Dow Jones Annual Returns, Year by Year
Every calendar year since 1992 — not just the return, but the high, the low, and the worst drawdown you would have had to sit through to earn it.
Across the 33 completed calendar years in our dataset (1993–2025), the Dow finished higher in 76% of them, with an average annual return of +9.47%. The best year was 1995 (+33.45%); the worst was 2008 (−33.84%). So far in 2026 the index is up 10.66%.
Returns at a glance
The full table
| Year | Return | Year-end close | High | Low | Worst drawdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (YTD) | +10.66% | 53,185.90 | 54,349.12 Aug 5, 2026 | 45,166.64 Mar 27, 2026 | −10.01% |
| 2025 | +12.97% | 48,063.29 | 48,731.16 Dec 24, 2025 | 37,645.59 Apr 8, 2025 | −16.12% |
| 2024 | +12.88% | 42,544.22 | 45,014.04 Dec 4, 2024 | 37,266.67 Jan 17, 2024 | −6.06% |
| 2023 | +13.70% | 37,689.54 | 37,710.10 Dec 28, 2023 | 31,819.14 Mar 13, 2023 | −9.02% |
| 2022 | −8.78% | 33,147.25 | 36,799.65 Jan 4, 2022 | 28,725.51 Sep 30, 2022 | −21.94% |
| 2021 | +18.73% | 36,338.30 | 36,488.63 Dec 29, 2021 | 29,982.62 Jan 29, 2021 | −6.62% |
| 2020 | +7.25% | 30,606.48 | 30,606.48 Dec 31, 2020 | 18,591.93 Mar 23, 2020 | −37.09% |
| 2019 | +22.34% | 28,538.44 | 28,645.26 Dec 27, 2019 | 22,686.22 Jan 3, 2019 | −6.91% |
| 2018 | −5.63% | 23,327.46 | 26,828.39 Oct 3, 2018 | 21,792.20 Dec 24, 2018 | −18.77% |
| 2017 | +25.08% | 24,719.22 | 24,837.51 Dec 28, 2017 | 19,732.40 Jan 19, 2017 | −3.37% |
| 2016 | +13.42% | 19,762.60 | 19,974.62 Dec 20, 2016 | 15,660.18 Feb 11, 2016 | −8.73% |
| 2015 | −2.23% | 17,425.03 | 18,312.39 May 19, 2015 | 15,666.44 Aug 25, 2015 | −14.45% |
| 2014 | +7.52% | 17,823.07 | 18,053.71 Dec 26, 2014 | 15,372.80 Feb 3, 2014 | −7.01% |
| 2013 | +26.50% | 16,576.66 | 16,576.66 Dec 31, 2013 | 13,328.85 Jan 8, 2013 | −5.74% |
| 2012 | +7.26% | 13,104.14 | 13,610.15 Oct 5, 2012 | 12,101.46 Jun 4, 2012 | −8.87% |
| 2011 | +5.53% | 12,217.56 | 12,810.54 Apr 29, 2011 | 10,655.30 Oct 3, 2011 | −16.82% |
| 2010 | +11.02% | 11,577.51 | 11,585.38 Dec 29, 2010 | 9,686.48 Jul 2, 2010 | −13.55% |
| 2009 | +18.82% | 10,428.05 | 10,548.51 Dec 30, 2009 | 6,547.05 Mar 9, 2009 | −27.53% |
| 2008 | −33.84% | 8,776.39 | 13,058.20 May 2, 2008 | 7,552.29 Nov 20, 2008 | −42.16% |
| 2007 | +6.43% | 13,264.82 | 14,164.53 Oct 9, 2007 | 12,050.41 Mar 5, 2007 | −10.03% |
| 2006 | +16.29% | 12,463.15 | 12,510.57 Dec 27, 2006 | 10,667.39 Jan 20, 2006 | −8.04% |
| 2005 | −0.61% | 10,717.50 | 10,940.55 Mar 4, 2005 | 10,012.36 Apr 20, 2005 | −8.48% |
| 2004 | +3.15% | 10,783.01 | 10,854.54 Dec 28, 2004 | 9,749.99 Oct 25, 2004 | −9.20% |
| 2003 | +25.32% | 10,453.92 | 10,453.92 Dec 31, 2003 | 7,524.06 Mar 11, 2003 | −14.91% |
| 2002 | −16.76% | 8,341.63 | 10,635.25 Mar 19, 2002 | 7,286.27 Oct 9, 2002 | −31.49% |
| 2001 | −7.10% | 10,021.57 | 11,337.92 May 21, 2001 | 8,235.81 Sep 21, 2001 | −27.36% |
| 2000 | −6.17% | 10,787.99 | 11,722.98 Jan 14, 2000 | 9,796.03 Mar 7, 2000 | −16.44% |
| 1999 | +25.22% | 11,497.12 | 11,497.12 Dec 31, 1999 | 9,120.67 Jan 22, 1999 | −11.53% |
| 1998 | +16.10% | 9,181.43 | 9,374.27 Nov 23, 1998 | 7,539.07 Aug 31, 1998 | −19.26% |
| 1997 | +22.64% | 7,908.30 | 8,259.30 Aug 6, 1997 | 6,391.70 Apr 11, 1997 | −13.30% |
| 1996 | +26.01% | 6,448.27 | 6,560.91 Dec 27, 1996 | 5,032.94 Jan 10, 1996 | −7.47% |
| 1995 | +33.45% | 5,117.12 | 5,216.47 Dec 13, 1995 | 3,832.08 Jan 30, 1995 | −3.29% |
| 1994 | +2.14% | 3,834.44 | 3,978.36 Jan 31, 1994 | 3,593.35 Apr 4, 1994 | −9.68% |
| 1993 | +13.72% | 3,754.09 | 3,794.33 Dec 29, 1993 | 3,242.00 Jan 20, 1993 | −4.06% |
| 1992 | +4.06% | 3,301.11 | 3,413.20 Jun 1, 1992 | 3,136.60 Oct 9, 1992 | −8.10% |
"Worst drawdown" is the deepest peak-to-trough decline in closing values within that calendar year — a measure of how rough the ride was even in years that finished higher. 1992 is measured from the first session in our dataset; the current year is measured through August 31, 2026.
The column everyone leaves out
Most annual-return tables stop at the return, which quietly teaches a false lesson: that a year which finished up 15% felt like +15%. The drawdown column restores the missing experience. Scan it and a pattern emerges — meaningful mid-year declines are not the exception in good years, they are the norm. Plenty of years in the table finished comfortably positive despite a double-digit peak-to-trough slide somewhere in the middle. 2020 is the extreme case: a year that ended higher after a 37% collapse in its first quarter.
This is arguably the single most useful statistic on this site for an ordinary investor, because the damage from volatility rarely comes from the decline itself — it comes from selling into it. Knowing in advance that a typical year contains a scary stretch, and that scary stretches have historically coexisted with positive annual outcomes, is the cheapest inoculation available against panic-selling at the low.
Two reading notes. First, these are price returns: they exclude dividends, which have added roughly two percentage points a year to the total return of Dow-type stocks over long periods, so the long-run experience of an actual investor was better than this table suggests. Second, the drawdown is measured between closing levels within the calendar year, so a decline that straddles New Year's Eve — like the late-2008-into-2009 slide — gets split across two rows. For the deepest declines measured without calendar boundaries, see the records page.