S&P 500 Return Calculator - Specify Date Range from 1881
Use this calculator to compute the
total return, annualized return plus a summary of winning (profitable)
and losing (unprofitable) buy and sell combinations using S&P 500 nominal and inflation-adjusted (real) monthly price data. S&P 500 monthly price data is from
ONLINE DATA ROBERT SHILLER. Prices used by the calculator are from January 1881 through the present.
Nominal Prices Performance
| S&P 500 Performance Results (Nominal) |
| Start Date | 1881-01-01 |
| Start Price | $6.19 |
| End Date | 2026-09-01 |
| End Price | $7,631.47 |
| # Prices | 1,749 |
| Initial One-time Investment | $1,000.00 |
| Number Shares Purchased | 161.550889 |
| Min Date | Aug-01-1896 |
| Min Price | $3.81 |
| Max Date | Aug-01-2026 |
| Max Price | $7,711.32 |
| Total Return | 123,187.08% |
| Annualized Return | 5.01% |
| Current Value of $1,000.00 Investment | $1,232,871 |
| Number Returns | 1,528,626 |
| Average Return | 6,611.70% |
| Minimum Return | -84.76% |
| Maximum Return | 202,296.85% |
| Number Profitable Returns | 1,445,196 |
| Percent Profitable Returns | 94.54% |
| Number Unprofitable Returns | 83,430 |
| Percent Unprofitable Returns | 5.46% |
| Profitable to Unprofitable Returns Ratio | 17.32 |
Real Prices Performance
| S&P 500 Performance Results (Real) |
| Start Date | 1881-01-01 |
| Start Price | $219.42 |
| End Date | 2026-09-01 |
| End Price | $7,631.47 |
| # Prices | 1,749 |
| Initial One-time Investment | $1,000.00 |
| Number Shares Purchased | 4.557470 |
| Min Date | Jun-01-1932 |
| Min Price | $117.11 |
| Max Date | Aug-01-2026 |
| Max Price | $7,711.13 |
| Total Return | 3,378.02% |
| Annualized Return | 2.47% |
| Current Value of $1,000.00 Investment | $34,780 |
| Number Returns | 1,528,626 |
| Average Return | 351.63% |
| Minimum Return | -80.61% |
| Maximum Return | 6,484.52% |
| Number Profitable Returns | 1,298,356 |
| Percent Profitable Returns | 84.94% |
| Number Unprofitable Returns | 230,270 |
| Percent Unprofitable Returns | 15.06% |
| Profitable to Unprofitable Returns Ratio | 5.64 |
