Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
SHY vs VCSH: Differences, Returns & Fees
SHY's duration was 1.8 years on Aug 31, 2026 and VCSH's 2.7 on May 31, 2026; VCSH charges 0.03% to SHY's 0.15%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about SHY and VCSH
Net assets: $27.4bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF, and $43.9bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
VCSH costs 0.12 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.3 points; VCSH is 1.7 times larger.
| Measure | SHY | VCSH |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +1.6% | +1.3% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index | Bloomberg U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.03% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $26.3bn | $43.9bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 1% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated May 31, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Dec 4, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026 · 881 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: SHY against BBSB, Apr 28, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026; VCSH against SCHJ, Oct 18, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026.
VCSH returned more: +59.9% to +25.3%. SHY swung less: 1.3% to 3.5%. SHY fell less at its worst: −5.6% to −11.3%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | SHY | VCSH | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +25.3% | +59.9% | VCSH | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +1.3% | +2.8% | VCSH | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −2.3% | +2.8% | VCSH | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 1.3% | 3.5% | SHY | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 0.9% | 2.5% | SHY | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −5.6% | −11.3% | SHY | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 97.9% | 98.3% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 99.8% | 98.3% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.98 | 0.95 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.98 | 0.99 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | −0.15 | 0.37 | VCSH | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | −0.22 | 0.52 | VCSH | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | −0.012 | −0.003 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.24 | 0.25 | VCSH (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | BBSB | SCHJ | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.96 | −0.29 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.1% | −0.4% to +0.3% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.43 | −0.06 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.2% | 0.5% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 881 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, SHY and VCSH hold 1% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated May 31, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026.
half
1% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
SHY and VCSH on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
SHY and VCSH do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. SHY follows ICE U.S. Treasury 1-3 Year Bond Index and VCSH follows Bloomberg U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index.
- Holdings in common. 1% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and May 31, 2026).
- Number of holdings. SHY holds 90 positions and VCSH holds 3064.
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.
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.
VCSH
VCSH tracks an index of Short-Term Corporate Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.3% with distributions reinvested, against +1.3% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, SHY or VCSH?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SHY returned +1.6% and VCSH +1.3%.
- Which is cheaper, SHY or VCSH?
- VCSH 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.
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 VCSH, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/shy-vs-vcsh
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). SHY against VCSH. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/shy-vs-vcsh
[SHY against VCSH (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/shy-vs-vcsh)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.