Dow Jones 110-Year History: 978× Since 1914, Decade by Decade
111.7 years of the oldest index still quoted daily — every decade's return, every major drawdown, and the 25 years it spent below one single high.
111.7 years, 978×, +6.4% a year
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 54.63 on 1914-12-31 and at 53,414.25 on 2026-09-04. That is 978× over 111.7 years (110 years and change), or +6.4% a year on price alone. Dividends are not in this series, and over a century they are worth more than the price gain itself.
For comparison, the S&P 500's own century series compounds at +6.4% from 1928-01-31. Thirty companies and five hundred companies, a decade and a half apart in start date, and the same answer to one decimal: the return came from the market, not from the index construction.
Decade by decade
| Decade | Start | End | Change | Annualised |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1914–1919 | 54.63 | 107.23 | +96.3% | +14.4% |
| 1920s | 107.23 | 248.48 | +131.7% | +8.8% |
| 1930s | 248.48 | 150.24 | −39.5% | −4.9% |
| 1940s | 150.24 | 200.13 | +33.2% | +2.9% |
| 1950s | 200.13 | 679.36 | +239.5% | +13.0% |
| 1960s | 679.36 | 800.36 | +17.8% | +1.7% |
| 1970s | 800.36 | 838.74 | +4.8% | +0.5% |
| 1980s | 838.74 | 2,753 | +228.3% | +12.6% |
| 1990s | 2,753 | 11,497 | +317.6% | +15.4% |
| 2000s | 11,497 | 10,428 | −9.3% | −1.0% |
| 2010s | 10,428 | 28,538 | +173.7% | +10.6% |
| 2020s* | 28,538 | 53,414 | +87.2% | +9.8% |
* The current decade is incomplete — measured to 2026-09-04.
Read down the annualised column and the case for holding through decades gets harder, not easier. Two decades finished lower than they started (1930s and 2000s), and the 1970s added +4.8% across the whole decade — before inflation, which is not in this series at all. Three decades did most of the century's work.
The S&P 500's year-by-year ledger →
The crash in the middle
The Dow's worst episode in this series ran from 1929-08-30 to 1932-06-30: −88.7% in 2.8 years, from 380.33 to 42.84. It did not close above the old high again until 1954-11-30 — 25.3 years under water, which remains the longest recovery in the record.
| Peak → trough | Decline | Years falling | Years to recover |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1929-08 → 1932-06 | −88.7% | 2.8 | 25.3 |
| 2007-10 → 2009-02 | −49.3% | 1.3 | 5.3 |
| 1919-10 → 1921-08 | −43.6% | 1.8 | 5.2 |
| 1972-12 → 1974-09 | −40.4% | 1.8 | 9.9 |
| 1999-12 → 2002-09 | −34.0% | 2.7 | 6.7 |
| 1916-11 → 1917-11 | −31.4% | 1.0 | 2.6 |
These are measured between sampled closes, so they are floors: the intraday extremes were worse. The point of the table is not the decimal, it is the shape — one catastrophe, a handful of −40%-class events, and a long tail of declines that felt terminal at the time and are invisible at this scale.
The S&P 500 drawdown register, with causes →
Every round number, and how long it took
| Level | First close above | Years since previous |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 1916-09-30 | — |
| 1,000 | 1972-11-30 | 56.2 |
| 5,000 | 1995-11-30 | 23.0 |
| 10,000 | 1999-04-30 | 3.4 |
| 20,000 | 2017-02-28 | 17.8 |
| 30,000 | 2020-12-31 | 3.8 |
| 40,000 | 2024-07-31 | 3.6 |
| 50,000 | 2026-05-22 | 1.8 |
The gap that matters is the first one: 56 years between the Dow's first close above 100 and its first close above 1,000. A round number is not a milestone in a compounding series — the 50,000 level took only 1.8 years after 40,000 because each level is a smaller percentage step than the last.
What the Dow is, and what it is not
- It is price-weighted. A $500 stock moves the Dow ten times as much as a $50 stock, regardless of company size. No modern index is built this way.
- It is 30 companies, chosen by a committee. Membership turns over, so the series measures a rolling selection of large American companies rather than a fixed portfolio.
- It excludes dividends. The +6.4% above is price only. On the S&P 500, where this site has a total-return series, adding dividends takes +6.4% to about +10.1% — the same order of adjustment applies here.
- It tracks the S&P 500 closely anyway. Over any long window the two tell the same story, which is why the Dow survives as a headline number rather than as a benchmark anyone is measured against.
Five-year rolling returns, S&P 500 → · Where valuation sits today →
FAQ
What is the Dow Jones average annual return over 100 years?
About +6.4% a year on price, from 54.63 on 1914-12-31 to 53,414 on 2026-09-04 — 978× over 111.7 years. Dividends are not included in the index and would add several points a year.
What was the Dow's biggest crash?
1929-08 to 1932-06: −88.7% on monthly closes, and 25.3 years before it closed above the old high again (1954-11-30).
When did the Dow first close above 10,000?
1999-04-30, at 10,789 on this series. It first closed above 1,000 in 1972-11 — a 26-year climb between the two.
Computed from /api/dow/century.json — 1,358 closes of the ^DJI series, monthly for most of the record and more frequent in the current year. Data through 2026-09-04, published 2026-09-05. Drawdowns and milestones are measured between sampled closes, so depths are floors and dates are the first sampled close past the level; the index is price-only and price-weighted.