 2000 on comes from S&P Dow Jones Indices; 1946 through 1999 is a DQYDJ historical compilation (learn more here). Index prices and CPI come from Robert J. Shiller's compiled dataset. Growth is the change between two December readings, so it begins in 1947.

For how the price and inflation series are built, see the S&P 500 Return Calculator.

• Sales growth is the December-over-December change in trailing-twelve-month revenue per share.
• Quarter-end months hold the actual reported figures; sales also updates on a lag, so the most recent year can lean on the latest reported value.
• Real growth deflates both years with CPI-U before taking the change.

\text{Sales Growth}_y = \dfrac{\text{Sales}_{\text{Dec},\,y}}{\text{Sales}_{\text{Dec},\,y-1}} - 1

Related calculators

On this page is an interactive history of S&P 500 dividend growth – the year-over-year change in the index's trailing twelve-month dividends per share, going back to 1872. Switch between nominal and real growth and snap the summary stats to any window you want.

The S&P 500 dividend growth calculator

Using the S&P 500 dividend growth calculator

The tool opens on nominal year-over-year dividend growth, drawn as one bar per year. Change the basis, or drag the chart and the summary statistics and numbers refresh on the spot.

• Nominal / Real (CPI-adj) – see growth in current dollars, or after removing inflation from both years.
• Highlights cards – the most recent year-over-year change, the window's average growth (next to the all-time average), plus the best and worst years in that range.
• Chart range – pick a span with the 10Y / 20Y / 30Y / 50Y / Max shortcuts or drag the slider beneath the chart. Copy or download with the buttons on the right.
• By-year table – one row per December, newest first, sortable, with nominal and real growth columns.

S&P 500 dividend growth by year

Below is the year-by-year history of S&P 500 dividend growth (December over December), in both nominal and real terms. Click to expand.

What is S&P 500 dividend growth?

Dividend growth is the percentage change in the index's trailing-twelve-month dividends per share from one year to the next, measured December over December.

It behaves very differently from earnings growth. Dividends are cash that boards are loath to cut, so typical companies either keep things flat or raise. That means index dividend growth is positive in most years and rarely lurches – the prominent exception being 2009, when financial-sector cuts pulled index dividends down.

Real growth strips inflation from both years. A stretch of solid nominal dividend increases in the 1970s and early 1980s looks far more modest once high inflation is taken out, and a few of those years go negative in real terms.

Methodology and sources

Dividends come from Robert J. Shiller's compiled dataset, with recent quarters from S&P Dow Jones Indices. Growth is the change between two December readings.

For how the underlying dividend series is built, see the S&P 500 Return Calculator.

• Dividend growth is the December-over-December change in trailing-twelve-month dividends per share.
• Quarter-end months hold the actual reported figures, so each annual growth rate compares two real full-year numbers rather than interpolated ones.
• Real growth deflates both years with CPI-U before taking the change.

\text{Dividend Growth}_y = \dfrac{\text{Dividend}_{\text{Dec},\,y}}{\text{Dividend}_{\text{Dec},\,y-1}} - 1

Related calculators

On this page is an interactive history of S&P 500 earnings growth – the year-over-year change in the index's trailing twelve-month, as-reported earnings per share, going back to 1872. Switch between nominal and real growth and snap the summary stats to any window you want.

The S&P 500 earnings growth calculator

Using the S&P 500 earnings growth calculator

The tool opens on nominal year-over-year earnings growth, drawn as one bar per year. Change the basis or drag the chart and it updates automatically.

• Nominal / Real (CPI-adj) – measure growth in current dollars, or after stripping inflation out of both years.
• Highlights cards – these show the latest year-over-year change, the average across your selected window (with the full-history average alongside), and the strongest and weakest years in that window.
• Chart range – use the 10Y / 20Y / 30Y / 50Y / Max shortcuts or drag the slider beneath the chart. Export with the copy and CSV buttons on the right.
• By-year table – one row per December, newest first, sortable, with nominal and real growth columns.

S&P 500 earnings growth by year

Below is the year-by-year history of S&P 500 earnings growth (December over December), in both nominal and real terms. Click to expand.

What is S&P 500 earnings growth?

Earnings growth is the percentage change in the index's trailing-twelve-month earnings per share from one year to the next. We measure it December over previous December, comparing each year's full-year reported figure against the prior year's.

Because these are as-reported (GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) earnings, growth can swing hard. When earnings nearly vanished in 2008, the recovery a year later registered as a triple-digit percentage gain off a tiny base, while 2008 itself was a steep drop. Those swings are real, but they say more about how far earnings fell than about the underlying businesses – a percentage change is only as stable as its starting point.

Real growth strips inflation out of both years, which matters most in stretches like the 1970s, when chunky nominal gains were partly just rising prices. One big caution: averaging year-over-year growth flatters the result, because a handful of huge rebound years after drops pull the simple average above what earnings actually compounded over the period.

Methodology and sources

Earnings come from Robert J. Shiller's compiled dataset, with recent quarters from S&P Dow Jones Indices. Growth is the change between two December readings.

For how the underlying earnings series is built, see the S&P 500 Return Calculator.

• Earnings growth is the December-over-December change in trailing-twelve-month, as-reported (GAAP) earnings per share.
• Quarter-end months hold the actual reported figures, so each annual growth rate compares two real full-year numbers rather than interpolated ones.
• Real growth deflates both years with CPI-U before taking the change.

\text{Earnings Growth}_y = \dfrac{\text{EPS}_{\text{Dec},\,y}}{\text{EPS}_{\text{Dec},\,y-1}} - 1

Related calculators

On this page is an interactive history of S&P 500 sales per share – the trailing-twelve-month revenue behind the index, in nominal and inflation-adjusted dollars. The series runs back to 1946. Switch the dollars or the scale and snap the summary stats to a window of your choosing.

The S&P 500 sales per share calculator

Using the S&P 500 sales calculator

The tool opens on nominal trailing-twelve-month sales per share. Adjust a control or drag the chart and it recomputes immediately.

• Nominal / Real (CPI-adj) – view sales in current dollars, or in inflation-adjusted dollars rebased to the latest month.
• Linear / Log – switch between a linear (default) view and a logarithmic view that makes a long run of growth easier to read.
• Highlights cards – these show the latest reading, the year-on-year change, the high within your chosen range, and the annualized growth rate across it.
• Chart range – use the 10Y / 20Y / 30Y / 50Y / Max shortcuts or drag the slider below the chart. Export the figures with the copy and CSV buttons on the right.
• By-year table – one row per December, newest first, sortable, with nominal, real, and year-on-year columns.

S&P 500 sales per share by year

Below is the year-by-year history of S&P 500 sales per share (December readings), in both nominal and inflation-adjusted dollars. Click to expand.

What is S&P 500 sales per share?

Sales per share – also called revenue per share – is the combined revenue of the index's companies divided by its share count (the S&P 500 divisor). We use the trailing-twelve-month total, so each month is that month plus the previous eleven.

A word on the history. From 2000 onward, sales come from S&P Dow Jones Indices. Before that, back to 1946, the series is a DQYDJ compilation stitched together from older sources – treat the early decades as less precise than the modern ones (especially since the modern version of the S&P 500 launched in 1957).

Revenue is generally steadier and harder to massage than earnings – no write-downs or one-time charges land on the top line – which is part of why some analysts lean on sales-based measures like the price-to-sales ratio. The trade-off is that revenue says nothing about profitability on its own; the profit margin is what connects the two.

Methodology and sources

Index prices and CPI come from Robert J. Shiller's compiled dataset. Sales per share is spliced: S&P Dow Jones Indices from 2000 on, and a DQYDJ historical compilation from older sources for 1946 through 1999. The Price to Sales methodology documents the full sales splice and its older sources.

For the price and inflation series and how they are built, see the S&P 500 Return Calculator.

• Sales per share is the trailing-twelve-month revenue per index share.
• Quarter-end months (March, June, September, December) carry the actual reported four-quarter total; the months between are interpolated. The by-year table uses December.
• Sales updates on a lag and less frequently than earnings or dividends, so the most recent months can repeat the latest reported figure.
• Real values are inflation-adjusted with CPI-U and restated into the latest month's dollars: real sales = nominal sales × (CPI_latest ÷ CPI_month).

\text{Real Sales}_t = \text{Sales}_t \times \dfrac{\text{CPI}_{\text{latest}}}{\text{CPI}_t}

Related calculators

On this page is an interactive history of the S&P 500 payout ratio – the share of company earnings paid out to shareholders as dividends, going back to the index's precursors in 1871. Snap the summary stats to any window you want.

The S&P 500 payout ratio calculator

Using the S&P 500 payout ratio calculator

The tool charts the trailing-twelve-month payout ratio – dividends as a percentage of earnings. Choose a range or drag the chart and the figures update right away.

• Highlights cards – these cards display the current payout ratio, the average across your selected window (with the full-history average shown beside it), and the highest and lowest readings in that window.
• Chart range – jump to a span with the 10Y / 20Y / 30Y / 50Y / Max shortcuts, or drag the slider beneath the chart. Send the series to a spreadsheet with the copy and CSV buttons on the right.
• By-year table – one row per December, newest on top, sortable, showing the payout ratio for each year.

S&P 500 payout ratio by year

Below is the year-by-year history of the S&P 500 payout ratio (December readings). Click to expand.

What is the S&P 500 payout ratio?

The payout ratio is the slice of earnings paid out as dividends: trailing-twelve-month dividends divided by trailing-twelve-month earnings. A 40% reading means 40 cents of every dollar earned went out as a dividend and the remaining 60 was retained.

Because the denominator is as-reported (GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) earnings, the ratio can run past 100% when earnings drop sharply while dividends hold steady. That is what happened in 2008–2009: dividends barely moved while earnings briefly collapsed, so the index paid out more than it earned for a stretch. It reads as a spike here, but that is real data and not a glitch – companies funded the gap from reserves rather than cut their dividends.

One important limit: the payout ratio counts dividends only. Many large companies now return as much cash or more through buybacks, which do not appear in this figure, so a low payout ratio does not necessarily mean a company is hoarding cash – it may just be returning it a different way. The catch is that a lot of buyback activity only offsets shares issued as stock-based compensation, and at some tech firms RSU grants outpace repurchases entirely – so gross buybacks overstate the cash actually returned. Dividends plus net buybacks (total shareholder yield) is the fuller measure of what shareholders receive.

Methodology and sources

Earnings and dividends come from Robert J. Shiller's compiled dataset, with recent quarters from S&P Dow Jones Indices. Both are trailing four-quarter totals, and the ratio is one divided by the other.

The S&P 500 Return Calculator documents how the underlying earnings and dividend series are built.

• The payout ratio is trailing-twelve-month dividends divided by trailing-twelve-month, as-reported (GAAP) earnings.
• Quarter-end months (March, June, September, December) use the actual reported figures; the months between are interpolated. The by-year table uses December, so it is the real reported full-year ratio.
• Because earnings are GAAP, the ratio can exceed 100% during earnings troughs like 2008–2009. It carries no inflation adjustment – it is a ratio of two same-year dollar figures.

\text{Payout Ratio} = \dfrac{\text{Dividends}_{\text{TTM}}}{\text{Earnings}_{\text{TTM}}}

Related calculators

On this page is an interactive history of the S&P 500 dividend per share – the trailing twelve-month cash dividends paid by the index, going back to the index's precursors in 1871. Toggle nominal or inflation-adjusted dollars, flip to a log scale, and snap the summary stats to any window you want.

The S&P 500 dividend per share calculator

Using the S&P 500 dividend calculator

The tool opens on nominal trailing-twelve-month dividends. Adjust any control or drag the chart and the numbers refresh instantly.

• Nominal / Real (CPI-adj) – flip between current dollars and inflation-adjusted dollars, rebased to the latest month.
• Linear / Log – switch between a linear (default) view and a logarithmic view which can better show the trend over time.
• Highlights cards – the current value, the year-on-year move, the peak inside your chosen range, and the annualized growth rate across it.
• Chart range – jump to a span with the 10Y / 20Y / 30Y / 50Y / Max shortcuts, or drag the slider beneath the chart. Pull the data out to your own spreadsheet program with the copy and CSV buttons on the right.
• By-year table – one row per December, newest on top, sortable by any column, showing nominal, real, and year-on-year figures.

S&P 500 dividend per share by year

Below is the year-by-year history of S&P 500 dividends per share (December readings), in both nominal and inflation-adjusted dollars. Click to expand.

What is S&P 500 dividend per share?

The dividend per share is the total cash dividends paid by the index's companies, divided by the index's share count (the same S&P 500 divisor used for earnings). We use the trailing twelve-month total, so each month's value is that month plus the previous eleven.

Unlike earnings, this is cash actually paid out, not an accounting figure – so there's no GAAP-versus-operating ambiguity to worry about. It's also why the line is so much smoother than earnings: companies are deeply reluctant to cut their dividend, so it tends to grind upward and only rarely steps back.

Dividends are only one way companies hand cash back, though. In aggregate the S&P 500 now returns more through buybacks than dividends, and none of that shows up here – though the gross figure overstates things, because a lot of buyback activity just offsets the shares handed out as stock-based compensation. At some tech companies, RSU grants outpace repurchases entirely, leaving net buybacks negligible or even negative. The payout ratio shows how much of earnings goes out as dividends, and dividends plus net buybacks (total shareholder yield) is the fuller picture of what shareholders actually receive.

Methodology and sources

Monthly index prices, dividends, and CPI come from Robert J. Shiller's compiled dataset, with recent quarters from S&P Dow Jones Indices. Each index value is the average of that month's daily closes; dividends are the trailing four-quarter total.

For the underlying construction detail, see DQYDJ's S&P 500 Return Calculator.

• The dividend is the trailing twelve-month cash dividend per share of the index.
• Quarter-end months (March, June, September, December) hold the actual reported trailing-twelve-month dividends; the months between are interpolated. The by-year table uses December, so it is the real reported full-year figure.
• Real values are inflation-adjusted with CPI-U and restated into the latest month's dollars: real dividend = nominal dividend × (CPI_latest ÷ CPI_month).

\text{Real Dividend}_t = \text{Dividend}_t \times \dfrac{\text{CPI}_{\text{latest}}}{\text{CPI}_t}

Related calculators

On this page is an interactive history of the S&P 500 earnings per share (EPS) – the trailing twelve-month, as-reported earnings behind the index, going back to the indexes precursors in 1871. Toggle nominal or inflation-adjusted dollars, flip to a log scale, and snap the summary stats to any window you want.

The S&P 500 earnings per share calculator

Using the S&P 500 EPS calculator

The default view shows nominal trailing-twelve-month EPS. Everything recalculates as you change a setting or move the chart.

• Nominal / Real (CPI-adj) – switch between dollars of the day and inflation-adjusted dollars, restated to the most recent month.
• Linear / Log – a log scale straightens out 150 years of compounding so the early history is actually readable.
• Highlights cards – the latest reading, year-over-year change, the high inside your selected window, and that window's annualized growth rate. The cards follow whatever window you choose.
• Chart range – use the 10Y / 20Y / 30Y / 50Y / Max buttons or drag the brush under the chart. Copy or download the data from the buttons on the right.
• By-year table – December readings, newest first, sortable, with nominal, real, and year-over-year columns.

S&P 500 earnings per share by year

Below is the year-by-year history of S&P 500 as-reported GAAP earnings per share (December readings), in both nominal and inflation-adjusted dollars. Click to expand.

What is S&P 500 EPS?

Earnings per share is the total earnings of the index's companies divided by the index's share count (handled through the S&P 500 divisor).

Here, we use the trailing twelve-month, as-reported figure, so each month's value is that month plus the previous eleven and not a single quarter annualized. As-reported (GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) earnings include the write-downs, restructuring charges, and one-time items that operating earnings strip out, so they run lower – recently by roughly 9%. If a number you've seen elsewhere looks higher than ours, it's most likely operating earnings.

GAAP has its own catch: the rulebook keeps changing, sometimes in ways that redefine what "earnings" means. For a quick rundown:

• Goodwill stopped being amortized in the early 2000s
• Employee stock options became a required expense in the mid-2000s
• Mark-to-market rules deepened the 2008 write-downs
• Since 2018, companies have had to run the unrealized gains and losses on their stock holdings straight through net income – so companies like Berkshire Hathaway's reported profit now lurches around with the market

So GAAP earnings are consistent within an era but not perfectly comparable across decades; the further back you reach, the more the accounting underneath has shifted. Operating earnings try to smooth that over, but every company draws the line differently, so it trades one problem for another.

Methodology and sources

Monthly index prices, earnings, and CPI come from Robert J. Shiller's compiled dataset, with recent quarters from S&P Dow Jones Indices. Each index value is the average of that month's daily closes; earnings are the as-reported four-quarter total.

For the underlying construction detail, see DQYDJ's S&P 500 Return Calculator.

• EPS is the trailing twelve-month, as-reported (GAAP) earnings per share of the index.
• Quarter-end months (March, June, September, December) hold the actual reported trailing-twelve-month earnings; the months between are interpolated. The by-year table uses December, so it is the real reported full-year figure.
• Real values are inflation-adjusted with CPI-U and restated into the latest month's dollars: real EPS = nominal EPS × (CPI_latest ÷ CPI_month).

\text{Real EPS}_t = \text{EPS}_t \times \dfrac{\text{CPI}_{\text{latest}}}{\text{CPI}_t}

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On this page is a NASDAQ Annual Return Rankings tool. It shows every calendar year return¹ the NASDAQ Composite has posted since 1972, ranked from best to worst, with toggles for dividend reinvestment and inflation adjustment.

¹ - See methodology for how these annual returns work.

The NASDAQ Annual Return Rankings Calculator

Using the NASDAQ Annual Return Rankings Calculator

The default view shows nominal total returns (dividends reinvested). Everything responds in real time as you toggle settings.

• Reinvest Dividends – default on. Switch off for price-only annual returns.
• Adjust for Inflation – flips every annual return into real (CPI-adjusted) terms.
• Highlights cards – eight stats spanning the full NASDAQ history: best and worst calendar year on record, mean and median annual return, win rate (defined as the share of years that finished positive), longest positive and negative streaks, and the most recent year's return.
• Chart and table – the bar chart greens positive years and reds negative ones; the brush chart below lets you zoom to any date range. The table beneath sorts on any column header you choose.

Historical NASDAQ annual returns table

Below is the static reference table of every NASDAQ calendar-year return on record, going back to 1972. Both price return and total return (dividends reinvested) versions are shown.

The 1999 tech-bubble anomaly...

Across 54 years of NASDAQ annual data, roughly 76% of calendar years finish positive on a total-return basis – the highest hit rate of the three major US indices in this comparison.

The single best year on record is 1999 at +81% total return – the climactic year of the infamous 1995–1999 dot-com run-up. Unlike the S&P 500's or Dow Jones's best-year-ever, the NASDAQ's didn't come as a snapback out of a bear; it came as the peak before the fall. The three years that followed – 2000 (−29%), 2001 (−25%), 2002 (−29%) – are the only three-year-in-a-row negative TR streak in the dataset.

The down years cluster otherwise too. 1973–1974 was a back-to-back (−31%, −33%). 2008 stood alone at −42% (the single worst year on record). 2022 stood alone at −29%. The NASDAQ has no four-year-in-a-row negative TR streak – though the dataset starts in 1971, so it doesn't reach back to the Great Depression.

The longest positive TR streak is nine years – 1975 through 1983, the long climb out of the 1973–74 bear. Snapback pairs are tight after the worst single years: 1974 (−33%) was followed by 1975 (+33%); 2008 (−42%) by 2009 (+47%); 2022 (−29%) by 2023 (+37%).

Methodology and sources

NASDAQ Composite daily prices come from the Federal Reserve's NASDAQCOM series on FRED, with each monthly value being the average of that month's daily closes. For dividend back-out detail and additional construction notes, see DQYDJ's NASDAQ Return Calculator.

Heads up on methodology vs. what you see in news headlines: the NASDAQ's calendar-year return as quoted in the financial press is typically the December 31 close over the prior December 31 close (or January 2 open) +/- a few days for market closes. The numbers here use the December monthly-average instead.

Most years the two agree within fractions of a percentage point; volatile ones (1999, 2000, 2008, 2020, 2022) can diverge by 1–3 points. For headline-style annual numbers, see our year-specific NASDAQ return posts.

• Annual price return for year Y: (December Y monthly-average price) ÷ (December Y−1 monthly-average price) − 1.
• Total return reinvests each month's per-share dividend into more index shares at that month's price, then takes the Dec-over-Dec ratio of shares × price.
• Real (inflation-adjusted) returns divide by the CPI ratio between the two Decembers.

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On this page is a NASDAQ Drawdown History Calculator. It tracks every peak-to-trough decline the NASDAQ Composite has been through since February 1971, how deep each one went, and how long it took to reclaim the prior high.

The NASDAQ Drawdown History Calculator

Using the NASDAQ Drawdown Calculator

The default view shows total-return drawdowns (dividends reinvested or nominal). Everything responds in real time as you toggle settings.

• Reinvest Dividends – on by default. Switch off to instead see price-only drawdowns – the version most financial-press crash retrospectives quote.
• Adjust for Inflation – flips the calculation into real (CPI-adjusted) terms.
• Underwater chart – zero at every new all-time high, negative everywhere else. The brush at the bottom defaults to the last 30 years; drag it back to 1971 (the start of the dataset) or in on a single episode.
• Highlights cards – eight summary stats covering both today and the full history: today's drawdown depth and time underwater, the deepest ever and its date, the longest decline period, the longest recovery, the longest total time below the prior peak, the count of bear markets (≥20%), the count of corrections (10–20%), and the most recent 10%+ drawdown.

Top 10 worst NASDAQ drawdowns

Below is the static reference table of the ten worst NASDAQ drawdowns on record – total-return based, peak month through trough month through new-high recovery month. Click to expand the chart.

The fourteen-year recovery...

The defining episode in the NASDAQ's drawdown history is the dot-com bust. It's the deepest, longest to bottom, and (by a wide margin) the longest stretch underwater.

• 2000–2014 (Dot-com bust) – peak March 2000, trough October 2002, total-return new high not reached until June 2014. A 74% total-return drawdown, 31 months from peak to trough, then nearly 12 years to climb back. On a price-only basis the recovery took until February 2015 – nearly fifteen years from the prior peak. By a wide margin the longest underwater stretch in any major US index post-Great-Depression. The 2007–2009 financial crisis happened entirely inside this drawdown: the NASDAQ on a total return basis had partially recovered from the 2002 trough by October 2007, then fell another 48% to its March 2009 local low, then resumed grinding back to the 2014 new high.
• 1973–1978 (Stagflation bear) – a 55% total-return drawdown from January 1973 to September 1974, with recovery to a new TR high in May 1978. Notably deeper than the same episode on the S&P 500 (~39%) and the Dow (~37%).
• 2021–2024 (Tech selloff) – peak November 2021, trough October 2022, recovery to a new TR high in February 2024. A 31% total-return drawdown.
• Other ≥20% bear markets in the dataset – 1981–82, 1983–85, 1987 (Black Monday), 1989–90. Seven ≥20% TR bear markets in 55 years.

Methodology and sources

NASDAQ Composite daily prices come from the Federal Reserve's NASDAQCOM series on FRED, with each monthly value being the average of that month's daily closes. For the dividend back-out detail and additional construction notes, see DQYDJ's NASDAQ Return Calculator.

What is a drawdown?

A drawdown is the distance between an index's current level and the highest level it has ever printed. At a new all-time high, the drawdown is zero. Anywhere below that, it's negative – the percentage gap from the prior peak.

Formally, for any month t:

\text{drawdown}_t = \frac{V_t - \max(V_0, \ldots, V_t)}{\max(V_0, \ldots, V_t)}

Output sits between 0 (at a fresh high) and −1 (a 100% loss).

A quick note on monthly averaging: it captures slow 'grinders' like the dot-com bust faithfully – the NASDAQ's 31-month slide from 2000 to 2002 was a textbook monthly-average decline. However, it smooths out fast shocks like 1987's Black Monday or the COVID fall in March 2020, both of which were sharper on a daily-close chart than this tool can show.

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On this page is a Dow Jones Annual Return Rankings tool. It shows calendar year returns¹ back to 1897, ranked from best to worst, with toggles for dividend reinvestment and inflation adjustment.

¹ - See methodology for how annual returns work.

The Dow Jones Annual Return Rankings Calculator

Using the Dow Jones Annual Return Rankings Calculator

The default view shows nominal total returns (dividends reinvested). Everything updates in real time as you toggle a setting.

• Reinvest Dividends – default is on. Off gives you price-only annual returns.
• Adjust for Inflation – switches to real (CPI-adjusted) annual returns.
• Highlights cards – eight summary stats covering the full Dow history: best and worst calendar year on record, the average and median return, the win rate (share of years that finished positive), the longest winning and losing streaks, and the most recent year.
• Chart and table – bar chart with green bars for positive years and red for negative, plus a brush below for zooming. The table beneath sorts on any column.

Historical Dow Jones annual returns table

Below is the static reference table of every Dow Jones calendar-year return on record, going back to 1897. Both price return and total return (dividends reinvested) versions are shown. Click to expand.

The 1915 anomaly...

Across 129 years of Dow annual data, roughly 74% of calendar years finish positive on a total-return basis.

The single best year on record is the outlier: 1915 at +87% total return. The Dow had spent the previous two years in the only pre-WWI back-to-back bear (1913 −5%, 1914 −25%, mostly the European war scare and the four-and-a-half-month NYSE shutdown that ran from July 31 to December 12, 1914). When the exchange reopened, US industrial stocks turned out to be on the right side of an unprecedented munitions and capital-goods boom. The Dow's industrial concentration was in exactly the right place. No other calendar year in the dataset comes close.

The down years cluster. 1929–1932 (Great Depression) is the only four-year-in-a-row negative total return streak. 1937 stands alone. 1973–1974 was a back-to-back. 2000–2002 was a three-peat. 2008 was alone at −34%. The longest positive streak is 10 years: 1947 through 1956.

And the worst and best years cluster tightly. The single worst calendar year, 1931 (−49%), is just two years before 1933 (+75%). 1907 (−34%) was followed immediately by 1908 (+55%). 1914 (−25%) by the 1915 +87% snapback above. 1937 (−26%) by 1938 (+24%). 1974 (−24%) by 1975 (+48%). 2008 (−34%) by 2009 (+25%).

Methodology and sources

Recent Dow Jones Industrial Average daily prices come from the Federal Reserve's DJIA series on FRED, with each monthly value being the average of that month's daily closes. Per-share monthly dividends are derived from the gap between the Dow price index and the S&P DJI total-return DJIA index, allocated across the months of each quarter. For detail on how the historical Dow level and dividend series are populated and estimated back to 1896, see DQYDJ's Dow Jones Return Calculator.

Why these numbers may differ from what you've seen elsewhere: the financial press and index publishers usually quote annual returns as the Jan 2 open to the Dec 31 close (or thereabouts, depending on market days). This tool's annual return uses the December monthly-average price over the prior December monthly-average – the same convention used in long-horizon academic datasets.

Calm years agree within fractions of a percent; volatile ones (2008, 2020, 2022 are recent examples) can differ by a couple of percentage points. For the press-style numbers, see our year-specific Dow Jones return posts.

• Annual price return for year Y = (December Y monthly-average price) ÷ (December Y−1 monthly-average price) − 1.
• Total return reinvests each month's dividend into more index shares at that month's price (the shares-purchased method), then takes the Dec-over-Dec ratio of shares × price.
• Real (inflation-adjusted) returns divide by the CPI ratio between the two December months.

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