VO vs VOOG: how much do they really overlap?
VO (Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF, tracking the CRSP US Mid Cap) and VOOG (Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF, tracking the S&P 500 Growth) overlap by roughly 4% by weight. 3 of VO's top 10 holdings also appear in VOOG. A 50/50 blend of the two behaves like about 75 equally-weighted bets (diversification grade A). In short, the two funds hold almost none of the same securities — they are complementary, not redundant.
The same companies, in both funds
These 4 holdings appear in both VO and VOOG. The weight columns show how much of each fund each name represents.
| Holding | in VO | in VOOG |
|---|---|---|
| STX Seagate Technology Holdings plc | 1.90% | 0.34% |
| VRT Vertiv Holdings Co. Class A | 1.18% | 0.34% |
| NEM Newmont Goldcorp Corp. | 0.59% | 0.33% |
| PWR Quanta Services Inc. | 1.06% | 0.29% |
Only in VO
Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF — US mid-cap. Its biggest holdings that VOOG doesn’t have:
| WDC Western Digital Corp. | 1.78% |
| HWM Howmet Aerospace Inc. | 1.03% |
| MRVL Marvell Technology Inc. | 0.89% |
| CMI Cummins Inc. | 0.89% |
| CEG Constellation Energy Corp. | 0.88% |
| SLB Schlumberger Ltd. | 0.81% |
| DDOG Datadog Inc. Class A | 0.80% |
| GM General Motors Co. | 0.75% |
Only in VOOG
Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF — US large-cap growth. Its biggest holdings that VO doesn’t have:
| NVDA NVIDIA Corp. | 14.26% |
| MSFT Microsoft Corp. | 9.29% |
| AAPL Apple Inc. | 6.37% |
| GOOGL Alphabet Inc. Class A | 6.15% |
| AVGO Broadcom Inc. | 5.89% |
| GOOG Alphabet Inc. Class C | 4.89% |
| AMZN Amazon.com Inc. | 3.89% |
| META Facebook Inc. Class A | 3.84% |
So — essentially different. Should you hold both?
VO and VOOG hold almost none of the same securities — they are complementary, not redundant. Held together they genuinely broaden your exposure — a 50/50 blend reaches ~75 effective positions (grade A), because they hold largely different securities.
Holdings as of — VO: May 31, 2026 (Vanguard); VOOG: 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 →VO vs VOOG — FAQ
- How much do VO and VOOG overlap?
- VO and VOOG overlap by approximately 4% measured by portfolio weight — that is the share of the smaller fund's holdings (by weight) that also sit inside the other. 3 of VO's 10 largest holdings are also held by VOOG. They share 4 of their listed top holdings in total.
- Is it redundant to hold both VO and VOOG?
- Because they hold almost none of the same securities — they are complementary, not redundant, holding both is not redundant — each fund covers largely different holdings, so together they broaden your exposure. A 50/50 blend has an effective 75 positions and a A diversification grade.
- What does VOOG hold that VO doesn't?
- VOOG's largest holdings that VO doesn't hold include NVDA, MSFT, AAPL, GOOGL, AVGO. Its category is US large-cap growth, versus VO's US mid-cap.
- Which is more concentrated, VO or VOOG?
- VO's top 10 holdings are 31% of its listed weight; VOOG's are 67%. The more concentrated fund leans harder on its largest names.