Dividend Yield Calculator
From a share price and a payout to a real income stream: get the dividend yield, then project what your investment pays year by year — with dividend growth and reinvestment (DRIP) compounding the share count.
▸ Show year-by-year breakdown
| Period | Income | Monthly equiv. | Cumulative |
|---|
Estimates are for illustration and education only — not financial advice. Dividends are not guaranteed and can be cut; share price changes are not modeled.
Dividend yield, income and DRIP
Dividend yield is the annual dividend divided by the share price — a $80 stock paying $0.75 quarterly ($3.00/year) yields 3.75%. It's the income half of a stock's return; price appreciation is the other half, and this page deliberately isolates the income side so you can reason about it clearly.
The two engines of income growth
Your dividend income grows through two multiplying forces: dividend growth (companies raising the payout — quality dividend payers have historically managed 5–10% yearly raises) and DRIP (reinvested dividends buying more shares, each earning its own dividends). Separately each is linear-ish; together they compound — flip the DRIP toggle and watch the final-year income change.
Yield on cost
Hold a dividend grower long enough and the yield on your original investment quietly climbs: a 3.75% yield growing 5% yearly pays over 7% on your cost after 15 years — before counting DRIP shares. The year-by-year table shows this as rising income on the same invested dollars.
Beware the yield trap
A very high yield (8%+) is often a warning, not a gift — it usually means the market expects a dividend cut or the price has collapsed. Sustainable income comes from moderate yields with reliable growth. Compare the long-run result against a plain index approach in the compound interest calculator, or check a realized result with the ROI calculator.
Income from $100,000 invested
First-year dividend income at common yields — and what it becomes after 15 years of 5% dividend growth with reinvestment.
| Yield | Year-1 income | Monthly equiv. | Year-15 income (5% growth + DRIP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2% | $2,000 | $167 | $5,286 |
| 3% | $3,000 | $250 | $8,559 |
| 4% | $4,000 | $333 | $12,340 |
| 5% | $5,000 | $417 | $16,703 |
| 6% | $6,000 | $500 | $21,733 |
Rounded figures; quarterly payments, dividends reinvested at a constant price, 5% annual dividend growth — illustrative only.
The dividend yield formula
Dividend yield expresses a stock's annual payout as a percentage of its price — letting you compare income across very different share prices on equal footing.