Dimensional - California Municipal Bond ETF
$48.13−0.21 (−0.43%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.19%
- Fund size
- $658M
- 1Y return
- −0.6%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 3.08%
- Holdings
- 324
- Volume · 30D
- 0.1M sh
- NAV per share
- $48.39
- 52W range
The ETF.net DFCA Grade
Score 68 of 100 sits in the B band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.AScore 77Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 75Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.CScore 45Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 68Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.BScore 60Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 67Category rank
Our read on DFCA
BCalifornia munis, run the Dimensional way: an actively managed intermediate portfolio hunting income exempt from federal and California state income tax, priced at 0.19% a year, below the typical muni bond ETF.
The Fund seeks current income expected to be exempt from federal personal income tax and California state personal income taxes.
Why people hold it
- 0.19% a year, under the median fee in the muni ETF group, and that buys active management rather than straight index replication.sec.gov
- Leans into longer bonds when the curve pays for term risk and shorter when it does not, staying within a duration band set around its California AMT-free benchmark.sec.gov
- A fundamental policy puts at least 80% of assets in bonds whose interest escapes both federal and California personal income tax. Income arrives monthly.sec.gov
- Roughly 300 positions across revenue, general obligation and lease bonds, broad for a one-state book, and it sits in the upper tier of the muni ETFs we grade.sec.gov
Worth knowing
- One state's finances drive the whole portfolio. National muni funds such as VTEB (0.03%) and MUB (0.05%) spread credit across the country for less.
- The California half of the tax break counts only for California taxpayers; everyone else is left with the federal exemption alone.sec.gov
- Intermediate maturities mean rates drive prices, and as a 2023 launch that trades in moderate volume, spreads can run wider than the giant national muni funds.sec.gov
DFCA Holdings
- Bonds
- 324
- 10%
- CALIFORNI 5.% 04/01/35
Geography
- United States100.00%
DFCA Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | DFCA |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −1.6% |
| 1 month | −2.0% |
| 3 months | −2.7% |
| 1 year | −0.6% |
| 3 years | +2.2% |
| 5 years | — |
| 10 years | — |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | DFCA |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −1.6% | |
| 2025 | +3.0% | |
| 2024 | +1.5% | |
| 2023 | +2.6% |
DFCA in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on DFCA yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
DFCA Dividends
- 3.08%
- $1.49
- $0.13 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 22, 2026 | Pays Sep 24, 2026 | $0.13 |
| Aug 18, 2026 | Aug 20, 2026 | $0.11 |
| Jul 21, 2026 | Jul 23, 2026 | $0.11 |
| Jun 23, 2026 | Jun 25, 2026 | $0.13 |
| May 19, 2026 | May 21, 2026 | $0.11 |
| Apr 21, 2026 | Apr 23, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Mar 24, 2026 | Mar 26, 2026 | $0.13 |
| Feb 18, 2026 | Feb 20, 2026 | $0.10 |
| Jan 21, 2026 | Jan 23, 2026 | $0.04 |
| Dec 16, 2025 | Dec 18, 2025 | $0.21 |
| Nov 18, 2025 | Nov 20, 2025 | $0.10 |
| Oct 21, 2025 | Oct 23, 2025 | $0.12 |
DFCA Risk
- 3.3%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- −0.63
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −3.3%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.56
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
DFCA Cost
- The middle half of Other Municipal Bond funds
- Median 0.30%
14 of the 62 Other Municipal Bond funds charge less.