The constituents of the S&P 500 are part of the large cap sector of the equities market and, since they invlude such a portion of the market, is often considered a representation of the market as a whole. Comprised of some of the largest companies in some of the largest industries in the world, members are classified according to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) and the breakdown of sectors can be roughly illustrated as follows:
The S&P 500 is maintained by an index committee which meets monthly and discusses statistics, candidates, and any corporate actions which may affect constituents. The committee selects member companies and although they try to avoid turnover the members are not always the same. Collectively by capital, members do comprise approximately 75% of the US equities market. The S&P 500 used to be a value-weighted index in which members or components were weighed by the overall market value of outstanding shares. Now a float-adjusted index, the value of the index is a reflection of the value of publicly available shares or those shares available to investors. Historic price milestones for the S&P 500 index include the following:
| Milestone | Closing Level | Date |
| 100 | 100.38 | June 4, 1968 |
| 200 | 201.41 | November 21, 1965 |
| 300 | 301.16 | March 23, 1987 |
| 400 | 404.84 | December 26, 1991 |
| 500 | 500.97 | March 24, 1995 |
| 600 | 600.07 | November 17, 1995 |
| 700 | 700.66 | October 11, 1996 |
| 800 | 802.77 | February 12, 1997 |
| 900 | 904.03 | July 2, 1997 |
| 1,000 | 1,001.27 | February 2, 1998 |
| 1,100 | 1,105.65 | March 24, 1998 |
| 1,200 | 1,202.84 | December 21, 1998 |
| 1,300 | 1,307.26 | March 15, 1999 |
| 1,400 | 1,403.28 | July 9, 1999 |
| 1,500 | 1,500.64 | March 22, 2000 |
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