SPY Dividend History

• The latest check: $1.889 per share, ex-dividend September 18, 2026. That is the 136th distribution in our record, which starts with SPY's first on March 19, 1993.
• Trailing twelve months: $7.583 per share across four quarterly payments, against $7.254 in the twelve months before — a year-over-year gain of 4.5%. At the September 21, 2026 close of $773.50 that is a 0.98% yield.
• What that pays: $10,000 in SPY works out to about $8.17 a month, which arrives as roughly $24.51 once a quarter, not as a monthly deposit.
• Sixteen straight up years: the per-share dividend rose in every calendar year from 2010 through 2025. The last ten of those: $4.539, $4.802, $5.101, $5.619, $5.691, $5.715, $6.320, $6.633, $7.066, $7.281. The 2026 figure on this page is still incomplete; the December payment has not gone ex yet.
• The one year it fell: 2009. SPY's per-share dividend dropped 20.0%, from $2.721 in 2008 to $2.177, as the financial crisis cut payouts across the index. An index dividend is diversified, not immune.
• The fee and the wrapper: State Street lists a gross expense ratio of 0.0945% and an inception date of January 22, 1993. SSGA's own disclosure describes the shares as ownership in a unit investment trust rather than the open-end structure most newer ETFs use.

A 0.98% yield is not a flaw in the fund; it is the arithmetic of a share price that climbed faster than the payout. SPY was built to track the S&P 500, not to produce income, and the distribution is whatever the 500 underlying companies happen to pay after the 0.0945% fee. Treat this page as a record of what was paid, not a forecast.

Each point below is one real SPY distribution, from the first in March 1993 to the most recent on September 18, 2026. The quarterly rhythm is steady, but the individual checks are not evenly sized — the December payment is consistently the largest of the four.

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Each point is one payment; the line ends at the most recent payout. The table below totals them by year.

• Trailing 12 months: $7.58 per share across 4 payments — up 5% from $7.25 in the 12 months before. What a change like that does to your income →
• Current pace: recent payments annualize to $7.44 — 2% below the trailing figure. When those two disagree, the trailing yield is quoting the past. Live cut & raise board →
• Share price, same 12 months: up 19% (dividends excluded) — income and principal are one story. Erosion Index →
• Record: 136 payments over 34 years; the largest single payment was $1.99 (Dec 2025).
• Payment drops ≥20% below trend, last 24 months: none. Get one short email if that changes →

Every figure above is computed from SPY's actual payment record and share-price history as of the date shown — not copied from a fact sheet. Recomputed regularly; the chart above always shows the live data.

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"Next expected" is estimated from SPY's recent payment rhythm — the fund announces exact dates shortly before each payout, and the data feed can lag a few days. You must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout; the cash typically arrives days later. See every fund's upcoming date on the live dividend calendar.

A real total-return estimate, assuming every payout was reinvested — including what happened to the share price. Before taxes and fees. Past performance does not predict the future.

SPY's per-share dividend has risen in every calendar year since 2010 — sixteen of them — from $4.539 in 2016 to $7.281 in 2025. Over that same decade the yield, measured against the price at each year's end, fell from 2.03% to 1.07%. Both things are true at once, and the reason is entirely in the denominator: over the five years to September 21, 2026 the share price rose 78.4% while the dividend grew 27.9%. Price won the race, so yield shrank.

The two exceptions make the point better than the trend does. SPY's year-end yield rose in 2018, to 2.04%, and again in 2022, to 1.65% — the only two years in that stretch when the share price finished lower than it started. A yield that climbs isn't the same as a fund paying you more. Sometimes it is the same check divided by a smaller price. That is why every chart on this page plots dollars per share first, and leaves yield as a derived number rather than the headline.

Data source: Yahoo Finance. Figures are per share; the current year may be partial and figures should be verified against official sources.

Calculated from complete calendar years in the data above. Past results don't guarantee future payments.