What if you invested in PayPal in 2015?
PYPL · Financial · Data through 2026-06-01
If you invested $1,000 in PayPal in 2015
The same $1,000 in the S&P 500 would be worth $4,521(+352.1%)
The S&P 500 returned $4,521 on the same $1,000. S&P 500 outperformed by $3,399.
Try a different start date
Pick any month and year to see what PayPal would be worth.
Compare PayPal to another stock
See how PayPal stacks up since 2015, head to head.
What if PayPal keeps this up?
Project forward at PayPal's 1% historical growth rate. See 5-30 year scenarios.
Growth of $1,000
PayPal vs. S&P 500 vs. US Dollar, 2015 to present
Year-by-Year Returns
$1,000 invested in PayPal starting January 2015
| Year | Price | Value | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | $38.37 | $1,000 | - |
| 2016 | $35.83 | $934 | -6.6% |
| 2017 | $39.44 | $1,028 | +10.1% |
| 2018 | $84.59 | $2,205 | +114.5% |
| 2019 | $88.00 | $2,294 | +4% |
| 2020 | $112.91 | $2,943 | +28.3% |
| 2021 | $232.30 | $6,055 | +105.7% |
| 2022 | $170.46 | $4,443 | -26.6% |
| 2023 | $80.79 | $2,106 | -52.6% |
| 2024 | $60.82 | $1,585 | -24.7% |
| 2025 | $87.82 | $2,289 | +44.4% |
| 2026 | $52.36 | $1,365 | -40.4% |
What this return means
PayPal (PYPL) turned $1,000 into $1,122 since 2015. The total return is +12.2% over 11.6 years, as of 2026-06-01.
That is only about 1% a year once you compound it across 11.6 years. A plain S&P 500 fund would have grown that $1,000 to about $4,521 instead, beating PayPal by around $3,399. The index compounded at about 13.9% a year, a reminder that a single stock can lag a basket of them.
The year-by-year record shows how bumpy the ride was. The best single year was 2018 at +114.5%, and the worst was 2023 at -52.6%. At its lowest point the position was down about 77% from an earlier high. These figures use split-adjusted closing prices and exclude dividends, taxes, trading fees, and inflation, so a real after-tax result would differ.
None of this is a recommendation. It is a record of what already happened, and past performance does not guarantee future results.
What if you invested $100 a month instead?
Most people do not drop a lump sum in on day one. They add a fixed amount every month. Putting $100 into PayPal at the close of every month from July 2015 through June 2026 means 132 buys and $13,200 contributed over about 11 years.
$100/month, dollar-cost averaged
$8,165
-38.1% on $13,200 in
Same $13,200, all in at the start
$14,807
+12.2% on $13,200 in
Going all in at the start beat spreading the buys out by $6,641. That is the usual result when a stock trends up: each monthly buy pays a higher price than the last, so the average cost climbs. Averaging in also meant an average buy price of $69.58 per share across the whole stretch, so the monthly buyer never had to time a single low. Neither number counts dividends, taxes, or trading costs.
Illustrative fixed $100/month example, not a recommendation. Figures are computed from PYPL split-adjusted monthly closes through June 2026. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
PayPal at different times
See how the start year changes the outcome
Featured matchup
See this investment against its closest market rivals
More Financial investments
Compare returns across the sector
Related reading
Deep dives and analysis
Numbers worth sharing
Occasional data drops when something interesting surfaces. No schedule, just signal.
For informational and educational purposes only. Not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All calculations are based on split-adjusted closing prices from Yahoo Finance and do not account for dividends, taxes, or trading fees. See our methodology and full disclaimer.