Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
TLT vs USHY: Differences, Returns & Fees
TLT's duration was 15.1 years on Aug 31, 2026 and USHY's 3.0 on Jul 31, 2026; USHY charges 0.08% to TLT's 0.15%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $47.4bn for iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF and $26.3bn for iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
USHY costs 0.07 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 9.6 points; TLT is 1.8 times larger.
| Measure | TLT | USHY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −7.9% | +1.7% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 42.6%, high on Aug 4, 2020 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index | ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.08% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $47.4bn | $26.3bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Nov 3, 2017 to Oct 23, 2026 · 468 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: TLT against BBLB, Apr 28, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026; USHY against SPHY, Nov 3, 2017 to Oct 23, 2026.
USHY returned more: +47.3% to −16.1%. USHY swung less: 9.7% to 14.2%. USHY fell less at its worst: −21.9% to −47.8%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | TLT | USHY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | −16.1% | +47.3% | USHY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | −1.9% | +4.4% | USHY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −35.3% | −14.9% | USHY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 14.2% | 9.7% | USHY | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 10.5% | 6.8% | USHY | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −47.8% | −21.9% | USHY | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 102.4% | 104.0% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 101.2% | 103.7% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.01 | 1.07 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.95 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | −0.26 | 0.21 | USHY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | −0.35 | 0.30 | USHY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | −0.072 | 0.019 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | −0.04 | 0.20 | USHY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | BBLB | SPHY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | 0.0% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.01 | −0.10 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.8% to +0.8% | −1.5% to +1.4% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.10 | 0.03 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.7% | 2.3% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 468 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, TLT and USHY hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
TLT and USHY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
TLT and USHY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. TLT follows ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index and USHY follows ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and Jul 31, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 TLT returned −7.9% and USHY +1.7% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 9.6 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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TLT
TLT tracks an index of 20+ year Treasuries. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −7.9% with distributions reinvested, against −7.8% for its benchmark, the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. It sat 42.6% below its high of Aug 4, 2020 on Oct 28, 2026.
USHY
USHY tracks an index of Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.7% with distributions reinvested, against +1.8% for its benchmark, the ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index, measured by the closely related ICE BofA US High Yield Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.08% a year.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, TLT or USHY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, TLT returned −7.9% and USHY +1.7%.
- Which is cheaper, TLT or USHY?
- USHY is cheaper, by 0.07 percentage points a year. That is about $7 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.
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ETFIQ, TLT against USHY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/tlt-vs-ushy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). TLT against USHY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/tlt-vs-ushy
[TLT against USHY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/tlt-vs-ushy)
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