The 2020s Are Becoming One of the Best Decades in U.S. Stock Market History

U.S. stocks are on pace for one of their strongest decades ever.
The S&P 500 has gained roughly 140% since the end of 2019, even after enduring the 2020 pandemic crash and the 2022 bear market.
If the index simply maintains the same annualized pace through the end of 2029, the cumulative gain for the decade would approach 275%-280%.
That would put the 2020s among the greatest decades in U.S. equity-market history.
For comparison, the S&P 500 gained roughly 316% during the 1990s, the strongest decade on record.
The 1950s delivered approximately 259%, powered by the postwar economic boom.
The 2010s returned roughly 189% as markets recovered from the Global Financial Crisis.
What makes the current decade remarkable is how much has already happened along the way:
A global pandemic.
The fastest inflation shock in decades.
Aggressive Fed tightening.
Multiple wars.
A historic AI investment boom.
And yet U.S. equities have continued compounding higher.
There are still more than three years left in the decade.
But at the current pace, the 2020s are shaping up to rank among the strongest periods U.S. stock investors have ever experienced.