---
title: "VTV leads VYM over 10 years. The recent gap is one year"
url: "https://etf.net/news/vtv-leads-vym-over-10-years-2026-10-23"
published_at: "2026-10-23T15:49:57.347Z"
updated_at: "2026-10-23T15:49:57.347Z"
byline: "ETF.net Research"
---

# VTV leads VYM over 10 years. The recent gap is one year

The decade lead sits in the earlier half, and the funds have traded it since.

By ETF.net Research. Published Oct 23, 2026.

Vanguard Morningstar Value ETF, VTV, is the better total-return fund over a decade. Through Sept. 30, 2026, its net asset value returned 12.28% a year for 10 years, against 11.28% for Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF, VYM, a lead of **1 percentage point** a year. That lead is not only the last year.

Prefer VYM if you want the higher payout. Over three and five years, VTV's whole lead is the year through Sept. 30.

## The decade lead is older than the last year

The returns below are Vanguard's net asset value total returns through Sept. 30, so the dividends are in the figures. Periods longer than a year are annualized. The 30-day SEC yield is the standardized measure of recent fund income.

The sources are Vanguard's [fact sheet for the value fund](https://advisors.vanguard.com/assets/corp/fund_communications/pdf_publish/us-products/fact-sheet/F0966.pdf), its [page for that fund](https://advisors.vanguard.com/investments/products/vtv/vanguard-morningstar-value-etf) and its [page for the dividend fund](https://advisors.vanguard.com/investments/products/vym/vanguard-high-dividend-yield-etf).

Table: , Vanguard Morningstar Value ETF VTV, Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF VYM

The three-year lead is 1.08 percentage points a year, and the five-year lead is 0.80 percentage points. Both come from the latest year, when VTV returned 18.19% and VYM returned 12.72%.

Take that year out of the three- and five-year figures, and VYM was ahead in the years before it. Over the two years ended Sept. 30, 2025, VYM returned 20.23% a year and VTV 19.03%. Over the four years ended that day, VYM returned 11.36% a year and VTV 11.03%.

The 10-year lead is different. Without the latest year, VTV still leads over the nine years ended Sept. 30, 2025, 11.64% a year against 11.12%. That edge sits in the first half of the decade: 12.13% a year for VTV and 10.93% for VYM in the five years ended Sept. 30, 2021.

The funds have traded the lead. The last year is a much wider gap than the years around it.

Both funds replicate their indexes. In the year through Sept. 30, VTV's 18.19% trailed its benchmark by 3 basis points, and VYM's 12.72% trailed the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index by 5 basis points. The gap between the funds is the gap between the indexes.

## Most of the money is in the same stocks

VTV seeks to track the Morningstar US Large Cap Value Index. It is the fund long called Vanguard Value ETF, renamed in July 2026. VYM seeks to track the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index.

Vanguard says that index emphasizes stocks forecast to have above-average dividend yields. FTSE Russell's October 2026 ground rules remove stocks that are not currently paying a dividend, or that are not forecast to pay one over the next 12 months.

As of Sept. 30, Vanguard reported 593 stocks in VYM and 298 in VTV. Most of the dividend fund's names are not in the value fund.

The money overlaps more than the names do. The funds share 194 stocks, and measured by dollars rather than by count, 69.5% of each portfolio overlaps the other. JPMorgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson and the other large dividend payers sit in both at close to the same weight.

Chart: Large dividend names sit in **both** at similar weight

As of Sept. 30, Vanguard measured the median company at $168.9 billion in VTV and $171.0 billion in VYM.

On the Sept. 30 fact sheet, Micron Technology was 4.6% of VTV, the largest holding, and Berkshire Hathaway was 3.5%. Berkshire pays no dividend, and the high-yield index removes stocks that do not pay one. Broadcom was 6.9% of VYM, its largest holding, on [Vanguard's page for that fund](https://advisors.vanguard.com/investments/products/vym/vanguard-high-dividend-yield-etf) the same day.

## When the higher payout is the reason

On Sept. 30, VYM's 30-day SEC yield was 2.35% and VTV's was 1.89%. The gap is 0.46 percentage points, **$46** a year on $10,000 before share prices move.

That higher payout is already inside the total returns above. Over every return window in the table, VTV is still ahead.

Compounded, the 10-year rates in the table turn $10,000 into $31,844 in VTV and $29,119 in VYM, a gap of **$2,725** with dividends reinvested. In that latest year, the gap on $10,000 was $547.

VTV charges 0.03%, the ratio in its April 28, 2026 prospectus. VYM charges 0.04%, the ratio in its Feb. 27, 2026 prospectus. On $10,000 the difference is $1 a year.

The ETF share class held $184.2 billion in VTV and $78.9 billion in VYM on Sept. 30. For most buyers, that difference in size does not matter.

Prefer VYM if you want the higher distribution and you plan to spend it. If you reinvest, the measure is total return.

Over a decade, even without the last year, VTV still compounded more. Over the two and four years before that latest year, VYM did.

Source: etf.net, https://etf.net/news/vtv-leads-vym-over-10-years-2026-10-23. Please cite the page URL.