Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
USHY vs VCIT: Differences, Returns & Fees
USHY's duration was 3.0 years on Jul 31, 2026 and VCIT's 6.0 on May 31, 2026; VCIT charges 0.03% to USHY's 0.08%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about USHY and VCIT
Net assets: $26.3bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF, and $66.6bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
VCIT costs 0.05 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.5 points; VCIT is 2.6 times larger.
| Measure | USHY | VCIT |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +1.7% | −1.8% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.2%, high on Feb 27, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index | Bloomberg U.S. 5-10 Year Corporate Bond Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.08% | 0.03% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $26.0bn | $66.6bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated May 31, 2026 and Jul 31, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Nov 3, 2017 to Oct 23, 2026 · 468 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: USHY against SPHY, Nov 3, 2017 to Oct 23, 2026; VCIT against SCHI, Oct 18, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026.
USHY returned more: +47.3% to +25.3%. VCIT swung less: 7.7% to 9.7%. VCIT fell slightly less at its worst: −20.0% to −21.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | USHY | VCIT | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +47.3% | +25.3% | USHY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +4.4% | +2.5% | USHY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −14.9% | −9.7% | VCIT | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 9.7% | 7.7% | VCIT | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 6.8% | 5.8% | VCIT | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −21.9% | −20.0% | VCIT (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 104.0% | 99.2% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 103.7% | 99.6% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.07 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.95 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.21 | 0.01 | USHY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.30 | 0.02 | USHY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.019 | −0.008 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.20 | 0.13 | USHY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | SPHY | SCHI | 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 | −0.10 | −0.22 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −1.5% to +1.4% | −0.4% to +0.3% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.03 | −0.08 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 2.3% | 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, 468 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, USHY and VCIT hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated May 31, 2026 and Jul 31, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
USHY and VCIT on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
USHY and VCIT do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. USHY follows ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index and VCIT follows Bloomberg U.S. 5-10 Year Corporate Bond Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and May 31, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 USHY returned +1.7% and VCIT −1.8% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 3.5 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.
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.
VCIT
VCIT tracks an index of Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −1.8% with distributions reinvested, against −1.8% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. 5-10 Year Corporate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. It sat 3.2% below its high of Feb 27, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, USHY or VCIT?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, USHY returned +1.7% and VCIT −1.8%.
- Which is cheaper, USHY or VCIT?
- VCIT is cheaper, by 0.05 percentage points a year. That is about $5 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, USHY against VCIT, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ushy-vs-vcit
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). USHY against VCIT. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ushy-vs-vcit
[USHY against VCIT (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ushy-vs-vcit)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.