Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
AGG vs SHY: Differences, Returns & Fees
On Aug 31, 2026 AGG's duration was 5.8 years and SHY's 1.8; AGG charges 0.03% to SHY's 0.15%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $139.4bn for iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF and $27.4bn for iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
AGG costs 0.12 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.0 points; AGG is 5.1 times larger.
| Measure | AGG | SHY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −1.4% | +1.6% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.4%, high on Aug 4, 2020 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index | ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $139.4bn | $27.4bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 16% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Aug 31, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Oct 3, 2003 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,203 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: AGG against SCHZ, Jul 22, 2011 to Oct 23, 2026; SHY against BBSB, Apr 28, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026.
AGG returned more: +97.2% to +54.2%. SHY swung less: 1.4% to 5.1%. SHY fell less at its worst: −5.6% to −18.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | AGG | SHY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +97.2% | +54.2% | AGG | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +3.0% | +1.9% | AGG | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −5.7% | −1.1% | SHY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 5.1% | 1.4% | SHY | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 3.8% | 0.9% | SHY | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −18.2% | −5.6% | SHY | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 97.5% | 97.9% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 97.5% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.94 | 0.98 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.95 | 0.98 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.25 | 0.06 | AGG | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.33 | 0.09 | AGG | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.004 | −0.012 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.16 | 0.34 | SHY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | SCHZ | BBSB | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.1% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.23 | −0.96 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.6% | −0.4% to +0.1% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.04 | −0.43 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 1.1% | 0.2% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,203 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, AGG and SHY hold 16% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Aug 31, 2026.
half
16% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
AGG and SHY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
AGG and SHY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. AGG follows Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index and SHY follows ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index.
- Holdings in common. 16% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Aug 31, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 AGG returned −1.4% and SHY +1.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 3.0 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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AGG
AGG tracks an index of US aggregate bonds. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −1.4% with distributions reinvested, against −1.3% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. It sat 3.4% below its high of Aug 4, 2020 on Oct 28, 2026.
SHY
SHY tracks an index of 1-3 Year Treasury Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.6% with distributions reinvested, against +1.7% for its benchmark, the ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, AGG or SHY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, AGG returned −1.4% and SHY +1.6%.
- Which is cheaper, AGG or SHY?
- AGG is cheaper, by 0.12 percentage points a year. That is about $12 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, AGG against SHY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/agg-vs-shy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). AGG against SHY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/agg-vs-shy
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