SCHD vs. VYM vs. DGRO vs. VIG: The Core Four Dividend ETFs, Side by Side
Four giant dividend ETFs, four different philosophies. We compare yield, fees, total return and what each index actually selects for, with an income calculator for all four.
The short version
- SCHD and VYM lean toward higher yield today. DGRO and VIG lean toward companies that keep raising their dividends.
- All four are cheap, huge and widely held. Fees are not the deciding factor here.
- The real choice is income now versus income growth later.
If you ask ten dividend investors what their core holding is, most will name one of four funds. SCHD, VYM, DGRO and VIG together hold hundreds of billions of dollars. They look similar on the surface. Under the hood, they are built to do different jobs.
The core four, live
SCHD: quality plus yield
SCHD tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index. It screens for companies with at least ten straight years of dividends, then ranks them on cash flow, return on equity, yield and dividend growth. The result is a concentrated portfolio of about 100 stocks with a yield of 3.0% and a fee of 0.06%. The index is rebuilt once a year, which can shuffle a big chunk of the holdings at once.
VYM: broad high yield
VYM follows the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index. It takes U.S. companies forecast to pay above-average yields and weights them by size, which makes it far more diversified than SCHD, with hundreds of holdings. Yield is 2.5% and the fee is 0.04%. Think of it as the market's dividend payers, tilted toward income.
DGRO: growing the dividend
DGRO tracks the Morningstar US Dividend Growth Index. It requires at least five years of uninterrupted dividend growth and screens out companies with payout ratios that look stretched. The yield is lower at 2.0%, and the bet is that the income grows faster over time.
VIG: the long-streak growers
VIG follows the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index, which requires at least ten consecutive years of dividend increases and excludes the highest-yielding names. That makes it the most growth-flavored of the four. Yield is just 1.6%, and it ties VYM for the lowest fee of the group at 0.04%.
Income today from the same investment
Estimated annual income at each fund's current yield
Today's income only. Dividend growth rates differ, so the ranking can change over time.
So which one?
There is no single winner, which is why so many investors own two of them. A few common ways to think about it:
- Want the most income today? SCHD and VYM pay more right now.
- Decades away from spending the income? DGRO and VIG are built around dividend growth, which has historically come with stronger price growth.
- Want maximum diversification? VYM and VIG hold far more companies than SCHD.
- Overlap check. These funds share many of the same large companies, so owning all four adds less diversification than it looks.
To see how any of them could grow your income over the years, use the DRIP calculator or project it out on DividendProjection.com. For deep dives on SCHD specifically, including its dividend history and rebalances, TopDividendETFs.com covers it every quarter.
How this article was made: Benjie picks every topic based on what he finds useful as a dividend investor and what readers ask about. Parts of this article were drafted with help from AI tools, then edited, fact-checked and shaped by Benjie. All fund numbers come from the TopETFs database and update daily.
Disclaimer: TopETFs.com is published by Dividend Empire LLC for educational and entertainment purposes only. We are not financial advisors, and nothing on this site is financial advice, a recommendation, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. ETF data is compiled from public sources and fund issuers, may be delayed, inaccurate or outdated, and may differ from the fund sponsor's own figures. Yields are trailing distribution yields, are not guaranteed, and distributions may include return of capital, which reduces your cost basis and is not a measure of performance. Total returns are since each fund's inception unless noted and are not comparable across funds with different start dates. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risk, including loss of principal. Read each fund's prospectus and consult a licensed financial advisor before investing. Dividend Empire LLC receives compensation from ETF issuers for sponsored placements, which are labeled as such.
