Stocks With the Highest Dividend Yields in the S&P 500
Ford Motor and Dow lead the list of stocks with the highest dividend yields in the S&P 500. Some of the other names might surprise you.


Dividend investors should know that blindly buying stocks with the highest dividend yields can be a dangerous game.
Indeed, an unusually high dividend yield is often a warning sign. That's because stock prices and dividend yields move in opposite directions. It's possible that a too-good-to-be-true dividend yield is simply an effect of a stock having lost a lot of value.
And anytime a company's stock is slumping badly, it's worth wondering if its dividend is sustainable at current levels.
Case in point: look at Walgreens Boost Alliance (WBA). Not too long ago, the troubled pharmacy chain was a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, an index of companies that have hiked their payouts annually for at least a quarter of a century.
WBA was forced to cut its dividend last year in order to save cash, and was dropped from the Dow and the Aristocrats. As of January 30, 2025, WBA's dividend sported a tempting yield of 8.7%. The following day, however, Walgreens suspended its dividend.
Cut to today and Walgreens is set to go private. The WBA dividend suspension hurt, but it wasn't really a surprise.
Stocks with the highest dividend yields
So, yes, sometimes stocks with the highest dividend yields can be fool's gold. And this could be pertinent to some of the stocks with the highest dividend yields in the S&P 500 today. Be forewarned that in some cases the names below have entered elite-yield territory only because their share prices have come under stress. In turn, that has some analysts concerned about the sustainability of payouts going forward.
Ford Motor (F) leads the list this month, but then shares have come under pressure because of increasing trade uncertainty. Happily for dividend investors, some Buy-rated blue chip stocks anchor the list.
Verizon Communications (VZ), one of Wall Street's top Dow Jones stocks, has raised its dividend annually for two decades. Meanwhile, Pfizer (PFE) has a 15-year track record of consecutive hikes to its payout. Asset manager Franklin Resources (BEN) is another elite dividend grower that makes the list.
With those explanations and caveats out of the way, below please find the 15 S&P 500 stocks with the highest dividend yields.
Market data, analysts' estimates and analysts' recommendations are as of March 20, 2025, courtesy of YCharts and S&P Global Market Intelligence. Stocks are listed by forward dividend yield, from highest to lowest.

Company (Ticker) | Forward Dividend Yield | Analysts' Consensus Recommendation |
---|---|---|
Ford Motor (F) | 11.80% | Hold |
Dow (DOW) | 7.53% | Buy |
LyondellBasell (LYB) | 7.28% | Hold |
Altria (MO) | 7.04% | Hold |
Pfizer (PFE) | 6.56% | Buy |
Franklin Resources (BEN) | 6.37% | Hold |
Verizon Communications (VZ) | 6.17% | Buy |
Crown Castle (CCI) | 6.00% | Buy |
Healthpeak Properties (DOC) | 5.97% | Buy |
Realty Income (O) | 5.71% | Hold |
BXP (BXP) | 5.69% | Buy |
Edison International (EIX) | 5.66% | Buy |
United Parcel Service (UPS) | 5.58% | Buy |
AES (AES) | 5.42% | Buy |
Congra Brands (CAG) | 5.41% | Hold |
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Dan Burrows is Kiplinger's senior investing writer, having joined the august publication full time in 2016.
A long-time financial journalist, Dan is a veteran of SmartMoney, MarketWatch, CBS MoneyWatch, InvestorPlace and DailyFinance. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Consumer Reports, Senior Executive and Boston magazine, and his stories have appeared in the New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and Investor's Business Daily, among other publications. As a senior writer at AOL's DailyFinance, Dan reported market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and hosted a weekly video segment on equities.
Once upon a time – before his days as a financial reporter and assistant financial editor at legendary fashion trade paper Women's Wear Daily – Dan worked for Spy magazine, scribbled away at Time Inc. and contributed to Maxim magazine back when lad mags were a thing. He's also written for Esquire magazine's Dubious Achievements Awards.
In his current role at Kiplinger, Dan writes about equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, funds, macroeconomics, demographics, real estate, cost of living indexes and more.
Dan holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a master's degree from Columbia University.
Disclosure: Dan does not trade stocks or other securities. Rather, he dollar-cost averages into cheap funds and index funds and holds them forever in tax-advantaged accounts.
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