SCHD vs the S&P 500: a 15-year backtest
SCHD is the internet's favorite dividend ETF; SPY is the market itself. We put $10,000 into each from SCHD's first full month (November 2011) through July 2026, dividends reinvested, and let our backtest engine — real monthly closes, real dividend payments — settle the argument.
| SCHD | SPY | |
|---|---|---|
| End value | $59,442 | $77,831 |
| Return / yr | 12.9% | 15.0% |
| Dividends collected | $13,766 | $7,319 |
| Volatility | 13.5% | 14.0% |
| Max drawdown | -21.6% | -23.9% |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.96 | 1.08 |
The honest read
Over this window, the plain index won — by about $18,000 on a $10k start. A 2010s-2020s bull market led by low-yield tech was close to the worst possible environment for a dividend screen to shine, and it still compounded at 12.9% a year.
What SCHD delivered instead: nearly twice the cash income ($13,766 vs $7,319 in dividends), a slightly gentler worst fall, and lower volatility. For an investor drawing income, or one who holds on better when payments keep arriving, that trade can be worth it. For a pure accumulator, the index was hard to beat.
Run it yourself — or change the rules
This exact backtest is one click away, and every assumption is yours to break: start it in 2022 instead, add $500/month, turn DRIP off, or benchmark against QQQ.
Open this backtest live →Numbers current as of July 2026; rerunning later will include newer months automatically since the site fetches live data.