Best Blue Chip Dividend Stocks to Buy for 2025 and Beyond
Wall Street's top-rated blue chip dividend stocks are well-positioned to generate income and deliver outperformance.


It's said the best blue chip dividend stocks never go out of style. True, they might tend to lag in up markets, but they're also likely to hold up better when everything is selling off.
That defensive bias might just be what investors need amid an increasingly opaque outlook for equities.
After lagging the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite by about 16 percentage points on a total return basis in risk-on trading last year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is holding up better than its growthier benchmark in 2025.

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
The elite bastion of 30 blue chip stocks was essentially flat for the year to date through late May, while the Nasdaq was still off by 2%.
Moreover, the Dow suffered a maximum drawdown of 12% when the market threw up in April. By comparison, the Nasdaq lost more than 20% at its spring nadir.
Although the very bluest of blue chip dividend stocks were collective laggards in 2024, their defensive aspects could come in handy over the next 12 months or so. After all, trade uncertainty has complicated the Federal Reserve's rate-cutting plans.
The economic outlook has deteriorated as well. Economists' median estimate puts the odds of recession over the next year at 40%. Separately, the New York Federal Reserve's yield-curve model assigns a 30% probability of recession over the next 12 months, up from 23% at the start of 2025.
Happily, Wall Street's top-rated blue chip dividend stocks – with their impregnable balance sheets and rivers of free cash flow – are well-positioned to generate income and deliver outperformance in the year ahead and beyond, analysts say.
How to find the best blue chip dividend stocks
In order to find the best blue chip dividend stocks to buy now, we started by screening all 30 Dow Jones stocks for Wall Street analysts' top-rated names.
Here's how the process works: S&P Global Market Intelligence surveys analysts' stock ratings and scores them on a five-point scale, where 1.0 equals Strong Buy and 5.0 means Strong Sell.
Any score of 2.5 or lower means that analysts, on average, rate the stock a Buy. The closer the score gets to 1.0, the stronger the Buy call. In other words, lower scores are better than higher scores.
The dividend yield on the Dow has fallen below 2%, so we further limited our screen to Dow dividend stocks with yields of more than 2% as of May 27.
And so, without further ado, below please find the sevene Dow dividend stocks yielding more than 2% that analysts like best. Note well that the top-rated stock is one of the biggest positions in Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway equity portfolio.
Company (Ticker) | Dividend Yield (%) | Analysts' Consensus Recommendation Score | Analysts' Consensus Recommendation |
Coca-Cola (KO) | 2.8 | 1.65 | Buy |
Home Depot (HD) | 2.5 | 1.82 | Buy |
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) | 2.8 | 1.85 | Buy |
Merck (MRK) | 4.2 | 1.96 | Buy |
Procter & Gamble (PG) | 2.6 | 2.00 | Buy |
Cisco Systems (CSCO) | 2.6 | 2.08 | Buy |
Chevron (CVX) | 5.0 | 2.13 | Buy |
Related Content
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Delivered daily. Enter your email in the box and click Sign Me Up.

Dan Burrows is Kiplinger's senior investing writer, having joined the publication full time in 2016.
A long-time financial journalist, Dan is a veteran of MarketWatch, CBS MoneyWatch, SmartMoney, InvestorPlace, DailyFinance and other tier 1 national publications. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Consumer Reports and his stories have appeared in the New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and Investor's Business Daily, among many other outlets. As a senior writer at AOL's DailyFinance, Dan reported market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Once upon a time – before his days as a financial reporter and assistant financial editor at legendary fashion trade paper Women's Wear Daily – Dan worked for Spy magazine, scribbled away at Time Inc. and contributed to Maxim magazine back when lad mags were a thing. He's also written for Esquire magazine's Dubious Achievements Awards.
In his current role at Kiplinger, Dan writes about markets and macroeconomics.
Dan holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a master's degree from Columbia University.
Disclosure: Dan does not trade individual stocks or securities. He is eternally long the U.S equity market, primarily through tax-advantaged accounts.
-
The Y Rule of Retirement: Why Men Need to Plan Differently
If you have a Y chromosome (because you're a guy), following the 'Y rule of retirement' can help you transition to this new life stage with grace.
-
Retire on This Island for Mediterranean Living on the Cheap
This independent nation has a lower cost of living and more visa options than many of its Mediterranean cousins.
-
5 Popular Investing Strategies You Should Really Rethink
There are plenty of popular sayings that help guide your investing strategies, but which ones work? We turned to the experts and historical data to find out.
-
I'm a Financial Professional: It's Time to Stop Planning Your Retirement Like It's 1995
Today's retirement isn't the same as in your parents' day. You need to be prepared for a much longer time frame and make a plan with purpose in mind.
-
An Attorney's Guide to Your Evolving Estate Plan: Set-It-and-Forget-It Won't Work
When did you last review your will? Before kids? Before a big move? An update is essential, but regular reviews are even better. Here's why.
-
Nasdaq Ends the Week at a New High: Stock Market Today
The S&P 500 came within a hair of a new high, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average still has yet to hit a fresh peak in 2025.
-
For a Richer Retirement, Follow These Five Golden Rules
These Golden Rules of Retirement Planning, developed by a financial pro with many years of experience, can help you build a plan that delivers increased income and liquid savings while also reducing risk.
-
Time for a Money Checkup: An Expert Guide to Realigning Your Financial GPS
Even if your financial plan is on autopilot, now is the perfect time to make sure it's still aligned with your goals, especially if retirement is on the horizon.
-
Stocks Swing Lower as Eli Lilly, Fortinet Spiral: Stock Market Today
The main indexes finished well off their session highs after a disappointing batch of corporate earnings reports.
-
Are You Leaving Money on the Table? Four Strategies to Free Up Stuck Investments
From forgotten 401(k)s to outdated asset allocations, here’s how stuck money can hurt your retirement.