Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
NUSC vs VTWO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, NUSC returned +12.2% to VTWO's +14.3%; 22% of their weight is in the same names.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about NUSC and VTWO
Net assets: $1.3bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Nuveen ESG Small-Cap ETF, and $16.6bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Russell 2000 ETF.
Pair scorecard
VTWO costs 0.25 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.1 points.
| Measure | NUSC | VTWO |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +12.2% | +14.3% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 5.7%, high on Aug 14, 2026 | 7.5%, high on Aug 14, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Nuveen ESG USA Small-Cap Index | Russell 2000 Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.31% | 0.06% |
| Net assets, NUSC as of Jul 31, 2026 and VTWO as of Sep 30, 2026 | $1.3bn | $16.6bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 22% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 10.2% | 5.4% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Dec 23, 2016 to Oct 23, 2026 · 513 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: NUSC against MLRG, Dec 23, 2016 to Oct 23, 2026; VTWO against IWM, Oct 1, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
NUSC returned slightly more: +139.1% to +131.9%. NUSC swung slightly less: 21.6% to 22.6%. NUSC and VTWO fell about the same at their worst: −40.5% and −40.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | NUSC | VTWO | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +139.1% | +131.9% | NUSC (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +9.2% | +8.9% | NUSC (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +100.1% | +104.3% | VTWO (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 21.6% | 22.6% | NUSC (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 15.1% | 15.8% | NUSC (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −40.5% | −40.2% | Tie | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 93.6% | 98.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 103.0% | 99.5% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.07 | 0.99 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.77 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.40 | 0.38 | NUSC (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.57 | 0.54 | NUSC (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.081 | 0.108 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.23 | 0.22 | NUSC (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | MLRG | IWM | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −4.5% a year | +0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −1.33 | 0.46 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −11.0% to +2.1% | −0.4% to +0.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.34 | 0.02 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 10.5% | 1.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 513 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, NUSC and VTWO hold 22% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026.
half
22% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
NUSC and VTWO on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
NUSC and VTWO are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. NUSC follows Nuveen ESG USA Small-Cap Index and VTWO follows Russell 2000 Index.
- Holdings in common. 22% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 NUSC returned +12.2% and VTWO +14.3% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.1 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
NUSC
NUSC tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.2% with distributions reinvested, against +13.6% for its benchmark, the MSCI USA Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.31% a year. By its holdings filed for Jul 31, 2026, 6% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 405 positions, with the top ten at 10.2%. It sat 5.7% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
VTWO
VTWO tracks the Russell 2000. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +14.3% with distributions reinvested, against +14.1% for its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.06% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,002 positions, with the top ten at 5.4%. It sat 7.5% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, NUSC or VTWO?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, NUSC returned +12.2% and VTWO +14.3%.
- Which is cheaper, NUSC or VTWO?
- VTWO is cheaper, by 0.25 percentage points a year. That is about $25 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.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, NUSC against VTWO, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/nusc-vs-vtwo
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). NUSC against VTWO. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/nusc-vs-vtwo
[NUSC against VTWO (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/nusc-vs-vtwo)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.