Which returned more over the last year, SHY or SPY?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SHY returned +1.6% and SPY +13.6%.

Which is cheaper, SHY or SPY?

SPY 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.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

SHY vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SHY returned +1.6% to SPY's +13.6%; 0% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $27.4bn for iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF and $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.

SHY on its own →SPY on its own →

At a glance

+1.6%

SHY total return, 1 year

+13.6%

SPY total return, 1 year

0.15%

SHY expense ratio

0.09%

SPY expense ratio

Pair scorecard

SPY costs 0.06 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 12.0 points; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $27.4bn.

SHY vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	SHY	SPY
Return
Measure	SHY	SPY
Total return, 1 year	+1.6%	+13.6%
Benchmark
Measure	SHY	SPY
What it tracks	ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index	S&P 500 Index
Cost and size
Measure	SHY	SPY
Expense ratio	0.15%	0.09%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$27.4bn	$814.8bn
Holdings
Measure	SHY	SPY
Holdings in common	0%
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		38.1%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, SHY and SPY hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

0% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first SHY SPY

Only in one fund ↓

Only in SHY

TREASURY NOTE 2.11%

TREASURY NOTE 1.99%

TREASURY NOTE 1.83%

TREASURY NOTE 1.73%

TREASURY NOTE 1.62%

TREASURY NOTE 1.54%

TREASURY NOTE 1.51%

TREASURY NOTE 1.49%

Only in SPY

NVIDIA CORP 7.92%

APPLE INC 7.61%

MICROSOFT CORP 5.93%

AMAZON.COM INC 3.73%

ALPHABET INC CL A 2.83%

BROADCOM INC 2.45%

ALPHABET INC CL C 2.26%

META PLATFORMS INC CLASS A 2.06%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

SHY iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

Where it sits Bond ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Tracks an index of 1-3 Year Treasury Bond Tracks the S&P 500

Total return, 1 year +1.6% +13.6%

Its benchmark over the same days +1.7% (BBSB) +13.7% (VOO)

Gap to its benchmark −0.1 pts vs BBSB −0.1 pts vs VOO

Expense ratio 0.15% 0.09%

Holdings 90 504

Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 $27.4bn $814.8bn

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

Alert

About each fund

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.

SPY

SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.6% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% 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 504 positions, with the top ten at 38.1%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, SHY or SPY?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SHY returned +1.6% and SPY +13.6%.
Which is cheaper, SHY or SPY?: SPY 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.

Other comparisons

IVV vs SHY SHY vs VTI SHY vs VOO SHY vs SPYM SPY vs VGSH IEI vs SPY BNDX vs SPY BOND vs SPY

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

SHY filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

SHY prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for SHY ↗

SPY filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

State Street website ↗

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, SHY against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/shy-vs-spy

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