Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
BND vs VHT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, BND returned −1.3% to VHT's +25.0%; 0% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets on Sep 30, 2026: $161.4bn for Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF and $19.1bn for Vanguard Health Care ETF.
Pair scorecard
BND costs 0.06 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 26.3 points; BND is 8.5 times larger.
| Measure | BND | VHT |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −1.3% | +25.0% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.5%, high on Aug 6, 2020 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index | MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Health Care 25/50 |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $161.4bn | $19.1bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 86% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 51.8% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Apr 20, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,018 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: BND against AGG, Apr 20, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026; VHT against FHLC, Nov 1, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
VHT returned more: +626.5% to +75.5%. BND swung less: 5.0% to 17.2%. BND fell less at its worst: −18.4% to −38.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | BND | VHT | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +75.5% | +626.5% | VHT | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +2.9% | +10.7% | VHT | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −5.4% | +438.9% | VHT | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 5.0% | 17.2% | BND | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 3.7% | 12.2% | BND | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −18.4% | −38.1% | BND | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 95.8% | 100.7% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 95.6% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.91 | 1.01 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.94 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.29 | 0.59 | VHT | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.39 | 0.83 | VHT | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.016 | 0.103 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.16 | 0.28 | VHT | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | AGG | FHLC | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.2% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.59 | 0.17 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.7% | −0.4% to +0.5% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.03 | 0.15 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 1.3% | 0.8% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,018 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, BND and VHT hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
BND and VHT on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
BND and VHT do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. BND follows Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index and VHT follows MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Health Care 25/50.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Sep 30, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 BND returned −1.3% and VHT +25.0% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 26.3 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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BND
BND tracks an index of US aggregate bonds. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −1.3% with distributions reinvested, against −1.4% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, measured by the closely related Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. It sat 3.5% below its high of Aug 6, 2020 on Oct 28, 2026.
VHT
VHT tracks an index of Health Care. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +25.0% with distributions reinvested, against +25.4% for its benchmark, the MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Health Care 25/50. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 86% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 414 positions, with the top ten at 51.8%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, BND or VHT?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BND returned −1.3% and VHT +25.0%.
- Which is cheaper, BND or VHT?
- BND is cheaper, by 0.06 percentage points a year. That is about $6 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, BND against VHT, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-vht
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