Russell 1000 Index

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What is the Russell 1000 Index?

The Russell 1000 Index tracks the 1,000 largest publicly traded U.S. companies by market capitalization. It is a market-cap-weighted subset of the broader Russell 3000 and is widely used as a benchmark for U.S. large-cap equity performance, covering roughly 90–93% of the U.S. equity market by total market value.

How it works

  • Constituents are selected from the Russell 3000 by ranking stocks by market capitalization; the top 1,000 make up the Russell 1000.
  • The index is market-cap-weighted, so the largest companies have the biggest influence on returns.
  • Components are reconstituted annually (after the fourth Friday in June) to reflect changes in company size and eligibility.
  • Eligibility considers market capitalization, trading volume, and other listing and corporate-structure criteria.

Top holdings (examples)

Large-cap technology and financial companies typically dominate the index. The top 10 constituents as of 2024 included:
– Microsoft (MSFT)
– Apple (AAPL)
– Nvidia (NVDA)
– Amazon (AMZN)
– Meta (META)
– Alphabet Class A (GOOGL)
– Alphabet Class C (GOOG)
– Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B)
– Eli Lilly (LLY)
– JPMorgan Chase (JPM)

Performance snapshot

  • The Russell 1000 held roughly 1,000+ stocks (about 1,004 at some recent points) with a high average market cap (reported around $832 billion as of May 2024).
  • Annual return: 26.53% in 2023.
  • Five-year average annual return: about 15.42%.
  • Dividend yield for the index constituents was about 1.94% as of April 2025.
    Note: The index itself does not pay dividends; investors receive dividends via funds that track the index.

How to invest

You cannot invest directly in an index, but you can gain exposure through mutual funds and ETFs that track it. Major examples:
– iShares Russell 1000 ETF (IWB) — seeks to replicate the Russell 1000. AUM about $37.3 billion (April 2025).
– iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD) — tracks the Russell 1000 Value subset. AUM about $59.4 billion (April 2025).

These funds provide broad large-cap exposure, useful for allocation to the US large-cap segment of an equity portfolio.

Index variations

FTSE Russell offers multiple variations derived from the Russell 1000 to suit different investment styles:
– Russell 1000 Value
– Russell 1000 Growth
– Russell 1000 Defensive
– Russell 1000 Dynamic
– Combination indices (e.g., Growth-Defensive, Value-Dynamic, etc.)

Russell 1000 vs. S&P 500 vs. DJIA

  • Russell 1000: Broad large-cap index of the top 1,000 U.S. companies by market cap; market-cap-weighted.
  • S&P 500: Tracks 500 large U.S. companies; widely used as a gauge for U.S. large-cap performance.
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA): Price-weighted, 30 blue-chip U.S. stocks; historically significant but narrower than the Russell 1000 and S&P 500.

The Russell 1000 is generally broader than the S&P 500 and far broader than the DJIA.

Practical uses

  • Benchmarking large-cap U.S. equity performance.
  • Building passive large-cap portfolio exposure via index funds or ETFs.
  • Tilting a portfolio toward growth/value by using Russell 1000 Growth/Value variants.

FAQs

Bottom line

The Russell 1000 is a broad, market-cap-weighted benchmark representing the largest 1,000 U.S. companies. It captures the majority of U.S. equity market value and offers flexible exposure through plain-vanilla and style-specific index funds and ETFs, making it a core tool for large-cap investment and benchmarking.