For a rising dividend, iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF ranks first

For a fund of U.S. companies with a record of raising the dividend, we rank iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF DGRO first of 53 U.S. dividend-index funds, and we give it an A. That A compares each fund with the others that make the same promise, on the fee, on whether the fund did what it promised, and on how it held up when markets fell. It is not a ranking by this year's return.

Through Friday, Oct. 30, DGRO returned 18.4%, counting dividends. Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF SCHD returned 33.7% and ranks second.

iShares Core Dividend ETF DIVB returned 36.6%, ahead of SCHD, and ranks third. Its index includes companies with a history of dividends or of share buybacks, so it is not only a dividend fund.

Total returns through Oct. 30, with dividends reinvested. This year starts at the Dec. 31, 2025 close. The past year starts at the Oct. 30, 2025 close. Rank is our place for the fund among the 53, not a sort by return.

Dividend growth ETFs

DGRO tracks the Morningstar US Dividend Growth Index, U.S. companies with a history of growing dividends. iShares listed 391 holdings and $45.3 billion in net assets as of Oct. 30. As of Oct. 29, financials were 19.3% of the fund, information technology 17.7% and health care 17.6%.

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF VIG tracks the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index, the same kind of list. It charges 0.04%, half of DGRO's 0.08%. On $10,000, that is $4 a year. As of Sept. 30, Vanguard had the ETF at $109.1 billion, in 333 stocks, with Microsoft and Apple at 4.9% each and the ten largest holdings at 34.5%.

VIG ranks fifth of the 53. DGRO has the higher place and the better year. VIG costs less and is the larger fund.

A one-month Treasury bill yielded 4.06% on Oct. 30. iShares put DGRO's 30-day yield, the Securities and Exchange Commission's annualized measure of income after fees, at 2.07% as of Sept. 30. Vanguard put VIG's SEC yield at 1.51% as of the same date. Both sat under the Treasury bill.

For a rising payout, the fund we rank first is DGRO. Take VIG if half the fee matters more to you than first place.

Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF

SCHD tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index. Schwab describes it as a focus on the quality and sustainability of dividends, with stocks chosen for fundamental strength relative to their peers. The fund charges 0.06% and held $121.1 billion as of Oct. 30.

Schwab put the 30-day SEC yield at 3.09% as of Oct. 29, still under the one-month Treasury bill. A 3.09% income rate did not produce the 33.7% total return.

Over the five years through Sept. 30, the order changed. Vanguard's fact sheet put VIG at 10.72% a year, measured on the value of the fund's holdings. Its fact sheet for Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF VYM, the broad basket of U.S. stocks with above-average forecast yields, put that fund at 11.63% a year. Vanguard's profile of SCHD put the five-year return at 9.48% a year on the same basis.

The S&P 500 returned 13.79% a year over those five years. SCHD did not lead that window, and none of these three funds led the broad market.

High-dividend ETFs

For income above the one-month Treasury bill, the fund is State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF SPYD. It tracks an index of the 80 highest-yielding companies in the S&P 500, charges 0.07% and held $7.6 billion as of Oct. 29.

State Street put its 30-day SEC yield at 4.35% as of that date, above the Treasury bill's 4.06% on Oct. 30. It returned 17.2% this year and ranks fourth of the 53.

SPYD paid a higher income rate than SCHD and returned less this year.

As of Sept. 30, real estate was 24.7% of the fund, on State Street's fact sheet. Morningstar reported in July 2025 that SPYD lost over 45% from Feb. 20 through March 23, 2020, against a 33.8% loss for the S&P 500.

If the income rate has to beat a one-month Treasury bill, SPYD is the fund among these that does it.

Option-income ETFs

If the cash should come from selling options, the fund is a different product.

JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF JEPI holds large U.S. stocks and sells call options, contracts that collect cash today and cap how much of a rising market the fund keeps.

On J.P. Morgan's Sept. 30 fact sheet, the return on the value of the fund's holdings was 6.62% over one year and 7.78% a year over five, against 15.74% and 13.79% for the S&P 500. The dividends of the past 12 months came to 8.04% of that value.

In its Sept. 30 commentary, J.P. Morgan put the net expense ratio at 0.35%. Over that year, the cash paid out was larger than the 6.62% total return, because the fund gave up part of the market's rise.

On the same kind of comparison, JEPI ranks first of 16 funds that use options to add income on large U.S. stocks. That is a separate group from the 53.

For a rising dividend, DGRO, or VIG if half the fee matters more than first place.

For income above a one-month Treasury bill, SPYD.

For cash from options, JEPI, knowing the payout can run ahead of what the fund actually earned.