Guide · US Total Market
Best total US stock-market ETFs
These funds own the whole US stock market at market-cap weight: large, mid, and small, no tilts. VTI, ITOT, and SCHB track different indexes and still end up with nearly the same book. What is left to argue about is a few basis points of fee, and which ticker you already hold (or want as a tax-loss-harvesting partner).
Published May 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 16, 2026 · Fund data as of Oct 24, 2026
Why the ranking looks like this
The three funds at the top hold the same ~3,500 names at near-identical weights. Score gaps are fee and AUM. Pick a TLH partner from a different index family, not a different composite.
See the methodology for the full formula behind each sub-score.
The funds
This order is editorial. The composite on each card is live. The full score-ranked table is on the category page.
-
92
composite / 100
Vanguard's flagship total-market fund and the default reference point for the category. Tracks the Morningstar US Total Market Index — the former CRSP US Total Market Index, renamed after Morningstar acquired the CRSP indexes in 2026 (the fund itself was renamed Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF at the same time). The largest by AUM of the three by a wide margin.
- Expense
- 0.030%
- AUM
- $2.32T†
- Issuer
- Vanguard
- Detail
- VTI page →
-
92
composite / 100
iShares' S&P-indexed total-market fund. Identical fee to VTI; a slightly different holdings list because of the index change. The standard tax-loss-harvesting partner for VTI — different index family means the IRS doesn't treat them as substantially identical.
- Expense
- 0.030%
- AUM
- $95.86B
- Issuer
- iShares
- Detail
- ITOT page →
-
91
composite / 100
Schwab's Dow-Jones-indexed total-market fund. Smaller than VTI / ITOT but functionally interchangeable for buy-and-hold. Useful as a third TLH partner or for households consolidating at Schwab.
- Expense
- 0.030%
- AUM
- $44.43B
- Issuer
- Schwab
- Detail
- SCHB page →
† Whole fund: this ETF is one share class of a fund that also sells mutual-fund shares, and the figure covers all of them. Our sources don't report the ETF class on its own.
Also in the category
Other funds in the same category, ranked by composite score.
How a total-market fund differs from an S&P 500 fund
The S&P 500 covers ~80% of US market cap — the 500 largest names by listing committee. A total-market fund extends that down through mid- and small-cap stocks, picking up an additional ~3,000 holdings. The long-run return difference is small because large-caps dominate by weight, but the additional names smooth out the return profile slightly and are the only place a passive investor captures the small-cap risk premium without a deliberate tilt.
Tax-loss harvesting between these three
VTI / ITOT / SCHB are routinely used as rotating TLH partners. They track different indexes from different vendors, which is the standard line of argument for the funds not being "substantially identical" under wash-sale rules. The compare pages show holdings overlap directly — VTI and ITOT overlap at >98% of weighted holdings, which is high. The different-index convention is widely used, but the IRS has never ruled on ETF-to-ETF swaps and there is no safe harbor — the compare page shows the overlap so the reader can weigh it.
Funds are pulled from the live composite for this category. Notes are editorial and refresh with the catalog.
PlainIndex publishes data and editorial commentary — nothing here is personalized investment advice. Read the methodology for how the scores referenced here are computed.