Do active funds beat index funds? The SPIVA scorecard, summarized
Every few months S&P Dow Jones Indices publishes the SPIVA U.S. Scorecard, which counts how many professionally managed stock funds trailed a matching index. This page summarizes its latest edition in plain English and sends you to the official report for everything else.
- Latest headline: S&P says 67% of all active large-cap U.S. equity funds trailed the S&P 500 in the first half of 2026, after 79% over full-year 2025 (SPIVA U.S. Scorecard, Mid-Year 2026).
- Longer periods: over 10 years 83.33% of large-cap funds trailed the S&P 500; over 20 years 92.61% did (Report 1a, data as of June 30, 2026).
- Not every category: in the same report, large-cap value funds trailed their index less often over 1 and 3 years (45.80% and 41.09%) than large-cap growth funds (91.84% and 95.44%).
- What it is not: it is a scorecard of a group of funds against indexes, not a forecast and not a recommendation of any fund, index or approach.
Last verified October 22, 2026 against the SPIVA U.S. Scorecard, Mid-Year 2026 (data as of June 30, 2026). We do not recommend a fund, an index or a strategy.
What the SPIVA scorecard measures
SPIVA stands for S&P Indices Versus Active. For each fund category (for example, all large-cap funds) S&P compares the fund returns with a benchmark index it has chosen for that category (for large-cap funds, the S&P 500), and reports the percentage of funds that underperformed. S&P describes the report as the scorekeeper of the active versus passive debate, published since 2002.
In the Mid-Year 2026 edition S&P writes that the S&P 500 rose 10% in the first six months of 2026, that the S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600 rose 17% and 24%, and that active managers faced a more supportive backdrop than in recent years. It still reports that 67% of active large-cap funds trailed the S&P 500, an improvement from 79% over full-year 2025.
The numbers, by category and period
The table is a short extract of S&P's Report 1a (percentage of U.S. equity funds underperforming their benchmarks, based on absolute return). Each cell is the share of funds in that category that trailed the comparison index over the period ending June 30, 2026. A higher number means more funds trailed the index. The full report also covers 3-year and year-to-date periods, other categories, risk-adjusted results, fixed income and international funds. Click a column to sort.
| Fund category | Comparison index | 1-year | 5-year | 10-year | 15-year | 20-year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Domestic Funds | S&P Composite 1500 | 60.82% | 91.40% | 88.19% | 93.25% | 94.89% |
| All Large-Cap Funds | S&P 500 | 78.69% | 89.32% | 83.33% | 90.49% | 92.61% |
| All Mid-Cap Funds | S&P MidCap 400 | 76.21% | 76.95% | 78.38% | 87.72% | 90.53% |
| All Small-Cap Funds | S&P SmallCap 600 | 68.50% | 55.58% | 71.08% | 91.12% | 91.16% |
| All Multi-Cap Funds | S&P Composite 1500 | 63.87% | 88.03% | 86.66% | 92.49% | 93.57% |
| Large-Cap Growth Funds | S&P 500 Growth | 91.84% | 95.48% | 93.02% | 100.00% | 99.52% |
| Large-Cap Core Funds | S&P 500 | 79.10% | 82.55% | 90.13% | 95.53% | 94.38% |
| Large-Cap Value Funds | S&P 500 Value | 45.80% | 77.69% | 82.29% | 92.19% | 86.05% |
Two things to read from it. Over the longest periods, most funds in every category listed trailed their index (every figure in the 20-year column is above 85%). Over shorter periods the answer depends on the category: large-cap value funds trailed the S&P 500 Value over 1 and 3 years less than half the time, per Report 1a (45.80% and 41.09%).
How S&P counts: survivorship, weighting and fees
- Survivorship bias correction. S&P says funds that were liquidated or merged during the period are still counted, because they were part of the choices at the start; the scorecard accounts for the entire opportunity set, not just the survivors.
- Apples-to-apples. Each category is measured against a benchmark suited to that category rather than one index for everything.
- Equal- and asset-weighted averages. S&P publishes both. Equal weighting treats a USD 10 billion fund and a USD 10 million fund alike; asset weighting weights each fund by net assets.
- Share classes and index funds. S&P counts only the share class with the greater assets, and excludes index funds, leveraged and inverse funds and other index-linked products.
Report 2 shows how many large-cap funds existed at the start of each period and how many were still in the data at the end:
| Period | Large-cap funds at start | Still in the data at end (survivorship) |
|---|---|---|
| 1-year | 812 | 96.80% |
| 5-year | 693 | 88.74% |
| 10-year | 912 | 68.75% |
| 20-year | 690 | 36.52% |
S&P’s survivorship column is the share of funds at the start that still existed at the end of the period.
What the scorecard cannot tell you
- It is about groups of funds, not your fund. A percentage of funds that trailed an index says nothing about any one fund, and some funds in every category beat their index.
- Past results. S&P prints on every table that past performance is no guarantee of future results. Rates change from edition to edition; they were 79% for full-year 2025 and 65% for 2024 in the large-cap category, according to S&P's Year-End 2025 scorecard.
- Choice of benchmark and period. Results depend on the index each category is compared with and on the dates chosen.
- Not a full picture of your costs and taxes. The scorecard compares fund returns with index returns; it does not model your fees, taxes, account type or goals. Fund costs, account fees and taxes are worth checking in your own statements and in each fund's prospectus.
- Only the categories S&P lists. Funds, strategies and products outside the report’s scope are not covered.
For a plain-language look at what investment fees and risk mean, the SEC's investor education site, Investor.gov, is a neutral place to start.
Method
All figures on this page are transcribed from the PDF of the SPIVA U.S. Scorecard, Mid-Year 2026 (Summary, Report 1a, Report 2 and the methodology section), and the Year-End 2025 edition for the 2025 and 2024 comparison. Each number was read twice from the PDF text. S&P's site blocks automated downloads, so the text was read from the Internet Archive capture of the official files. The percentages shown are S&P's, not ours, and we added no calculations. S&P updates the scorecard twice a year; check the official page for a newer edition. The report is S&P Dow Jones Indices' copyright; this page quotes a short extract for summary and commentary.
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Primary sources
- S&P Dow Jones Indices: SPIVA U.S. Scorecard, Mid-Year 2026 (PDF) — Summary, Report 1a, Report 2, methodology; data as of June 30, 2026
- S&P Dow Jones Indices: SPIVA U.S. Scorecard, Year-End 2025 (PDF) — full-year 2025 edition
- S&P Dow Jones Indices: SPIVA page (all editions) — current and past scorecards
The Retirement Literacy Foundation is a nonprofit and sells nothing here. Figures belong to S&P Dow Jones Indices; confirm them in the official report linked below. It does not endorse any fund, index, carrier or agent. General education, not individualized advice.