In the short-term, such as periods of one year or less, stock market returns can vary widely. However, this past performance does not necessarily predict future results. This suggests that the past decade's performance on the Dow Jones was not quite as volatile as the S&P 500. Dow Jones Index Return By Year YearĪ key takeaway from the above table of Dow Jones net annual returns is that the highest years are generally lower than those of the S&P 500 index, but the lows are not as low. However, the S&P’s broader coverage of 500 stocks makes it the primary market benchmark today. The Dow Jones, which consists of 30 stocks, was once the performance benchmark for the stock market. The Dow Jones average return is 8.70%, as measured by the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial ETF ( DIA), from its January 1998 inception through March 2022. It's also noteworthy that the market dropped about 35% from February to March of 2020 but still finished the year with an above-average return. This is an unusually strong 10-year period in the market. 5, 10, 20, and 30-Year Return on the Stock MarketĬlick to enlarge Stock Market Returns By Year YearĪ key takeaway from the above table of stock market returns is that most of the annual returns in the past decade are above the historic average of ~10%. For example, the return on the S&P 500 since the beginning of valuation in 1928, is 10.22%, whereas the inflation-adjusted return on the market since that time is 7.01%, as reported on.

It's important to note that inflation-adjusted returns on the stock market are typically 3-4 percentage points lower than the long-term averages. This near-century consistency in the long-term average rate of return supports the often quoted '10% average return on the stock market.' Returns and Inflation

Dating back to its earliest pre-modern structure in 1928, the S&P 500 has returned 10.22%. The S&P 500 average return is 10.67% annualized since the inception of its modern structure in 1957. Over the past decade, through to March 31, 2022, the annualized performance of the S&P 500 was 14.5%. The average return of the stock market over the long term is just above 10%, as measured by the S&P 500 index. Da-kuk/E+ via Getty Images What Is the Average Return of the Stock Market?

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