MUB vs NYF

MUBAiShares National Muni Bond ETF

NYFAiShares New York Muni Bond ETF

In short

MUB Municipal bonds, indexed and cheap. Since 2007, MUB has packaged investment-grade national munis into tax-exempt monthly income for five basis points a year, and it sits among the deepest pools in the muni-ETF aisle.

NYF New York in one ticker: roughly 900 investment-grade, AMT-free munis from the Empire State, at a fee that undercuts most muni funds. Running since 2007, and it tracks its index closely.

Stated mandate

MUB The fund seeks to track an index of investment-grade U.S. municipal bonds, providing diversified exposure to the national municipal-bond market and tax-exempt income.

NYF The fund seeks to track the ICE AMT-Free New York Plus Municipal Index, which represents investment-grade, tax-exempt U.S. dollar debt issued primarily by New York and its political subdivisions. It uses indexing and representative sampling rather than active security selection.

Why people hold it

• MUB 0.05% a year against a muni-ETF median near 0.30%. In a category built on modest, tax-exempt yields, that fee gap is real money left in the fund.
• The benchmark is AMT-free: the ICE AMT-Free US National Municipal Index screens out munis whose interest can be pulled into the alternative minimum tax.ishares.com
• Tracks its index closely, one of the tighter jobs in its peer group, and distributes monthly. A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively.
• Broad investment-grade exposure across the national muni market, spread over thousands of issuers rather than one state's budget.ishares.com

• NYF At 0.09% a year it charges less than the typical muni bond ETF, which is unusual for single-state exposure (narrower usually means pricier).
• Follows the ICE AMT-Free New York Plus Municipal Index with very little drift, using representative sampling rather than picking bonds by hand.sec.gov
• Launched in 2007, one of the original New York muni ETFs and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that pays monthly.
• Income is tax-exempt at the federal level and for New York State, and the index screens out AMT bonds.ishares.com

Worth knowing

• MUB Two rivals undercut it: VTEB and SCMB both run 0.03%. A two-basis-point gap is small, but it is a gap.
• A bond fund with no maturity date to hold to. Share prices move with interest rates and muni credit conditions, both directions.
• National by design, so no single-state tilt and no in-state tax angle. iShares runs state-specific muni funds such as NYF for that job.

• NYF One state's credit story: New York and its subdivisions drive the portfolio, so Albany and City Hall budget news matters more here than in a national muni fund.
• The state tax break only reaches New York taxpayers. Elsewhere you get the federal exemption alone.ishares.com
• Muni prices move with interest rates, and this trades less actively than national heavyweights like MUB and VTEB, so spreads can run wider.

Full MUB profile⁠

Full NYF profile⁠