Data as of Sep 12, 2026. Both funds on the fields they both publish, from the same sources.
SPY vs VHT: how they differ
SPY and VHT hold 9% of their weight in the same names, and VHT returned more over the year.
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and Vanguard Health Care Index Fund.
What they hold in common
By the books each fund has filed, SPY and VHT hold 9% of their money in the same securities at the same weight.
| Holding | SPY | VHT |
|---|---|---|
| Eli Lilly & Co. | 1.47% | 14.07% |
| Johnson & Johnson | 0.95% | 8.48% |
| AbbVie, Inc. | 0.69% | 6.10% |
| UnitedHealth Group, Inc. | 0.59% | 5.46% |
| Merck & Co., Inc. | 0.49% | 4.67% |
| Amgen, Inc. | 0.30% | 2.87% |
| Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. | 0.29% | 2.93% |
| Abbott Laboratories | 0.24% | 2.36% |
| Gilead Sciences, Inc. | 0.24% | 2.64% |
| Intuitive Surgical, Inc. | 0.22% | 2.39% |
| Pfizer, Inc. | 0.21% | 2.36% |
| CVS Health Corp. | 0.20% | 1.83% |
| Only in SPY | Only in VHT |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA Corp. 7.52% | Medtronic PLC 1.50% |
| Apple, Inc. 6.59% | Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc 0.63% |
| Microsoft Corp. 4.30% | Natera Inc 0.47% |
| Amazon.com, Inc. 3.62% | REVOLUTION Medicines Inc 0.40% |
| Alphabet, Inc. 3.25% | Illumina Inc 0.39% |
| Broadcom, Inc. 2.77% | Insmed Inc 0.36% |
| Alphabet, Inc. 2.59% | United Therapeutics Corp 0.36% |
| Micron Technology, Inc. 2.02% | STERIS PLC 0.33% |
Weight overlap is an ETFIQ calculation: for every security both funds hold, the smaller of the two weights, summed. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and May 31, 2026.
| SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | VHT Vanguard Health Care Index Fund | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | Core index fund | Core index fund |
| Issuer | State Street | Vanguard |
| What it is | S&P 500, book from IVV | Health Care |
| Total return, 1 year | +17.5% | +21.6% |
| S&P 500 over the same days | +17.5% | +17.5% |
| Gap to the S&P 500 | 0.0 pts | +4.1 pts |
| Expense ratio | 0.09% | 0.09% |
| Already in the S&P 500 | 100.0% | 85.6% |
| Holdings | 504 | 401 |
SPY in plain words
SPY is an index equity fund tracking the S&P 500. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +17.5% with distributions reinvested, against +17.5% for the S&P 500 and +23.0% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings filed for Jun 30, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 36.4%.
VHT in plain words
VHT is an index equity fund tracking the Health Care. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +21.6% with distributions reinvested, against +17.5% for the S&P 500 and +23.0% for the Nasdaq-100. By its holdings filed for May 31, 2026, 86% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 401 positions, with the top ten at 52.0%. It sat 5.7% below its high of Aug 19, 2026 on Sep 11, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, SPY or VHT?
- In the year to Sep 12, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPY returned +17.5% and VHT returned +21.6%, so VHT returned more. One year is one year; the longer windows are in the table.
- Which is cheaper, SPY or VHT?
- SPY charges 0.09% a year and VHT charges 0.09%, so VHT is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
- How much do SPY and VHT overlap with the S&P 500?
- By their latest filed holdings, 100% of SPY and 86% of VHT by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds. Between the two funds, 9% of their books are the same securities at the same weight.
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Where these figures came from
ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.
Cite this page. ETFIQ, SPY against VHT, data as of Sep 12, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/SPY-VHT Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.
A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources