Payout ratio and dividend action by yield band: US payers over $2B, latest snapshot
Answered against 22 years of US equities and 12 years of US options data and published with the query that produced it. This result is stored as of 2026-08-22, from Highest Dividend Yield US Stocks in 2026.
| yield_band | companies | median_yield_pct | median_payout_ratio | pct_paid_less_than_year_before | pct_paid_more_than_year_before |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| under 2.5% | 583 | 1.17 | 26 | 7.4 | 76.8 |
| 2.5-5% | 287 | 3.35 | 60 | 8.4 | 74.9 |
| 5-8% | 79 | 5.82 | 118 | 12.7 | 63.3 |
| 8% and up | 30 | 10.21 | 115 | 36.7 | 33.3 |
- Rows × columns
- 4 × 6
- Computed
- Completeness
- No missing values
- Source
- US exchange, SIP and OPRA market data
- Licence
- Strasmore terms · free, no signup
What each column holds
| Column | Type | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
yield_band |
text | 4 distinct values (2.5-5%, 5-8%, 8% and up…) | |
companies |
number | 30 to 583 | |
median_yield_pct |
number | 1.17 to 10.21 | percent |
median_payout_ratio |
number | 26 to 118 | ratio or rate |
pct_paid_less_than_year_before |
number | 7.4 to 36.7 | percent |
pct_paid_more_than_year_before |
number | 33.3 to 76.8 | percent |
Computed from Strasmore's warehouse of US exchange, SIP and OPRA market data. Equity prices are delayed; options greeks and implied volatility are end-of-day. This result is stored, not recomputed on load — it is exactly the numbers that were returned on , and the query below is what returned them.
the exact SQL behind every number
WITH snapshot AS (
SELECT ticker,
toFloat64(dividend_yield) * 100 AS yield_pct,
toFloat64(dividend_yield) * toFloat64(price) AS annual_dividend,
toFloat64(earnings_per_share) AS eps
FROM global_markets.stocks_ratios
WHERE date = (SELECT max(date) FROM global_markets.stocks_ratios)
AND price >= 5
AND market_cap >= 2000000000
AND dividend_yield > 0
AND earnings_per_share IS NOT NULL
),
payments AS (
SELECT ticker,
sumIf(toFloat64(cash_amount), ex_dividend_date > today() - INTERVAL 1 YEAR) AS ttm_paid,
sumIf(toFloat64(cash_amount), ex_dividend_date <= today() - INTERVAL 1 YEAR
AND ex_dividend_date > today() - INTERVAL 2 YEAR) AS prior_paid
FROM global_markets.stocks_dividends
WHERE distribution_type = 'recurring'
AND cash_amount > 0
AND ex_dividend_date > today() - INTERVAL 2 YEAR
AND ex_dividend_date <= today()
GROUP BY ticker
HAVING ttm_paid > 0 AND prior_paid > 0
)
SELECT multiIf(s.yield_pct >= 8, '8% and up',
s.yield_pct >= 5, '5-8%',
s.yield_pct >= 2.5, '2.5-5%',
'under 2.5%') AS yield_band,
count() AS companies,
round(quantileDeterministic(0.5)(s.yield_pct, cityHash64(s.ticker)), 2) AS median_yield_pct,
round(quantileDeterministicIf(0.5)(s.annual_dividend / s.eps * 100,
cityHash64(s.ticker), s.eps > 0), 0) AS median_payout_ratio,
round(100 * countIf(p.ttm_paid < p.prior_paid * 0.99) / count(), 1) AS pct_paid_less_than_year_before,
round(100 * countIf(p.ttm_paid > p.prior_paid * 1.01) / count(), 1) AS pct_paid_more_than_year_before
FROM snapshot AS s
INNER JOIN payments AS p ON s.ticker = p.ticker
GROUP BY yield_band
HAVING countIf(s.eps > 0) > 0
ORDER BY median_yield_pct
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