VIG vs VUG: how much do they really overlap?
VIG (Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF, tracking the S&P US Dividend Growers) and VUG (Vanguard Growth ETF, tracking the CRSP US Large Cap Growth) overlap by roughly 34% by weight. 5 of VIG's top 10 holdings also appear in VUG. A 50/50 blend of the two behaves like about 39 equally-weighted bets (diversification grade B). In short, the two funds share a meaningful core of the same megacaps, but each also brings real exposure the other lacks.
The same companies, in both funds
These 15 holdings appear in both VIG and VUG. The weight columns show how much of each fund each name represents.
| Holding | in VIG | in VUG |
|---|---|---|
| AVGO Broadcom Inc. | 5.41% | 5.17% |
| AAPL Apple Inc. | 4.57% | 12.32% |
| MSFT Microsoft Corp. | 4.27% | 8.99% |
| LLY Eli Lilly & Co. | 3.85% | 2.53% |
| V Visa Inc. Class A | 2.25% | 1.45% |
| COST Costco Wholesale Corp. | 1.87% | 1.15% |
| LRCX Lam Research Corp. | 1.75% | 1.09% |
| MA Mastercard Inc. Class A | 1.77% | 1.07% |
| ORCL Oracle Corp. | 1.68% | 1.07% |
| KLAC KLA Corp. | 1.11% | 0.70% |
| MCD McDonald's Corp. | 0.87% | 0.54% |
| APH Amphenol Corp. Class A | 0.80% | 0.51% |
| TXN Texas Instruments Inc. | 1.22% | 0.39% |
| SBUX Starbucks Corp. | 0.50% | 0.32% |
| SYK Stryker Corp. | 0.46% | 0.29% |
Only in VIG
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF — US dividend-growth. Its biggest holdings that VUG doesn’t have:
| JPM JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 3.32% |
| XOM Exxon Mobil Corp. | 2.67% |
| JNJ Johnson & Johnson | 2.39% |
| WMT Walmart Inc. | 2.23% |
| CSCO Cisco Systems Inc. | 2.09% |
| CAT Caterpillar Inc. | 1.79% |
| ABBV AbbVie Inc. | 1.69% |
| UNH UnitedHealth Group Inc. | 1.51% |
Only in VUG
Vanguard Growth ETF — US large-cap growth. Its biggest holdings that VIG doesn’t have:
| NVDA NVIDIA Corp. | 13.10% |
| GOOGL Alphabet Inc. Class A | 5.95% |
| AMZN Amazon.com Inc. | 4.85% |
| GOOG Alphabet Inc. Class C | 4.68% |
| META Facebook Inc. Class A | 3.73% |
| TSLA Tesla Inc. | 3.31% |
| AMD Advanced Micro Devices Inc. | 2.30% |
| NFLX Netflix Inc. | 0.99% |
So — partly overlapping. Should you hold both?
VIG and VUG share a meaningful core of the same megacaps, but each also brings real exposure the other lacks. Held together they keep a shared megacap core but each still pulls in exposure the other lacks, so a 50/50 blend spreads to ~39 effective positions (grade B).
Holdings as of — VIG: May 31, 2026 (Vanguard); VUG: 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 →VIG vs VUG — FAQ
- How much do VIG and VUG overlap?
- VIG and VUG overlap by approximately 34% measured by portfolio weight — that is the share of the smaller fund's holdings (by weight) that also sit inside the other. 5 of VIG's 10 largest holdings are also held by VUG. They share 15 of their listed top holdings in total.
- Is it redundant to hold both VIG and VUG?
- Because they share a meaningful core of the same megacaps, but each also brings real exposure the other lacks, holding both is partly redundant: you double up on a shared core (AVGO) while each fund still adds distinct exposure. A 50/50 blend has an effective 39 positions and a B diversification grade.
- What does VUG hold that VIG doesn't?
- VUG's largest holdings that VIG doesn't hold include NVDA, GOOGL, AMZN, GOOG, META. Its category is US large-cap growth, versus VIG's US dividend-growth.
- Which is more concentrated, VIG or VUG?
- VIG's top 10 holdings are 45% of its listed weight; VUG's are 73%. The more concentrated fund leans harder on its largest names.