# SCHG vs VUG

Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF against Vanguard Growth ETF.

Canonical page: https://tickerinside.com/compare/schg-vs-vug/
Prices through 2026-09-04. SCHG holdings as published 2026-09-03, VUG 2026-07-31.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, attribution to TickerInside.

## The short answer

Two large-cap growth funds built from different index families, moving together at 0.99 over three years. VUG puts 63.8% in its ten largest positions against 51.7% for SCHG, and charges 0.03% against 0.04%.

## Key figures

| Measure | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Holdings overlap by weight | 74.3% |
| Companies held by both | 91 |
| Share of SCHG held in common | 84.3% |
| Share of VUG held in common | 86.6% |
| Correlation of weekly returns, 3 years | 0.99 |
| Cost per year | SCHG 0.04%, VUG 0.03% |
| Return, 3 years | SCHG 89.8%, VUG 88.6% |
| Worst fall, 3 years | SCHG -21.9%, VUG -21.8% |
| Volatility, annualised | SCHG 19.0%, VUG 19.4% |
| Positions | SCHG 194, VUG 146 |

## Analysis

### Different index families, nearly the same fund

SCHG follows a Dow Jones growth index and VUG a CRSP one, and the two methods agree on 91 companies that carry 84.3%** of SCHG and 86.6% of VUG. Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet lead both lists. The overlap by weight is 74.3%, held back by VUG weighting those top names more heavily.

### The 251 companies between them

SCHG holds 105 companies VUG does not, UnitedHealth, Thermo Fisher, Linde, Salesforce and Disney the largest, names one method scores as growth and the other as value. VUG holds 55 that SCHG does not, led by Applied Materials, Lam Research, Oracle, Amphenol and McDonald's. VUG runs 146 positions to SCHG's 196, with 63.8% in its top ten against 51.7%.

### Where five years separated them

Over three years the returns were nearly identical, 89.8% for SCHG against 88.6% for VUG, and over one year 15.8% against 15.2%. Over five years SCHG returned 87.5%** against 79.0%, the one window where the two lists produced a visibly different result. Volatility of 19.0% against 19.4% and worst falls of -21.9% against -21.8% are within a fraction of a point of each other.

### Correlation of 0.99, a fee gap of $1

VUG charges 0.03% and SCHG 0.04%, $1 a year on $10,000. Weekly returns correlated at 1.00 over five years and 0.99 over the past year. Holding both is one growth portfolio with the top names weighted somewhere between the two methods; the measurable differences are the 25.7% of weight not held in common and the fee.

## Largest positions held by both

| Ticker | Company | In SCHG | In VUG | Counted as overlap |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NVDA | NVIDIA | 10.99% | 12.84% | 10.99% |
| AAPL | Apple | 9.57% | 12.63% | 9.57% |
| MSFT | Microsoft | 7.52% | 9.61% | 7.52% |
| AMZN | Amazon Com Inc | 5.03% | 5.16% | 5.03% |
| GOOGL | Alphabet | 3.99% | 5.81% | 3.99% |
| AVGO | Broadcom Inc | 3.36% | 4.47% | 3.36% |
| GOOG | Alphabet | 3.18% | 4.64% | 3.18% |
| LLY | Eli Lilly | 2.92% | 2.72% | 2.72% |
| META |  | 2.67% | 3.41% | 2.67% |
| TSLA | Tesla Inc | 2.42% | 2.45% | 2.42% |
| AMD | Advanced Micro Devices | 2.29% | 2.17% | 2.17% |
| V | Visa | 2.41% | 1.66% | 1.66% |
| MA | Mastercard | 1.81% | 1.28% | 1.28% |
| COST | Costco Wholesale Corp | 1.57% | 1.19% | 1.19% |
| NFLX | Netflix | 1.33% | 0.86% | 0.86% |

## Covariance and correlation

Covariance is annualised and expressed in percent squared, so the diagonal is each fund's variance. Dividing the off-diagonal by the two volatilities returns the correlation.

| | SCHG | VUG |
| --- | --- | --- |
| SCHG | 361 | 366.4 |
| VUG | 366.4 | 376 |

Correlation over 1, 3 and 5 years: 0.99, 0.99, 1.00.

## Method

How every figure is produced: https://tickerinside.com/how-the-numbers-are-produced/
Machine readable version of this comparison: https://tickerinside.com/api/v1/compare/schg-vs-vug.json