6 Dividend Income Stocks With Better Yields Than the SP 500 These are six dividend income stocks with better yields than the SP 500 . The SP 500 has a dividend yield of approximately 1.60% from a practical standpoint. The reason this is so is that the SPDR SP 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA: SPY ) trades for $374.64 as of June 23, and its training 12-month (TTM) dividend payment is $6.01 . That gives it a dividend yield of 1.60%. The Wall Street Journal reports that the actual index yield is 1.76% . But you cannot make that unless you buy an index fund like SPY or else own all 500 stocks separately. The recent SPY quarterly dividend payment was $1.58. That works out to $6.32 annually. But that is only if the quarterly dividends were all at the same level. That is not what happens with the SPY dividend. They vary each quarter. So the TTM dividend payment is the best way to measure the SP 500 yield from a practical, comparable standpoint. Therefore, these six stocks have better yields than the SP 500 as measured by the SPY ETF (i.e., 1.60%). They also have enough earnings to cover their dividends.