How many CBA shares do I need to buy for $10,000 of passive income?

Owning Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) shares over the last 30 years has been a smart choice for passive income, with the dividend growing significantly in that time, and the bank typically delivering a solid dividend yield.

When I think about investing in ASX blue-chip shares, CBA is one of the names that spring to mind because of its market-leading position, its ability to regularly grow earnings, and its usually growing dividend.

In the past, I've come across people who received several thousand dollars of annual dividends from Commonwealth Bank. They lacked portfolio diversification, but the long-term investment returns from the ASX bank share were compelling.

Commonwealth Bank remains a solid business, though I wouldn't advocate for any investor to have CBA be a majority of their portfolio or dividend income.

So, assuming CBA shares wouldn't be a massive percentage of the portfolio, let's take a look at what it would take to unlock $10,000 of passive income through owning CBA shares.

Potential Commonwealth Bank dividend income

According to the independent forecasts on CommSec, the business is projected to increase its payout in FY26 and then again in FY27.

Starting with the projection for the 2026 financial year, owners of CBA shares are estimated to receive an annual dividend per share of $5.15 – that would represent year-over-year growth of 6.2%. It would also be a grossed-up dividend yield of approximately 4.5%, including franking credits, at the time of writing.

Investors may be even more interested in the possible payout for the 2027 financial year. The annual dividend per share is projected to be $5.45 per share, which is a forecast year-over-year rise of 5.8%. That annual payment would represent a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.8%, including franking credits.

$10,000 passive income goal

Using the $5.15 forecast payment for FY26, and ignoring the franking credits, an investor would need to own 1,942 CBA shares for $10,000 of annual passive income.

But, if we look ahead to FY27's potential payout of $5.45, an investor would only need to own 1,835 CBA shares.

Is this a good time to invest in CBA shares?

According to the CommSec collation of analyst opinions on the ASX bank share, it's not a good time to invest.

Of 16 analyst ratings tracked by CommSec, only two of them were holds, and the rest were sell ratings.

That's not a good outlook for strong returns, so it could be wise to look at other ideas.