FTSE 100 vs S&P 500: Returns by Year in Pounds, Dividends Included

Check the claimThree things people say about the FTSE 100, tested

ClaimThe S&P 500 only looks better because the pound collapsed.Tap to checkMythOver the past ten years, sterling ended slightly higher against the dollar. Currency trimmed the S&P 500's sterling return by 0.3 points a year.Flip backClaimThe FTSE 100 has gone nowhere for 25 years.Tap to checkPartly trueThe price index has: 6,930 at the end of 1999, about 10,600 now. With dividends reinvested, it returned 7.0% a year over 25 years.Flip backClaimThe gap is all about the tech giants.Tap to checkPartly trueTech is a big part. But an equal-weighted S&P 500, where Apple counts no more than a mid-sized utility, still beat the FTSE 100 by 3 points a year in pounds.Flip back

FTSE 100 vs S&P 500 returns: last 5, 10 and 20 years

All figures are total returns with dividends reinvested, to the end of last month. The S&P 500 column is converted into pounds, which is what you'd have earned holding it from the UK.

Over the past year the two were level. Over every longer window the S&P 500 won, by between 1.8 and 7.9 points a year. The narrowest long-run gap is the 25-year one, because it starts just before the dot-com crash hit American shares hardest.

The index figures are before fund fees and before the 15% US withholding tax that UK-held US funds pay on dividends. A real fund gets close: the iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF, CSP1, turned £10,000 into £39,915 over the same ten years, against £40,719 for the index. You can run any start date yourself with our UK "if you invested" calculators.

£10,000 twenty years ago: £37,522 in the FTSE 100, £117,780 in the S&P 500

020,00040,00060,00080,000100,000£120,0002006201020142016201820222026Brexit vote: the pound drops£117,780S&P 500 in pounds£37,522FTSE 100£17,793FTSE 100, no dividends2006£10,000£10,000£10,0002007£10,677£11,216£10,8492008£9,524£8,840£8,2242009£9,880£9,683£8,6132010£11,048£10,829£9,3092011£11,301£10,352£8,6042012£14,194£12,045£9,6332013£16,893£14,062£10,8412014£20,204£14,924£11,1102015£21,492£14,165£10,1692016£28,925£16,768£11,5742017£33,221£18,519£12,3692018£40,297£19,780£12,5992019£44,470£20,419£12,4282020£48,814£16,729£9,8412021£60,825£20,972£11,8882022£62,065£21,162£11,5652023£69,069£24,264£12,7642024£85,709£27,270£13,8192025£100,425£32,051£15,6872026£117,780£37,522£17,793

FTSE 100 returns by year, against the S&P 500 in pounds

Here is every calendar year since 2000, with dividends reinvested. The dollar column shows what an American investor saw; the gap between the two S&P 500 columns is the currency effect.

The FTSE 100 won 10 of the 26 full years. Its wins cluster in two stretches: seven of the eight years from 2002 to 2009, when energy, miners and banks led the world and tech was still nursing the dot-com hangover, and the inflation shocks of 2022 and 2025, when oil, banks and defence did well. From 2010 to 2021 it won once in twelve years.

The FTSE 100 won three of the last ten years

FTSE 100S&P 500 in pounds

−20−1010203040%0

+19.1%+34.9%

2016FTSE 100+19.1%S&P 500 in pounds+34.9%

+11.9%+10.9%

2017FTSE 100+11.9%S&P 500 in pounds+10.9%

−8.7%+1.2%

2018FTSE 100−8.7%S&P 500 in pounds+1.2%

+17.3%+27.1%

2019FTSE 100+17.3%S&P 500 in pounds+27.1%

−11.5%+14.6%

2020FTSE 100−11.5%S&P 500 in pounds+14.6%

+18.4%+30.3%

2021FTSE 100+18.4%S&P 500 in pounds+30.3%

+4.7%−8.3%

2022FTSE 100+4.7%S&P 500 in pounds−8.3%

+7.9%+19.3%

2023FTSE 100+7.9%S&P 500 in pounds+19.3%

+9.7%+27.2%

2024FTSE 100+9.7%S&P 500 in pounds+27.2%

+25.8%+9.8%

2025FTSE 100+25.8%S&P 500 in pounds+9.8%

2016201720182019202020212022202320242025

What's the FTSE 100's average return? It depends on the window. The simple average of its calendar-year returns was 9.5% over the last ten years, 7.7% over the last 20 and 6.1% since 2000. The compound rate, which is what your money actually did, was 8.4% a year over ten years and 6.8% over 20. The simple average always looks higher because a 20% fall needs a 25% gain to recover.

Where the gap came from

Over ten years the S&P 500 beat the FTSE 100 by 6.7 points a year in pounds. We split that into four parts, and they add up exactly:

1. Currency: −0.3 points. The S&P 500 returned 15.3% a year in dollars and 15.1% in pounds. The pound was at $1.30 just after the Brexit vote and is at $1.33 now.
2. Dividends: −2.1 points. The FTSE 100's dividends added 4.0 points a year to its return; the S&P 500's added 1.9. London's higher payout narrows the gap.
3. Sector mix: +3.7 points. We rebuilt the S&P 500 using the FTSE 100's current sector weights, from iShares' holdings file for its FTSE 100 fund, and S&P's own sector indices. That version returned 9.8% a year in price terms, against 13.4% for the real S&P 500.
4. Same sectors, faster companies: +5.4 points. Even with London's sector mix, the American version beat the FTSE 100's 4.4% price return by more than five points a year.

Most of the gap is what each index owns, not the pound

FTSE 1008.4%

Lower US dividends−2.1%= 6.3%

Currency−0.3%= 6.0%

Sector mix+3.7%= 9.7%

Faster US firms+5.4%= 15.1%

S&P 500 in £15.1%

The sector part is easy to see. Information technology is about 1% of the FTSE 100 and the S&P 500's tech sector returned 24.7% a year over the decade. The FTSE's biggest weights, financials, consumer staples, energy and health care, had price returns of only 5% to 11% a year even in America.

Give the S&P 500 London's sector mix and two-fifths of its edge disappears

S&P 50013.4% a year

S&P 500 with the FTSE 100's sector mix9.8% a year

FTSE 1004.4% a year

Price returns over ten years in each index's own currency, before dividends.

The second part is the uncomfortable one for London. US banks, industrials and drug makers simply grew faster than their UK peers. The cleanest way to see it is cash paid to shareholders: the FTSE 100's dividends per index point grew 2.1% a year over the decade, while the S&P 500's grew 6.5%, even though American companies hand back more of their cash through buybacks instead of dividends.

Valuations explain less than you'd think. On reported earnings, the S&P 500's price-to-earnings ratio went from about 24 to about 25 over the decade, according to S&P figures compiled by multpl, adding under a point a year. Nearly all of its price gain came from earnings, which grew roughly 12% to 13% a year. The FTSE 100 actually re-rated more: its dividend yield fell from 3.9% to 3.2%, worth about 2.2 points a year, on top of dividend growth of just 2.1% a year. London didn't get cheaper. Its companies just didn't grow.

How much of the FTSE 100's return is dividends?

Most of it. Over ten years the FTSE 100's price index returned 4.4% a year and dividends lifted that to 8.4%. On £10,000, the price alone made you £5,373; with dividends reinvested you made £12,377. Over 20 years, dividends were 72% of the gain.

Dividends carry the FTSE 100

57%of the FTSE 100's 10-year gain came from reinvested dividends

72%of its 20-year gain came from dividends

3.2%FTSE 100 dividend yield nowS&P 500: 1.2%

This is why "the FTSE 100 is lower than in 1999" is technically true and practically misleading. The index closed 1999 at 6,930 and sits around 10,600 today. With dividends reinvested, the FTSE 100 returned 7.0% a year over the last 25 years. If you're comparing returns anywhere, check whether the chart includes dividends. Most free charts don't. Our explainer on total return vs dividend yield covers why.

The pound is a shock absorber

Currency barely mattered over the past decade, but it matters a lot in a crisis. When markets panic, the dollar tends to rise and the pound to fall. For a UK investor holding US shares, that softens the drop.

Make a guess

In 2008 the S&P 500 lost 37% in dollars. What did a UK investor holding it lose, in pounds?

Tap your guess

More than 30%Your guess20% to 30%Your guess10% to 20%Your guessLess than 10%Your guess

−01234567890123456789.0123456789%S&P 500 in pounds

Spot on.Close, a little low.Close, a little high.Way off, too low.Way off, too high. It was −12.7%.

−12.7%. The pound fell 28% against the dollar that year, so the dollar gains offset most of the share price losses. The FTSE 100 lost 28.3%.

S&P 500 in pounds−12.7%

S&P 500 in dollars−37.0%

FTSE 100−28.3%

The same pattern showed up in every recent sell-off except the dot-com crash, when the pound was rising.

The pound softened the S&P 500's fall in three of four crashes

FTSE 100S&P 500 in poundsS&P 500 in dollars

−60−50−40−30−20−100

−44.4%−48.9%−44.7%

Dot-comFTSE 100−44.4%S&P 500 in pounds−48.9%S&P 500 in dollars−44.7%

−39.8%−30.6%−50.9%

Financial crisisFTSE 100−39.8%S&P 500 in pounds−30.6%S&P 500 in dollars−50.9%

−24.0%−14.5%−19.6%

CovidFTSE 100−24.0%S&P 500 in pounds−14.5%S&P 500 in dollars−19.6%

−8.1%−11.2%−23.9%

2022FTSE 100−8.1%S&P 500 in pounds−11.2%S&P 500 in dollars−23.9%

Dot-comFinancial crisisCovid2022

The dot-com crash is the warning in the other direction. The S&P 500 in pounds didn't get back to its 2000 peak until early 2012, more than eleven years later. The FTSE 100 recovered its total-return peak by early 2006. Starting points matter: the S&P 500 began 2000 at about 29 times reported earnings, on multpl's figures, and the latest month-end reading is about 25. The FTSE 100 yielded 2.3% then and 3.2% now.

Caveats

• Index returns are gross. Funds charge fees, and UK-held US funds lose 15% of US dividends to withholding tax. Together those cost about 0.2 points a year on our CSP1 cross-check.
• The sector test applies today's FTSE 100 sector weights across the whole decade, and uses S&P sector price indices, so treat the 3.7 and 5.4 split as an estimate. The total gap is exact.
• Calendar-year figures use month-end closes. US closes are at 9pm UK time and the Bank of England rate is set around 4pm, which can move single months slightly but not multi-year results.

Our read

The FTSE 100 hasn't been a bad investment. It's a high-income index of banks, oil companies, miners, drug makers and consumer staples, and it delivered roughly what those businesses earned: about 7% to 8% a year, mostly from dividends. The S&P 500 delivered something rarer: a decade of earnings growing at 12% to 13% a year. Don't explain that away as currency luck or a valuation bubble. It was mostly neither.

For a UK investor, the practical lesson isn't "sell the FTSE 100". It's to know what you own. The FTSE is a value-and-income bet that tends to win when inflation, energy prices or interest rates jump, as in 2022 and 2025. The S&P 500 is a growth bet on American tech, now priced at about 25 times reported earnings. At 29 times in 2000, it took UK holders more than eleven years to get back to even. Holding both, with the pound as a cushion in a crash, is a better plan than betting the next decade looks like the last one.

Questions readers ask

FTSE 100 vs S&P 500: which has performed better?

The S&P 500, in pounds, over every period longer than a year: 15.1% a year against 8.4% over ten years and 13.1% against 6.8% over 20, with dividends reinvested. Over the past year the two were level at about 17%.

What are the FTSE 100's returns over the last 10 years?

8.4% a year with dividends reinvested, which turned £10,000 into £22,377. Without dividends the index returned 4.4% a year, or £15,373.

What are the FTSE 100's returns with dividends reinvested?

7.0% a year over 25 years, 6.8% over 20, 8.4% over ten and 12.3% over five. Dividends supplied 57% of the ten-year gain and 72% of the 20-year gain.

What is the FTSE 100's average return?

The compound annual return was 8.4% over ten years and 6.8% over 20, with dividends. The simple average of calendar years was higher, at 9.5% over the last ten.

What did Martin Lewis say about FTSE 100 returns?

He said £1,000 put into the FTSE 100 ten years earlier would have grown to about £2,400 with dividends reinvested, against about £4,110 in the S&P 500. Our data agrees: for the ten years to March 2026 we get £2,410 and £4,099. On the latest ten years it's £2,238 and £4,072.

What does Reddit get wrong about FTSE 100 vs S&P 500?

The most common claim is that the S&P 500's lead in pounds is mostly currency. Over the past ten years currency subtracted 0.3 points a year. Over 20 years it added 1.9 points, out of a 6.3-point gap.

How we calculated this

• Indices: the FTSE 100 Total Return index (.TFTSE) and FTSE 100 price index (.FTSE), in pounds; the S&P 500 Total Return index (.SPXTR) and price index (.SPX), in dollars. Daily closes from CNBC's index data, reduced to the last close of each month. Periods end on 30 September 2026.
• Currency: the Bank of England's month-end spot rate, US dollars into sterling (series XUMLUSS). We divided the dollar index by it each month. It matched CNBC's own GBP/USD closes to within 2% in every month.
• Cross-checks: the iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (CSP1), a sterling-traded accumulating fund, returned 14.9% a year over ten years against 15.1% for the index in pounds.
• Dividend growth and valuation: trailing 12-month dividend yields come from the gap between each total return index and its price index. S&P 500 price-to-earnings ratios on reported earnings are S&P's figures as compiled by multpl.
• Sector test: S&P 500 sector price indices weighted by the FTSE 100's sector weights in the iShares Core FTSE 100 holdings file, rebalanced each September.

For the bigger picture on London's market, see our UK markets hub.

Go deeper with member research

The FTSE 100's problem is that London has too few fast-growing companies, and too many good ones leaving or being bought. Member issues cover both sides:

• Companies Leaving the London Stock Exchange: London has gone from 2,429 listed companies to 1,534 in eleven years. We tracked every big move to New York to see whether leaving paid, and what a shrinking market means for UK investors.
• The UK Takeover Wave: bidders have put about £75bn on the table for UK-listed companies this year. How the bids work, what the premiums pay and whether cheap mid-caps are worth buying as targets.
• UK Bank Stocks: Lloyds, Barclays and NatWest: financials are over a quarter of the FTSE 100. Whether the banks behind its recent run can keep going.