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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPY returned +13.6% and XRT +2.4%.

Which is cheaper, SPY or XRT?

SPY is cheaper, by 0.26 percentage points a year. That is about $26 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do SPY and XRT overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 100% of SPY and 22% of XRT by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

SPY vs XRT: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SPY returned +13.6% to XRT's +2.4%; 4% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and $362m for State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF.

SPY on its own →XRT on its own →

At a glance

+13.6%

SPY total return, 1 year

+2.4%

XRT total return, 1 year

0.09%

SPY expense ratio

0.35%

XRT expense ratio

Pair scorecard

SPY costs 0.26 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 11.2 points; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $362m.

SPY vs XRT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	SPY	XRT
Return
Measure	SPY	XRT
Total return, 1 year	+13.6%	+2.4%
Drawdown
Measure	SPY	XRT
Below its high		9.9%, high on Nov 16, 2021
Benchmark
Measure	SPY	XRT
What it tracks	S&P 500 Index	S&P Retail Select Industry Index
Cost and size
Measure	SPY	XRT
Expense ratio	0.09%	0.35%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$814.8bn	$362m
Holdings
Measure	SPY	XRT
Holdings in common	4%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	38.1%	16.6%

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

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, SPY and XRT hold 4% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

4% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first SPY XRT

AMAZON.COM INC 3.73% 1.37%

WALMART INC 0.80% 1.54%

COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP 0.66% 1.50%

TJX COMPANIES INC 0.23% 1.52%

ROSS STORES INC 0.11% 1.39%

O REILLY AUTOMOTIVE INC 0.11% 1.42%

TARGET CORP 0.10% 1.28%

AUTOZONE INC 0.08% 1.47%

EBAY INC 0.07% 1.55%

CARVANA CO 0.06% 1.10%

KROGER CO 0.06% 1.59%

DOLLAR GENERAL CORP 0.04% 1.39%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in SPY

NVIDIA CORP 7.92%

APPLE INC 7.61%

MICROSOFT CORP 5.93%

ALPHABET INC CL A 2.83%

BROADCOM INC 2.45%

ALPHABET INC CL C 2.26%

META PLATFORMS INC CLASS A 2.06%

TESLA INC 1.73%

Only in XRT

KOHLS CORP 1.85%

MAPLEBEAR INC 1.76%

BATH + BODY WORKS INC 1.69%

ETSY INC 1.68%

VICTORIA S SECRET + CO 1.66%

BJ S WHOLESALE CLUB HOLDINGS 1.62%

GAMESTOP CORP CLASS A 1.60%

OLLIE S BARGAIN OUTLET HOLDI 1.60%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust XRT State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer State Street State Street

What it is Tracks the S&P 500 Tracks the S&P Retail

Total return, 1 year +13.6% +2.4%

Its benchmark over the same days +13.7% (VOO) not measured

Gap to its benchmark −0.1 pts vs VOO not measured

Expense ratio 0.09% 0.35%

Already in the S&P 500 99.8% 22.5%

Holdings 504 74

Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 $814.8bn $362m

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

Alert

About each fund

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%.

XRT

XRT tracks the S&P Retail. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.35% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 22% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 74 positions, with the top ten at 16.6%. It sat 9.9% below its high of Nov 16, 2021 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, SPY or XRT?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPY returned +13.6% and XRT +2.4%.
Which is cheaper, SPY or XRT?: SPY is cheaper, by 0.26 percentage points a year. That is about $26 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do SPY and XRT overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 100% of SPY and 22% of XRT by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

SPY vs XHB SPY vs XLY KRE vs SPY SPY vs XOP VOO vs XRT IVV vs XRT VTI vs XRT SPYM vs XRT

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

SPY filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

State Street website ↗

XRT filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XRT prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

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

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