SPY vs VYM: how much do they really overlap?
SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, tracking the S&P 500) and VYM (Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF, tracking the FTSE High Dividend Yield) overlap by roughly 16% by weight. 1 of SPY's top 10 holdings also appear in VYM. A 50/50 blend of the two behaves like about 102 equally-weighted bets (diversification grade A). In short, the two funds have only a small shared core — they mostly hold different things and are largely complementary.
The same companies, in both funds
These 7 holdings appear in both SPY and VYM. The weight columns show how much of each fund each name represents.
| Holding | in SPY | in VYM |
|---|---|---|
| AVGO Broadcom Inc. | 2.76% | 8.51% |
| JPM JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 1.38% | 3.14% |
| JNJ Johnson & Johnson | 0.97% | 2.24% |
| XOM Exxon Mobil Corporation | 0.88% | 2.53% |
| CAT Caterpillar Inc. | 0.74% | 1.67% |
| CSCO Cisco Systems, Inc. | 0.73% | 1.98% |
| ABBV AbbVie Inc. | 0.70% | 1.59% |
Only in SPY
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust — US large-cap. Its biggest holdings that VYM doesn’t have:
| NVDA NVIDIA Corporation | 7.38% |
| AAPL Apple Inc. | 6.47% |
| MSFT Microsoft Corporation | 4.28% |
| AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. | 3.68% |
| GOOGL Alphabet Inc. | 3.24% |
| GOOG Alphabet Inc. | 2.60% |
| MU Micron Technology, Inc. | 2.02% |
| META Meta Platforms, Inc. | 1.93% |
Only in VYM
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF — US high-dividend. Its biggest holdings that SPY doesn’t have:
| ORCL Oracle Corp. | 1.57% |
| UNH UnitedHealth Group Inc. | 1.43% |
| CVX Chevron Corp. | 1.41% |
| BAC Bank of America Corp. | 1.40% |
| PG Procter & Gamble Co. | 1.39% |
| HD Home Depot Inc. | 1.30% |
| KO Coca-Cola Co. | 1.27% |
| MRK Merck & Co. Inc. | 1.22% |
So — mostly different. Should you hold both?
SPY and VYM have only a small shared core — they mostly hold different things and are largely complementary. Held together they genuinely broaden your exposure — a 50/50 blend reaches ~102 effective positions (grade A), because they hold largely different securities.
Holdings as of — SPY: Jun 29, 2026 (State Street Global Advisors); VYM: May 31, 2026 (Vanguard). Refreshed monthly. Overlap is measured across each fund’s largest holdings (top 50); the diffuse long tail barely moves the math.
See this for YOUR whole portfolio, free →SPY vs VYM — FAQ
- How much do SPY and VYM overlap?
- SPY and VYM overlap by approximately 16% measured by portfolio weight — that is the share of the smaller fund's holdings (by weight) that also sit inside the other. 1 of SPY's 10 largest holdings are also held by VYM. They share 7 of their listed top holdings in total.
- Is it redundant to hold both SPY and VYM?
- Because they have only a small shared core — they mostly hold different things and are largely complementary, holding both is not redundant — each fund covers largely different holdings, so together they broaden your exposure. A 50/50 blend has an effective 102 positions and a A diversification grade.
- What does VYM hold that SPY doesn't?
- VYM's largest holdings that SPY doesn't hold include ORCL, UNH, CVX, BAC, PG. Its category is US high-dividend, versus SPY's US large-cap.
- Which is more concentrated, SPY or VYM?
- SPY's top 10 holdings are 71% of its listed weight; VYM's are 44%. The more concentrated fund leans harder on its largest names.