VTI vs VOO: Side-by-Side ETF Comparison

VTI vs VOO: Both charge 0.03% and posted nearly identical 1-year returns (14.07% vs 14.43%), but VTI holds the entire U.S. market while VOO tracks just the S&P 500 - meaning VTI gives you 4,000+ small and mid-cap stocks that VOO ignores. The trade-off shows up in valuations: VTI's P/E sits at 21.5 compared to VOO's 22.4, reflecting those extra smaller companies trading at lower multiples.

Table of Content

• Annual & Cumulative Returns
• Risk Metrics
• Dividend Yield & Growth
• Fees & Liquidity
• ETF Composition: Asset Classes
• Regional Allocation
• Sector Weights
• Top 10 Holdings
• Valuation & Growth Metrics
• Which ETF Fits Your Portfolio?

ETF Issuers & Investment Objective

Both VTI and VOO come from Vanguard, the Malvern-based mutual company that practically invented low-cost indexing, so either choice keeps roughly 96% of every dollar invested actually working for you after the 0.03% annual fee. The fork in the road is scope: VTI samples the entire U.S. market, sweeping in about 4,000 stocks from Apple down to Nasdaq-traded micro-caps, while VOO simply mirrors the S&P 500, the 500 large caps that most investors already use as shorthand for “the market.”

That difference tilts the portfolios. Technology sits on top of both 33% for VTI, 35% for VOO but VTI’s broader net lets midsized and smaller names dilute concentration risk and drops the portfolio P/E to 21.5 versus 22.4 for VOO. If you want the cleanest proxy for headline U.S. large-cap performance, VOO delivers it. If you prefer to own the whole haystack and harvest any extra return that small- and mid-caps occasionally provide, VTI’s your basket.

Annual & Cumulative Returns

The numbers tell a familiar story: VOO's large-cap focus has delivered slightly better returns over most periods, with its 14.11% five-year performance edging out VTI's 12.71%. That 1.4 percentage point gap might seem modest, but it compounds meaningfully over time. The pattern holds across three and ten-year windows too, though the margins shrink to about half a percent annually.

What's interesting is how these ETFs flip positions in shorter timeframes. VTI's broader market exposure helped it pull ahead this year by half a percent, and its 14.07% one-year return came within striking distance of VOO's 14.43%. This back-and-forth illustrates a key point: while large caps have dominated the past decade, VTI's inclusion of mid and small-cap stocks can provide an edge when those segments rally. The choice between them often comes down to whether you want pure large-cap exposure or prefer the full market spectrum for potentially smoother long-term returns.

Risk Metrics

VTI clocks in slightly higher on the volatility scale: 11.38% over the past year versus 10.99% for VOO, and the gap widens a bit over three years (12.56% to 11.96%). That extra wobble is the price you pay for owning the whole U.S. market instead of just the 500 largest names. Small- and mid-cap stocks, which VTI holds in abundance, simply jump around more than the mega-caps that dominate the S&P 500.

The Sharpe ratio tells the same story in risk-adjusted terms. VOO’s 1.4 over the last three years beats VTI’s 1.29, meaning each unit of volatility in the S&P 500 fund delivered a bit more reward. The difference isn’t huge, but it does suggest that, lately, the market has paid you modestly better for staying in the large-cap lane.

Dividend Yield & Growth

The dividend difference between these two Vanguard giants is basically a rounding error - VTI yields 1.12% while VOO sits at 1.13%. That's a gap of just 0.01%, which means on a $10,000 investment, you're talking about a single dollar of annual dividend income. Both funds pay quarterly distributions, so you'll see the same payment rhythm whether you own the entire market through VTI or stick with the S&P 500 via VOO.

What matters more is what's driving those dividends. VTI's broader reach into mid and small-cap companies creates a slightly different income profile - these smaller firms often reinvest more earnings rather than paying them out, which helps explain why the total market fund trails the S&P 500 by a hair. VOO's large-cap focus tilts toward mature companies with established dividend policies, particularly in sectors like consumer staples and utilities that don't crack VTI's top three weightings. The yield gap may be tiny now, but it reflects real differences in how these market segments treat shareholder payouts.

Fees & Liquidity

Both funds charge the same razor-thin 0.03% expense ratio, so on a $10,000 position you're paying Vanguard just $3 a year money you'd lose to inflation by leaving it idle for a single day. That parity means the fee decision disappears; what matters instead is how often you trade. VTI's sprawling basket of 3,700-plus stocks gives it a slightly wider bid-ask spread, averaging about 0.01% versus VOO's 0.005%. If you're dollar-cost averaging every payday the difference is a rounding error, but a high-turnover strategy inside a taxable account could make VOO the cheaper ride simply because you're crossing the spread less often.

Volume tells the same story: VOO trades roughly 4 million shares daily versus VTI's 3 million, so market makers quote tighter prices on the S&P tracker. Still, both ETFs are so liquid that a retail investor placing a market order during regular hours will almost always get the national best bid or offer. Unless you're moving tens of thousands of shares in one shot or you're obsessive about saving every hundredth of a percent the liquidity gap between these two is academic.

ETF Composition: Asset Classes

Both funds are almost entirely U.S. equities, but VTI’s 98.8% domestic weighting leaves a hair more room for small cash and “other” positions than VOO’s 99.1%. The gap is tiny about 25 basis points and neither fund has any meaningful foreign exposure, yet that sliver explains why VTI holds a touch more cash (0.41% versus 0.22%). In practice the difference is invisible to daily price moves, but if you’re running a model that treats every basis point as investable assets, VTI’s slightly looser portfolio will show up as a marginally higher cash drag.

What matters more is what those near-100% stock allocations represent. VTI’s share count stretches from micro-caps to megacaps, so its 98.8% U.S. figure captures the entire domestic market. VOO’s 99.1% is the same pie, just sliced at the large-cap end, which is why the two line-items look almost identical even though the underlying baskets differ in size exposure. Bottom line: if you buy either ETF you’re getting a pure U.S. equity sleeve; the choice is whether you want the whole market or just the big-company layer.

Regional Allocation

Both VTI and VOO are essentially all-in on the U.S. market each parks 99.5% of assets in North-American listings, so the headline difference is a rounding error. What separates them is how that last half-percent is sprinkled abroad. VTI’s micro-caps occasionally list foreign depositary shares, pushing 0.25% into developed Europe and another 0.12% into emerging Asia and Latin America. VOO, tracking only the S&P 500, still gets some overseas revenue exposure, but the portfolio itself shows 0.38% in developed Europe and 0.11% in emerging Asia with no Latin America line item at all.

For anyone building a U.S.-core position, the gap is immaterial currency risk is practically zero and sector bets swamp country effects. Still, if you like the idea of micro-caps that happen to trade in London or Tokyo, VTI gives you that microscopic tilt. Otherwise, the two funds behave like pure domestic proxies, and you’ll need separate international holdings if you want true geographic balance.

Sector Weights

VTI and VOO tilt toward the same three sectors, but the gaps are wider than you might expect. Technology dominates both portfolios, yet VOO’s 35.1% allocation is two percentage points heftier than VTI’s 33.2%. That difference shows up again in communication services, where VOO carries 10.9% versus VTI’s 10.1%. Meanwhile, VTI keeps a touch more in industrials (8.8% to 7.5%) and healthcare (10.3% to 9.6%), the kinds of mid- and small-cap names that don’t make the S&P 500 cut.

The takeaway is concentration risk. VOO’s tighter benchmark leans more heavily on today’s mega-caps, so a selloff in Apple or Microsoft will sting a little more. VTI’s broader sweep adds smaller companies that can soften the blow when tech falters, but it also means you own more of everything, including sectors like real estate and utilities that have lagged this year. Neither mix is “better”; it’s simply a question of whether you want the market exactly as the S&P serves it, or the fuller platter that includes the forgotten corners.

Top 10 Holdings

The top five holdings tell an interesting story about these two funds. While both feature the same tech giants in roughly the same order, VOO concentrates more heavily in each name - NVIDIA makes up 7.75% of VOO versus 6.56% in VTI, and this pattern holds across all five positions. This 1-2 percentage point difference in each holding reflects VOO's focus on the 500 largest companies, while VTI's broader 4,000+ stock universe naturally dilutes individual position sizes.

For investors, this means VOO provides slightly more concentrated exposure to mega-cap tech success stories. If these five companies continue their market dominance, VOO should benefit more. However, the concentration cuts both ways - any significant pullback in these names would hit VOO harder than VTI. The 33.2% vs 35.1% technology sector weighting difference shows this isn't just about five stocks, but VTI's inclusion of smaller companies does modestly temper the mega-cap influence that defines VOO.

Valuation & Growth Metrics

VTI trades at 21.5 times earnings and 4.1 times book value, a modest discount to VOO’s 22.4 P/E and 4.6 P/B. That 4% lower price-to-earnings multiple mostly reflects the fund’s 14% weight in mid- and small-cap names, which the market traditionally prices at lower ratios than the megacaps that dominate the S&P 500. The same story shows up on price-to-sales: VTI’s 2.9 is half a point below VOO’s 3.2, again because its broader basket includes more asset-heavy or cyclical businesses that sell for slimmer margins.

Growth expectations are almost identical long-term earnings projections hover just under 10.6% for both portfolios but the historical track records diverge. VOO’s holdings have delivered 10.2% annual earnings growth over the past five years, comfortably ahead of VTI’s 8.7%, and the sales numbers are even starker: positive 8% for the S&P 500 versus a 39% contraction for the total-market cohort, dragged down by smaller firms that struggled with margin pressure. In practice, VTI gives you a slightly cheaper entry valuation in exchange for a bit less proven earnings power; VOO asks you to pay 4% more for companies that have shown they can grow through the last cycle.

Which ETF Fits Your Portfolio?

VTI gives you the entire U.S. market - about 4,000 stocks spanning large caps down to micro caps - so you’re basically buying a slice of the whole economy. That extra breadth shows up in the sector mix: technology still leads at 33%, yet the weight in consumer cyclicals and small financial names is noticeably higher than in VOO, which tracks only the 500 biggest companies. The trade-off is visible in the numbers: VTI’s 14.07% one-year return lagged VOO’s 14.43% by 0.36 percentage points, and its P/E of 21.5 sits a point lower than VOO’s 22.4, reflecting the drag (and sometimes the cushion) of smaller, cheaper stocks.

If you want to own “the market” in one shot and don’t mind slight under-performance when large caps sprint ahead, VTI does the job for the same 0.03% fee. Investors who prefer to stick with the bellwether large caps that drive most headlines - and most returns in recent years - will find VOO’s tighter 35% tech weight and slightly higher yield (1.13% vs 1.12%) a better fit. Either way, the cost difference is negligible; the real choice is whether you value total-market completeness or S&P purity.

If you want to have look at other ETF comparisons, check out this: Fund Overlap Tool

Data sources: The data has been obtained from the ETF provider's website and ETF fact sheet.