SCHD yields twice what VIG does. Over 10 years, VIG still leads.

The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF, SCHD, has paid twice the yield of the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF, VIG, on the dividends of the past year. The last four quarterly payments, divided by the latest price on Oct. 22, come to 3% for SCHD and 1.49% for VIG. On $100,000 at those prices, that is $1,510 more from SCHD.

Schwab lists SCHD's expense ratio at 0.06%. Vanguard's prospectus of May 28, 2026, lists VIG at 0.04%. On the same $100,000, SCHD costs $20 more a year, against $1,510 of extra dividends.

VIG's index drops the highest yielders. SCHD's is built to hold them.

VIG tracks the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index. S&P Dow Jones Indices keeps companies that have raised the dividend every year for at least 10 years, then removes the highest-yielding 25% of the stocks that qualify.

SCHD tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index. The same firm starts with companies that have paid a dividend for at least 10 years and sit in the higher-yielding half of that group, then ranks them on cash flow against debt, return on equity, dividend yield and dividend growth.

Both funds are built to match those indexes, so the difference between them is the difference in what the indexes own.

They share names. They do not share the weights.

The two funds share 33 stocks, a third of the names in SCHD and about a tenth of the names in VIG. They do not hold them at the same size. On the typical shared stock, SCHD's weight is more than five times VIG's.

VIG's largest holdings are Microsoft, Apple, Broadcom, Eli Lilly and JPMorgan Chase. None of them are in SCHD. SCHD's largest are Texas Instruments, Procter & Gamble, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Coca-Cola.

This year is Schwab's. The longer record still leans to Vanguard.

These are total returns through Sept. 30, 2026, dividends reinvested, after fees and before taxes, measured on the value of what each fund owns per share rather than the price the shares traded at. Figures for three years and longer are annualized. The year-to-date figure is not annualized.

SCHD leads the year and the past year. That lead has not pulled its three-year average past VIG. VIG leads at three, five and 10 years, and the 10-year lead is 0.42 percentage point a year.

Which one to own

If you spend the dividends, or you want this money to pay you now, own SCHD. The extra yield is what SCHD's index is built to deliver. Chevron and ConocoPhillips are among its largest holdings, and Microsoft, Apple and Broadcom are not.

If you are reinvesting and can wait, own VIG. You give up 1.51 percentage points of trailing yield for dividend growers that include Microsoft, Apple and Broadcom, which SCHD does not hold. That portfolio has compounded more than SCHD's over three, five and 10 years through Sept. 30.

For a reinvestor in a taxable account in the United States, the dividend is taxed in the year it is paid, even if you use it to buy more shares. Less of VIG's return arrives as that check, so more of it can stay in the share price until you sell.

Owning both is not the same bet twice. The funds share 33 stocks, held at very different weights, and VIG's five largest holdings are not in SCHD.