Guide · US Total Market
Best total US stock-market ETFs
A total-market ETF owns essentially every publicly traded US company at its market-cap weight. There is no factor tilt, no sector overweight, no "smart beta" adjustment — just the whole market in one fund. For a passive investor, this is the cleanest possible expression of "I want to own US stocks."
How the scoring ranks these funds
These three funds track different indexes from different vendors but end up holding the same ~3,500 names at near-identical weights. The PlainIndex composite ranks them on cost, liquidity, concentration, and tax efficiency; the practical differences come down to a few basis points and which TLH partner you prefer.
See the methodology for the full formula behind each sub-score.
Top picks
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95
composite / 100
Vanguard's flagship total-market fund and the default reference point for the category. Tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index. The largest by AUM of the three by a wide margin.
- Expense
- 0.030%
- AUM
- $2.20T
- Issuer
- Vanguard
- Detail
- VTI page →
-
95
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
- $88.94B
- Issuer
- iShares
- Detail
- ITOT page →
-
95
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
- $40.99B
- Issuer
- Schwab
- Detail
- SCHB page →
Also in the category
Other funds scoring in this category. Same data, no editorial commentary yet.
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 but is the same situation TLH practitioners have operated under for years without IRS challenge.
Guide. Picks come from the live PlainIndex composite for this category; editorial commentary on each pick is hand-written. Re-pulled with every catalog refresh.
PlainIndex publishes data and editorial commentary — nothing here is personalized investment advice. Read the methodology for how the scores referenced here are computed.