Which returned more over the last year, USMV or VO?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, USMV returned +10.8% and VO +12.8%.

Which is cheaper, USMV or VO?

VO 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.

How much do USMV and VO overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 93% of USMV and 91% of VO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

USMV vs VO: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, USMV returned +10.8% to VO's +12.8%; 18% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets: $24.1bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF, and $103.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF.

USMV on its own →VO on its own →

At a glance

+10.8%

USMV total return, 1 year

+12.8%

VO total return, 1 year

0.15%

USMV expense ratio

0.03%

VO expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VO costs 0.12 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.0 points; VO is 4.5 times larger.

USMV vs VO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	USMV	VO
Return
Measure	USMV	VO
Total return, 1 year	+10.8%	+12.8%
Drawdown
Measure	USMV	VO
Below its high		3.1%, high on Aug 14, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	USMV	VO
What it tracks	MSCI USA Minimum Volatility (USD) Index	Morningstar US Mid Cap Index (formerly CRSP US Mid Cap Index)
Cost and size
Measure	USMV	VO
Expense ratio	0.15%	0.03%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$23.2bn	$103.4bn
Holdings
Measure	USMV	VO
Holdings in common	18%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	14.8%	9.7%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method

Risk and return

Oct 28, 2011 to Oct 23, 2026 · 782 weekly returns

USMV VO

Return

Total return edge VO (slight) +423.5% +439.2%

Annualized edge Tie +11.6% +11.9%

Price return edge VO (slight) +295.7% +327.8%

Risk

Volatility edge USMV 13.4% 17.3%

Max drawdown edge USMV −30.6% −37.4%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge USMV 0.76 0.64

Sortino edge USMV 1.09 0.92

Calmar edge USMV 0.38 0.32

Reading

VO returned slightly more: +439.2% to +423.5%. USMV swung less: 13.4% to 17.3%. USMV fell less at its worst: −30.6% to −37.4%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: USMV vs VO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	USMV	VO	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+423.5%	+439.2%	VO (slight)	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+11.6%	+11.9%	Tie	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+295.7%	+327.8%	VO (slight)	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	13.4%	17.3%	USMV	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	9.3%	12.0%	USMV	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−30.6%	−37.4%	USMV	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.76	0.64	USMV	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	1.09	0.92	USMV	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.38	0.32	USMV	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 782 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

18%

By the books each fund has filed, USMV and VO hold 18% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

18% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first USMV VO

MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS INC 1.48% 0.73%

TE CONNECTIVITY PLC 0.58% 0.60%

SNOWFLAKE 0.56% 0.55%

FORTINET 0.88% 0.55%

CLOUDFLARE CLASS A 0.55% 1.11%

ALLSTATE CORP 0.54% 0.55%

CENCORA 1.25% 0.54%

REALTY INCOME REIT 0.59% 0.51%

AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER INC 0.48% 0.64%

AUTOZONE 0.74% 0.46%

AUTODESK 0.63% 0.44%

XCEL ENERGY INC 0.47% 0.43%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in USMV

MICROSOFT 1.61%

EXXONMOBIL HOLDINGS CORP 1.54%

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC CLASS B 1.50%

CHUBB 1.50%

AMPHENOL CORP CLASS A 1.47%

NVIDIA 1.47%

JOHNSON & JOHNSON 1.44%

MCKESSON CORP 1.43%

Only in VO

Valero Energy Corp 1.10%

Quanta Services Inc 0.95%

Vertiv Holdings Co 0.92%

Howmet Aerospace Inc 0.89%

Robinhood Markets Inc 0.88%

Lumentum Holdings Inc 0.86%

Constellation Energy Corp 0.84%

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co 0.79%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

USMV iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF VO Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Tracks the MSCI USA Min Vol Factor Tracks an index of Mid-Cap

Total return, 1 year +10.8% +12.8%

Expense ratio 0.15% 0.03%

Already in the S&P 500 93.0% 91.1%

Holdings 176 273

Net assets, USMV as of Oct 27, 2026 and VO as of Sep 30, 2026 $24.1bn $103.4bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-5DD8AB10C1

USMV and VO do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?

What each follows. USMV follows MSCI USA Minimum Volatility (USD) Index and VO follows Morningstar US Mid Cap Index (formerly CRSP US Mid Cap Index).
Holdings in common. 18% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 USMV returned +10.8% and VO +12.8% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.0 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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About each fund

USMV

USMV tracks the MSCI USA Min Vol Factor. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +10.8% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 93% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 176 positions, with the top ten at 14.8%.

VO tracks an index of Mid-Cap. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.8% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 91% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 273 positions, with the top ten at 9.7%. It sat 3.1% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, USMV or VO?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, USMV returned +10.8% and VO +12.8%.
Which is cheaper, USMV or VO?: VO 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.
How much do USMV and VO overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 93% of USMV and 91% of VO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

IJH vs USMV MDY vs USMV FTGS vs USMV USMV vs VXF GRNY vs VO RDVY vs VO CGGR vs VO DFUS vs VO

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

USMV filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

USMV prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for USMV ↗

VO filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VO prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VO ↗

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, USMV against VO, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/usmv-vs-vo

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