Dividend Growth Calculator
A dividend that grows 10% a year doubles in about 7 years. This calculator shows what that does to your income: enter a yield, a dividend growth rate and how long you hold, and see your annual income, yield on cost and portfolio value for every year. Switch to compare two stocks to find the year a low-yield, fast-growing stock starts paying you more than a high-yield, slow one. Type any ticker to prefill its live yield and 5-year dividend growth (data as of Nov 10, 2026).
SCHD Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF
$35.65 · $1.06/yr dividend · 2.96% yield · quarterly
Prefilled from SCHD: live yield, 5-year dividend growth, price growth kept near dividend growth.
Annual income, year 25
$5,174
$431 a month
Yield on cost, year 25
51.74%
2.96% today
Income growth
17.3x
$299 in year 1
Portfolio value, year 25
$154,861
Total dividends received
$43,331
Your money in
$10,000
Annual dividend income by year
Dividends received each year, before tax, with every payment reinvested
Year-by-year table
| Year | Money in | Annual income | Yield on cost | Total dividends | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | $299 | 2.99% | $299 | $11,121 |
| 2 | $10,000 | $336 | 3.36% | $635 | $12,371 |
| 3 | $10,000 | $377 | 3.77% | $1,012 | $13,765 |
| 4 | $10,000 | $424 | 4.24% | $1,436 | $15,320 |
| 5 | $10,000 | $476 | 4.76% | $1,911 | $17,056 |
| 6 | $10,000 | $535 | 5.35% | $2,446 | $18,993 |
| 7 | $10,000 | $601 | 6.01% | $3,047 | $21,156 |
| 8 | $10,000 | $676 | 6.76% | $3,723 | $23,572 |
| 9 | $10,000 | $760 | 7.60% | $4,482 | $26,271 |
| 10 | $10,000 | $855 | 8.55% | $5,337 | $29,287 |
| 11 | $10,000 | $962 | 9.62% | $6,299 | $32,658 |
| 12 | $10,000 | $1,082 | 10.82% | $7,381 | $36,428 |
| 13 | $10,000 | $1,219 | 12.19% | $8,600 | $40,644 |
| 14 | $10,000 | $1,373 | 13.73% | $9,972 | $45,362 |
| 15 | $10,000 | $1,546 | 15.46% | $11,519 | $50,643 |
| 16 | $10,000 | $1,742 | 17.42% | $13,261 | $56,554 |
| 17 | $10,000 | $1,964 | 19.64% | $15,225 | $63,174 |
| 18 | $10,000 | $2,214 | 22.14% | $17,439 | $70,591 |
| 19 | $10,000 | $2,497 | 24.97% | $19,937 | $78,902 |
| 20 | $10,000 | $2,818 | 28.18% | $22,754 | $88,218 |
| 21 | $10,000 | $3,180 | 31.80% | $25,934 | $98,664 |
| 22 | $10,000 | $3,590 | 35.90% | $29,524 | $110,383 |
| 23 | $10,000 | $4,054 | 40.54% | $33,578 | $123,531 |
| 24 | $10,000 | $4,579 | 45.79% | $38,157 | $138,290 |
| 25 | $10,000 | $5,174 | 51.74% | $43,331 | $154,861 |
Projection, not a forecast: growth rates are held constant and no dividend is cut. Dividends are raised once a year and paid quarterly; taxes are not deducted. Model taxes, fees and inflation in the DRIP calculator
High yield or high growth? The crossover year
Put $10,000 into a stock yielding 3% that raises its dividend 10% a year, and $10,000 into one yielding 6% that raises it 2% a year. Don't reinvest. The 6% stock pays $600 in year 1 against $300. But the gap closes every year, and from year 11 the grower pays more. Its total dividends collected pass the high yielder's in year 17.
| Year | 3% yield, +10%/yr | 6% yield, +2%/yr | Total so far (3%) | Total so far (6%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300 | $600 | $300 | $600 |
| 5 | $439 | $649 | $1,832 | $3,122 |
| 10 | $707 | $717 | $4,781 | $6,570 |
| 15 | $1,139 | $792 | $9,532 | $10,376 |
| 20 | $1,835 | $874 | $17,182 | $14,578 |
| 25 | $2,955 | $965 | $29,504 | $19,218 |
| 30 | $4,759 | $1,066 | $49,348 | $24,341 |
Reinvesting moves the crossover later, to year 15, because the 6% stock buys twice as many new shares with its dividends early on. The longer your horizon, the more the growth rate matters. The shorter it is, the more the starting yield matters.
Worked example with live data: SCHD vs. VZ
As of Nov 10, 2026, Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) yields 2.96% and its dividend has grown 9.1% a year over five years. Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) yields 6.14% with 1.9% dividend growth. With $10,000 in each and the dividends taken as cash, VZ pays $614 in year 1 and SCHD pays $296. If both keep growing at those rates, SCHD pays more from year 12 and has paid more in total by year 20.
Reinvest instead and add $200 a month to SCHD, and after 20 years the projection is $8,381 of dividends a year ($698 a month), a 14.45% yield on the $58,000 you put in, and a portfolio worth $263,341.
Past growth is not a promise: check each stock's dividend history and safety grade before relying on a rate.
The dividend growth formulas
Dividend in year n = today's dividend × (1 + g) ^ (n − 1)
Yield on cost in year n = starting yield × (1 + g) ^ (n − 1)
Dividend growth rate (CAGR) = (dividend now ÷ dividend n years ago) ^ (1 ÷ n) − 1
Crossover year = ln(high yield ÷ low yield) ÷ ln((1 + g low) ÷ (1 + g high)) + 1, rounded up
The calculator runs month by month: contributions buy shares, prices drift up at the share price growth rate, dividends arrive quarterly (monthly for monthly payers), and the dividend per share is raised once a year. The crossover formula is exact for a single lump sum with no reinvesting. With reinvesting or contributions, the table is the answer.
How long a low yield takes to out-earn a 6% yield
Year a grower starts paying more than a 6% yield that grows 2% a year, same money in, no reinvesting:
| Starting yield | grows 6%/yr | grows 8%/yr | grows 10%/yr | grows 12%/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2% | year 30 | year 21 | year 16 | year 13 |
| 3% | year 20 | year 14 | year 11 | year 9 |
| 4% | year 12 | year 9 | year 7 | year 6 |
A 2% yielder needs 12% growth for more than a decade to win. Few companies keep that up, so a very low yield is a long bet on growth. The Dividend Aristocrats list shows which companies have raised their payout for 25 years or more.
Picking a realistic growth rate
- Start with history. We prefill each ticker's 5-year dividend growth rate, kept between −10% and +15% a year. A 10-year rate is steadier if the company had one unusual year.
- Growth slows as payout ratios rise. A company paying out 80% of earnings can't raise its dividend much faster than earnings grow.
- Keep price growth near dividend growth. If the dividend outgrows the share price for decades, the implied yield keeps climbing, which rarely lasts.
- Test a lower rate. Halve the growth rate and see if the plan still works. If it doesn't, the plan depends on a forecast.
Dividend market facts
Data as of · Source: SmarterDividends data
- As of Nov 10, 2026, the median forward dividend yield among U.S.-listed dividend-paying stocks with a market value of at least $500 million is 2.50%.
- As of Nov 10, 2026, 110 U.S.-listed stocks in SmarterDividends' data have raised their dividend for 25 or more consecutive years.
- In the 30 days to Nov 10, 2026, 150 U.S.-listed companies raised their regular dividend and 3 cut it, by ex-dividend date. That is 50.0 increases for every cut.
Cite this page
SmarterDividends, "Dividend Growth Calculator," updated Nov 10, 2026, https://smarterdividends.com/calculators/dividend-growth-calculator
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate dividend growth?
Future dividend = today's dividend × (1 + growth rate) ^ years. A $2.00 annual dividend growing 7% a year becomes $2.00 × 1.07^10 = $3.93 in 10 years. To find a stock's past growth rate, take (latest annual dividend ÷ dividend n years ago) ^ (1 ÷ n) − 1. That is the compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
Is a high dividend yield or high dividend growth better?
It depends on how long you hold. With $10,000 in each, a 3% yield growing 10% a year pays less than a 6% yield growing 2% until year 11, then pays more every year after. It needs until year 17 to catch up on total dividends collected. If you need income in the next decade, the higher yield wins. Over 20 years or more, the grower usually does, as long as its growth holds.
What is a good dividend growth rate?
Many established dividend growers raise their payouts 5% to 10% a year. As of Nov 10, 2026, our data shows a 5-year dividend growth rate of 9.1% for the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) and 2.0% for Verizon (VZ). Growth above inflation (roughly 2% to 3%) means your income buys more each year.
What is yield on cost?
Yield on cost is this year's dividend divided by what you paid. If you buy a 3% yielder and the dividend grows 10% a year, your yield on cost is 7.07% in year 10 and 18.35% in year 20, without adding a dollar. The calculator shows it for every year in the table.
How long does it take for a dividend to double?
Divide 72 by the growth rate for a quick estimate. At 6% a year a dividend doubles in about 11.9 years, at 8% in 9.0 years, and at 10% in 7.3 years. At 2% it takes 35 years.
Does reinvesting change the crossover year?
Yes, it pushes it out. Reinvesting buys more shares of each stock, and the higher yielder buys more. In the 3% vs 6% example, the crossover moves from year 11 to year 15 once dividends are reinvested (with share prices growing 7% and 2% a year).
What is a dividend compounding calculator?
It is the same idea as this tool: it projects how your dividend income grows when payouts rise every year and, optionally, each dividend buys more shares. Compounding comes from both: a bigger dividend per share and more shares. Turn on reinvesting above to see both effects together.
Does this calculator include taxes?
No. Results are before tax, as in an IRA, Roth IRA or 401(k). In a taxable account, qualified dividends are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20%. Work out your own rate with the dividend tax calculator, or model after-tax reinvestment in the DRIP calculator.
For education and planning only, not investment, tax or legal advice. Projections assume constant growth rates; real dividends, prices and tax rules change.