Category Review
Municipal bond funds are down for the year after a third-quarter selloff erased the first-half gain
Vanguard Core-Plus Bond ETF
$74.16+0.13 (+0.18%)
- 0.20%
- $1.9B
- −1.3%
- 4.98%
- 0.3M sh
- $73.90
- low $73.44high $79.41
The ETF.net VPLS Grade
A
Score 74 out of 100
- 21 of 117
Score 74 of 100 falls in the A band. A is 70 or higher, B 55 to under 70, C 40 to under 55, D 25 to under 40, F under 25.
Cost
The fund’s net expense ratio, ranked against its category.A71 out of 100Rank 33 of 117Mission
Whether the fund did what it promised, tested against its stated mandate.A100 out of 100Rank 1 of 101Risk
How the fund held up when markets fell: downside volatility, drawdowns and tail loss.C51 out of 100Rank 34 of 116Tradability
How easy the fund is to trade: daily volume, and how far its price strays from net asset value.B55 out of 100Rank 50 of 117Holdings
How concentrated the fund is, and how complete and current its disclosed holdings are.A90 out of 100Rank 5 of 116Durability
Whether the fund is likely to stay open, judged by its age, its assets and its issuer’s assets.B66 out of 100Rank 41 of 117
Our read on VPLS
AVanguard's active bond desk in an ETF wrapper. The "plus" is permission to roam past U.S. investment grade into high yield and emerging market debt, benchmarked to the broader Universal index instead of the plain Agg, for 0.20% a year.
The fund seeks total return and moderate to high current income. It invests mainly in investment-grade U.S. bonds, with selective below-investment-grade and foreign debt exposure, including emerging markets, and is actively managed.
Why people hold it
- 0.20% a year for an actively run bond book, comfortably under the 0.36% median for broad bond ETFs. Vanguard's fixed income team, at index-adjacent money.corporate.vanguard.com
- The "plus" is the point: Treasuries, agency mortgages and investment-grade credit at the core, plus room for high yield and emerging market debt the plain Agg skips.institutional.vanguard.com
- Well over a thousand bonds, so no single issuer moves the needle much, and cash goes out monthly rather than quarterly.
- Does what its prospectus says it does, and sits in the top quartile of the broad bond group.
Worth knowing
- Index Aggs like BND, SPAB and SCHZ charge 0.03%. The gap buys a human team's judgment, which can land behind the benchmark as easily as ahead.
- The high yield and emerging market sleeve carries credit risk a pure investment-grade fund does not, and those are the bonds that wobble when investors turn defensive.fund-docs.vanguard.com
- Moderately traded rather than a giant of the bond aisle, and it launched in 2023, so there is less history behind it than the long-running index Aggs.
VPLS Holdings
- Bonds
- 3,030
- 8%
- Mktliq 12/31/2049
Sectors
- Materials77.7%
- Health Care22.3%
VPLS Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Not enough history yet.Not enough history yet.Not enough history yet.
VPLS$9,873
Returns run to the Oct 12, 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 | VPLS |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −2.0% |
| 1 month | −1.2% |
| 3 months | −2.6% |
| 1 year | −1.3% |
| 3 years | — |
| 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 | VPLS |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −2.0% | |
| 2025 | +7.8% | |
| 2024 | +2.7% | |
| 2023 | +2.8% |
VPLS in the news
VPLS Dividends
- 4.98%
- $3.69
- $0.29 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
VPLS Risk
- 4.5%
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.
- −0.33
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.
- −4.3%
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.
- 0.14
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
VPLS Cost
0.20%
VPLS0.20%
- The middle half of US Aggregate Bond funds
- Median 0.34%
31 of the 113 US Aggregate Bond funds charge less.
Other funds in US Aggregate Bond
- ADFCFDimensional - Core Fixed Income ETFExpense ratio 0.18%1 year return −1.9%
- AEUSBiShares ESG Advanced Universal USD Bond ETFExpense ratio 0.12%1 year return −1.6%
- ABLVVanguard Long-Term Bond ETFExpense ratio 0.03%1 year return −7.3%
- ACGCBCapital Group Core Bond ETFExpense ratio 0.27%1 year return −2.2%
- AIMTBiShares Core 5-10 Year USD Bond ETFExpense ratio 0.07%1 year return −2.0%