# Cheapest municipal bond ETFs by expense ratio

> VTEB leads cheapest municipal bond ETFs by expense ratio at 0.03% (fee), as of Nov 12, 2026. 25 funds from ETFIQ’s own published data.

Data as of Nov 12, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.

As of Nov 12, 2026 . Rebuilt every trading night.

## Cheapest municipal bond ETFs by expense ratio

As of Nov 12, 2026, VTEB has the lowest fee of 102 municipal bond ETFs with at least $100m in net assets: 0.03%. 2 funds tie there. See 25 funds ranked by fee, lowest first. Updated Nov 12, 2026.

| # | Ticker | Fund | Fee | Tie | Net assets | 1-year return |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | VTEB | Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond ETF | 0.03% | Tie | $53.6bn | +0.1% |
| 2 | SCMB | Schwab Municipal Bond ETF | 0.03% | Tie | $4.0bn | −0.3% |
| 3 | MUB | iShares National Muni Bond ETF | 0.05% | Tie | $54.6bn | 0.0% |
| 4 | VTES | Vanguard Short-Term Tax-Exempt Bond ETF | 0.05% | Tie | $4.2bn | +1.5% |
| 5 | FMUN | Fidelity Systematic Municipal Bond Index ETF | 0.05% | Tie | $184m | −0.1% |
| 6 | TAXI | Northern Trust Intermediate Tax-Exempt Bond ETF | 0.05% | Tie | $160m | +2.3% |
| 7 | TAXS | Northern Trust Short-Term Tax-Exempt Bond ETF | 0.05% | Tie | $118m | +2.6% |
| 8 | VTEC | Vanguard California Tax-Exempt Bond ETF | 0.06% | | $4.5bn | −0.1% |
| 9 | SUB | iShares Short-Term National Muni Bond ETF | 0.07% | Tie | $13.3bn | +1.8% |
| 10 | SMB | VanEck Short Muni ETF | 0.07% | Tie | $400m | +2.0% |
| 11 | CMF | iShares California Muni Bond ETF | 0.08% | Tie | $5.4bn | −0.1% |
| 12 | VTEI | Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Bond ETF | 0.08% | Tie | $2.3bn | +0.7% |
| 13 | LMUB | iShares Long-Term National Muni Bond ETF | 0.09% | Tie | $2.0bn | −1.1% |
| 14 | NYF | iShares New York Muni Bond ETF | 0.09% | Tie | $1.8bn | +0.2% |
| 15 | MUNY | Vanguard New York Tax-Exempt Bond ETF | 0.09% | Tie | $762m | +0.1% |
| 16 | VTEL | Vanguard Long-Term Tax-Exempt Bond ETF | 0.09% | Tie | $493m | −0.7% |
| 17 | IBMQ | iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Muni Bond ETF | 0.10% | Tie | $690m | +2.0% |
| 18 | IBMP | iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF | 0.10% | Tie | $684m | +2.3% |
| 19 | IBMR | iShares iBonds Dec 2029 Term Muni Bond ETF | 0.10% | Tie | $534m | +1.6% |
| 20 | IBMO | iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Muni Bond ETF | 0.10% | Tie | $491m | +2.5% |
| 21 | IBMS | iShares iBonds Dec 2030 Term Muni Bond ETF | 0.10% | Tie | $403m | +0.9% |
| 22 | IBMT | iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Muni Bond ETF | 0.10% | Tie | $218m | +0.4% |
| 23 | EVIM | Eaton Vance Intermediate Municipal Income ETF | 0.11% | | $255m | +1.2% |
| 24 | VCRM | Vanguard Core Tax-Exempt Bond ETF | 0.12% | Tie | $3.1bn | +1.3% |
| 25 | VSDM | Vanguard Short Duration Tax-Exempt Bond ETF | 0.12% | Tie | $1.6bn | +2.1% |

### Method

102 municipal bond ETFs with at least $100m in net assets are listed by ETFIQ with a fee; the 25 with the lowest fee are shown. Across all 102, the median is 0.23% and the range runs from 0.03% to 0.80%. Lowest first. Funds with the same printed number are marked Tie and ordered by net assets, largest first. The set is ETFIQ’s own segment, computed from each fund’s filings and holdings. The list sorts one published number, with no scoring or weighting. Closed funds are not listed. A ranking is not a recommendation.

### Questions people ask

What is an expense ratio? An ETF’s expense ratio is the yearly fee taken from its assets, net of any waiver, as its prospectus states it. A fee of 0.03% costs $3 a year on $10,000. Which municipal bond ETFs have the lowest fee? As of Nov 12, 2026, VTEB ranks first of 102 municipal bond ETFs with at least $100m in net assets on fee, at 0.03%. SCMB is next at 0.03%.

### Where to next

### Sources

Links are sources, not endorsements.

A ranking is not a recommendation or an opinion. ETFIQ is an independent publisher, not an adviser. Standards and sources

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Source: ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.
Cite: ETFIQ, Cheapest municipal bond ETFs by expense ratio, ranked by fee, lowest first, data as of Nov 12, 2026. https://etfiq.com/rankings/bonds-cheapest-municipal-bond-etfs
Licence: https://etfiq.com/license/ Data ETFIQ computes is free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms.
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