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title: "Dividend Aristocrats List 2026 — Complete Guide" description: "The complete 2026 Dividend Aristocrats list — all 69 S&P 500 stocks with 25+ years of consecutive dividend increases. Updated for January 2026 additions, with sector breakdown and analysis." keywords: ["Dividend Aristocrats list 2026", "Dividend Aristocrats", "S&P 500 dividend stocks", "25 year dividend increase stocks", "best dividend growth stocks", "NOBL ETF", "dividend aristocrats complete list"] date: "2026-03-06" category: "Dividend Investing" author: "Harper Banks"

Dividend Aristocrats List 2026 — Complete Guide

There are 69 companies in the S&P 500 that have raised their dividend every single year for at least 25 consecutive years. These are the Dividend Aristocrats — and they're the closest thing to investing royalty you'll find on Wall Street.

I've been tracking this list for years, and every January when S&P Dow Jones Indices announces the annual rebalance, it's like watching the final roster cuts before the season starts. Some companies earn their way in. Others get cut for failing to keep the streak alive.

This guide covers the full 2026 list, the latest changes, how the Aristocrats have performed, and how to use this list to find dividend investment ideas that actually hold up.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Always do your own research before making investment decisions.

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What Makes a Dividend Aristocrat?

To earn the title, a company must meet three criteria:

1. Be a member of the S&P 500
2. Have increased its dividend for at least 25 consecutive years
3. Meet certain minimum size and liquidity requirements

That's it. Simple rules — but brutally hard to maintain. Think about what 25+ years of consecutive increases means: a company has to survive recessions, industry disruptions, management changes, wars, pandemics, and every other kind of chaos — and still find the cash to raise its dividend every single year.

Only about 14% of S&P 500 companies make the cut. That selectivity is the point.

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2026 Changes: Who Got In, Who Got Dropped

On January 24, 2025, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced the latest rebalancing:

Added:

• Erie Indemnity (ERIE) — Specialty insurance
• Eversource Energy (ES) — Regulated utility, serves 4+ million customers in the Northeast
• FactSet Research Systems (FDS) — Financial data and analytics

Removed: None.

This brought the total from 66 to 69 Dividend Aristocrats. No companies were removed, which is relatively unusual — in most years, at least one or two fall off after cutting or freezing dividends.

For context, in 2024, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) and 3M (MMM) were removed. 3M lost its status after spinning off its healthcare division into Solventum and cutting the dividend.

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The Complete 2026 Dividend Aristocrats List

Here are all 69 companies, organized by sector:

Consumer Staples (13 companies)

| Ticker | Company | Streak | |--------|---------|--------| | ADM | Archer-Daniels-Midland | 50+ years | | BF.B | Brown-Forman | 40+ years | | CHD | Church & Dwight | 25+ years | | CLX | Clorox | 45+ years | | KO | Coca-Cola | 62 years | | CL | Colgate-Palmolive | 61 years | | HRL | Hormel Foods | 58 years | | SJM | J.M. Smucker | 25+ years | | KVUE | Kenvue | 25+ years | | KMB | Kimberly-Clark | 52 years | | MKC | McCormick & Company | 38 years | | PEP | PepsiCo | 52 years | | PG | Procter & Gamble | 68 years | | SYY | Sysco | 55 years | | WMT | Walmart | 51 years |

Industrials (14 companies)

| Ticker | Company | Streak | |--------|---------|--------| | AOS | A.O. Smith | 30+ years | | CAT | Caterpillar | 30+ years | | CHRW | C.H. Robinson | 25+ years | | CTAS | Cintas | 41 years | | DOV | Dover Corp | 69 years | | EMR | Emerson Electric | 67 years | | EXPD | Expeditors International | 30+ years | | FAST | Fastenal | 25+ years | | GD | General Dynamics | 30+ years | | ITW | Illinois Tool Works | 60+ years | | NDSN | Nordson | 60+ years | | PNR | Pentair | 47 years | | ROP | Roper Technologies | 30+ years | | SWK | Stanley Black & Decker | 56 years | | GWW | W.W. Grainger | 52 years |

Financials (8 companies)

| Ticker | Company | Streak | |--------|---------|--------| | AFL | AFLAC | 42 years | | BRO | Brown & Brown | 30+ years | | CB | Chubb Limited | 30+ years | | CINF | Cincinnati Financial | 63 years | | ERIE | Erie Indemnity | 25+ years | | FDS | FactSet Research Systems | 25+ years | | BEN | Franklin Resources | 44 years | | SPGI | S&P Global | 50+ years | | TROW | T. Rowe Price | 39 years |

Health Care (5 companies)

| Ticker | Company | Streak | |--------|---------|--------| | ABT | Abbott Laboratories | 52 years | | ABBV | AbbVie | 52 years | | BDX | Becton Dickinson | 52 years | | JNJ | Johnson & Johnson | 62 years | | MDT | Medtronic | 47 years |

Materials (7 companies)

| Ticker | Company | Streak | |--------|---------|--------| | ALB | Albemarle | 30+ years | | AMCR | Amcor | 40+ years | | APD | Air Products & Chemicals | 42 years | | ECL | Ecolab | 32 years | | LIN | Linde | 30+ years | | NUE | Nucor | 51 years | | PPG | PPG Industries | 52 years | | SHW | Sherwin-Williams | 46 years |

Consumer Discretionary (4 companies)

| Ticker | Company | Streak | |--------|---------|--------| | GPC | Genuine Parts Company | 68 years | | LOW | Lowe's | 61 years | | MCD | McDonald's | 48 years | | TGT | Target | 56 years |

Information Technology (2 companies)

| Ticker | Company | Streak | |--------|---------|--------| | ADP | Automatic Data Processing | 50+ years | | IBM | IBM | 28 years |

Utilities (4 companies)

| Ticker | Company | Streak | |--------|---------|--------| | ATO | Atmos Energy | 40+ years | | ED | Consolidated Edison | 50+ years | | ES | Eversource Energy | 25+ years | | NEE | NextEra Energy | 29 years |

Real Estate (3 companies)

| Ticker | Company | Streak | |--------|---------|--------| | ESS | Essex Property Trust | 28 years | | FRT | Federal Realty Investment Trust | 56 years | | O | Realty Income | 28 years |

Energy (2 companies)

| Ticker | Company | Streak | |--------|---------|--------| | CVX | Chevron | 37 years | | XOM | Exxon Mobil | 42 years |

Notable absence: The Communications sector has zero Dividend Aristocrats. AT&T (T) was removed back in 2022 after it cut its dividend following the WarnerMedia spinoff.

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How the Dividend Aristocrats Have Performed

Let's talk numbers. The ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL) is the most popular way to invest in this index. Here's how it's done:

February 2026 performance:

• NOBL returned +4.2% for the month
• SPY (S&P 500) returned -0.9% for the month

That's a significant outperformance in a single month. But one month doesn't tell us much.

Long-term (10-year) annualized returns:

• Dividend Aristocrats Index: ~11.6% per year
• S&P 500 Index: ~15.5% per year

Wait — the Aristocrats underperformed the S&P 500 over the last decade? Yes, and there's a good reason. The 2010s and early 2020s were dominated by mega-cap tech stocks (Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Google). The Aristocrats have only a ~3% allocation to Information Technology vs. 30%+ for the S&P 500.

But here's what the raw returns don't show: the Aristocrats did it with significantly lower volatility. During the 2008 crisis, the Aristocrats declined 22% while the S&P 500 fell 38%. During COVID, the drawdown was similarly muted.

If you're investing for income and stability rather than maximum growth, the Aristocrats have delivered exactly what they promise.

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Sector Breakdown: What It Tells You

The Dividend Aristocrats Index is heavily tilted toward two sectors:

• Consumer Staples and Industrials together make up over 40% of the index
• Information Technology is just ~3% of the Aristocrats vs. 30%+ of the S&P 500

This tells you something important: the companies that can sustain 25+ years of dividend increases tend to be stable, cash-generating "old economy" businesses. Think Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Illinois Tool Works, and Caterpillar — not Nvidia or Tesla.

These are companies where revenue is driven by repeat purchases of everyday products and services, not the next product launch or hype cycle. Boring? Maybe. Reliable? Absolutely.

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How to Invest in the Dividend Aristocrats

Option 1: Buy the ETF (NOBL)

The simplest approach. ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL) holds all 69 companies in an equal-weighted portfolio, rebalanced quarterly. Expense ratio is 0.35%.

Option 2: Pick Individual Stocks

If you want to build your own portfolio of Aristocrats, focus on:

1. Yield — Sort by current dividend yield to find the highest payers
2. Valuation — Use the P/E Ratio Calculator to identify Aristocrats trading at reasonable multiples
3. Dividend growth rate — Not all Aristocrats grow their dividends equally. Some raise by 1% (bare minimum), while companies like Lowe's have averaged 15%+ annual increases

Use our Dividend Calculator to model how much income a portfolio of Aristocrats could generate over 10, 20, or 30 years with reinvested dividends.

Option 3: Screen for Value

Sort Dividend Aristocrats by trailing P/E ratio (lowest first) to find potentially undervalued names. You can plug individual stocks into our Graham Number Calculator to see if they're trading below their calculated intrinsic value.

You can also browse our Stock Screener to filter for Aristocrats and other dividend growth stocks based on yield, valuation, and growth metrics.

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The 5 Cheapest Dividend Aristocrats Right Now

Based on current data, here are some of the most attractively valued Aristocrats to research further:

1. T. Rowe Price (TROW) — Asset manager with $1.8 trillion in AUM. Raised its dividend for 39 consecutive years. Expected annual returns of ~14%.
2. PPG Industries (PPG) — World's largest paints company. Revenue grew to $15.9 billion in 2025.
3. Amcor (AMCR) — Global packaging leader. Net sales surged 68% following the Berry Global acquisition.
4. PepsiCo (PEP) — Just raised its dividend to $5.92 annually, extending its streak to 54 years. Revenue hit $93.9 billion in 2025.
5. Kimberly-Clark (KMB) — Consumer staples giant behind Huggies and Kleenex.

Valuations change daily. Always verify current prices before investing.

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Should You Invest in Dividend Aristocrats?

The Aristocrats are ideal for investors who:

• Want reliable, growing income they can count on
• Prefer lower volatility over maximum returns
• Are building a long-term portfolio (10+ year time horizon)
• Value quality and consistency over speculation

They're less ideal for investors who want rapid capital appreciation or heavy tech exposure. If you want both growth and dividends, consider pairing an Aristocrats position with a broad S&P 500 index fund.

For a deeper dive into building a dividend income portfolio from scratch, check out The Beginner's Guide to Value Investing — it covers how to evaluate dividend stocks, calculate fair value, and build a diversified portfolio one stock at a time.

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The Bottom Line

The Dividend Aristocrats aren't exciting. They don't make headlines. You won't find them on Reddit's WallStreetBets.

But 69 companies that have raised their dividends for 25+ consecutive years — through the dot-com crash, the Great Recession, COVID, and everything in between — have earned their reputation. When you're living off your portfolio in retirement, "boring" is exactly what you want.

To start building your own Aristocrats portfolio, open a commission-free account on Moomoo or Webull — both offer powerful screening tools and free stock promotions for new accounts.

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This article is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Always conduct your own due diligence before making investment decisions.