The S&P 500 is a benchmark for the U.S. stock market. When you invest in the S&P 500, you’re investing in the top 500 companies in the United States (and some of the largest companies in the world).
The easiest way to invest in the S&P 500 is through an index fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF). But when you buy shares of these funds, what exactly are you buying?
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Here’s a breakdown of exactly what you own when you put $10,000 into the S&P 500, including how many dollars are invested into the top 20 companies.
Also see why Warren Buffett says an S&P 500 index fund is the best option for most investors.
The S&P 500 is a stock market index that tracks the performance of the top 500 companies in the United States. The index actually tracks 503 total stocks, because some companies have multiple share types in the top 500.
The index is market cap-weighted — meaning that the larger a company is, the higher percentage of the index is represented by that company.
For example, Nvidia (NVDA) is currently the largest company in the world by market cap, and represents 7.15% of the entire index. But Paramount Global is a much smaller company and represents only 0.02% of the entire S&P 500 index.
So when you buy an S&P 500 index fund or ETF, you’re buying a small percentage in all 503 stocks. But you own a whole lot more of the larger companies than you do of the smaller ones.
Here’s how it breaks down.
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Let’s say you have $10,000 to invest in an S&P 500 index fund. Here’s what you’re actually buying.
|
Company |
Symbol |
Weight |
Amount |
|
Nvidia |
NVDA |
7.15% |
$715 |
|
Microsoft |
MSFT |
6.65% |
$665 |
|
Apple Inc. |
AAPL |
5.55% |
$555 |
|
Amazon |
AMZN |
4.27% |
$427 |
|
Meta Platforms |
META |
3.25% |
$325 |
|
Broadcom |
AVGO |
2.31% |
$231 |
|
Alphabet Inc. (Class A) |
GOOGL |
2.01% |
$201 |
|
Alphabet Inc. (Class C) |
GOOG |
1.91% |
$191 |
|
Berkshire Hathaway |
BRK.B |
1.83% |
$183 |
|
Tesla Inc. |
TSLA |
1.80% |
$180 |
|
JPMorgan Chase |
JPM |
1.42% |
$142 |
|
Walmart |
WMT |
1.35% |
$135 |
|
Lilly (Eli) |
LLY |
1.27% |
$127 |
|
Visa |
V |
1.22% |
$122 |
|
Oracle Corporation |
ORCL |
1.14% |
$114 |
|
Netflix |
NFLX |
0.96% |
$96 |
|
Mastercard |
MA |
0.90% |
$90 |
|
ExxonMobil |
XOM |
0.87% |
$87 |
|
Costco |
COST |
0.77% |
$77 |
|
Johnson & Johnson |
JNJ |
0.67% |
$67 |
These are the top holdings of the S&P 500 index as of July 14, 2025. Out of your entire $10,000 invested, $4,730 goes to the top 20 holdings. And just three stocks make up almost $2,000 of your investment.
The S&P 500 has performed well over the last 50-plus years. In fact, the S&P 500 has seen an annual rate of return around an average of 10% since its inception, per SmartAsset.