Which returned more over the last year, IAU or XLV?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLV +25.6%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or XLV?

XLV is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

IAU vs XLV: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and XLV an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, XLV returned +25.6% against +2.7%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $47.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF.

IAU on its own →XLV on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+25.6%

XLV total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.08%

XLV expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLV costs 0.17 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 22.9 points; IAU is 1.3 times larger.

IAU vs XLV: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	XLV
Return
Measure	IAU	XLV
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+25.6%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	XLV
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	XLV
What it tracks	Gold	Health Care Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	XLV
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$60.3bn	$47.0bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	XLV
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		60.6%

Method

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust XLV State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of Health care

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +25.6%

Its benchmark over the same days +2.5% (GLD) not measured

Gap to its benchmark +0.2 pts vs GLD not measured

Expense ratio 0.25% 0.08%

Holdings not counted 62

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLV as of Oct 27, 2026 $60.1bn $47.0bn

IAU and XLV on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Alert

About each fund

IAU

Its expense ratio is 0.25% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.

IAU holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.7% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

XLV

XLV tracks an index of Health care. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +25.6% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.08% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 62 positions, with the top ten at 60.6%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or XLV?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLV +25.6%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or XLV?: XLV is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

IAU vs VHT IAU vs XLE IAU vs XLF IAU vs XLU SLV vs XLV USO vs XLV BWET vs XLV GLD vs XLV

Where to next

IAU on its own →XLV on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →XLV dividend history →XLV holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

XLV filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLV prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

State Street website ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, IAU against XLV, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-xlv

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Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.