200 years of Market Returns

Another year is almost in the books! See how stock market returns have stacked up dating back nearly 200 years. The market has delivered an average return of 9.7% and experienced positive annual returns roughly 70% of the time!*

Source: Visual Capitalist, Journal of Financial Markets, Slickcharts. The year 1868 has insufficient data to estimate a total annual return.

“Different indexes and data collection methods are used over the stated timeframe. From 1825-1925, numbers come from researchers at Yale University and Pennsylvania State University. They collected price and dividend data for almost all stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange during its early history.
From 1926-1956, returns are from the S&P 90, the S&P 500’s predecessor. Finally, from 1957 to date, returns are based on the S&P 500.”

*As of 12/31/21.