8 Top-Performing US Equity ETFs

US stocks play an important role in many investors’ portfolios. To screen for the top-performing exchange-traded funds in this category, we looked for those with the best returns over the last one-, three-, and five-year periods

Among the ranks of the funds that made it through the screen, offerings from BlackRock stood out, taking up three of the eight spots. In addition, three track the S&P 500.

1. Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF VFV
2. BMO S&P 500 Index ETF ZSP
3. iShares Core S&P 500 Index ETF XUS
4. Vanguard US Total Market Index ETF VUN
5. iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Index ETF XSUS
6. iShares Core S&P US Total Market Index ETF XUU
7. Franklin FTSE US Index ETF FLAM
8. BMO MSCI USA Selection Equity Index ETF ESGY

Screening for the Top-Performing US Equity ETFs

Funds in the US equity category must invest at least 90% of their equity holdings in securities domiciled in the US, and their average market capitalization must be greater than the US small/mid cap threshold.

Over the past 12 months, the average fund in the category returned 18.78%. On an annualized basis, these funds have climbed 18.88% over the past three years and 11.96% over the past five. Meanwhile, the Morningstar Canada Index has risen 33.50% over the past 12 months, 22.88% per year over the past three years, and 15.38% per year over the past five.

To find the best US equity ETFs, we looked at returns from the past one, three, and five years using Morningstar Direct. We screened for Canada-domiciled exchange-traded funds in the top 33% of the category using their lowest-cost primary share classes for those periods. We also filtered for ETFs with Morningstar Medalist Ratings of Bronze, Silver, or Gold. We excluded ETFs with assets under C$100 million and analyst coverage that was not 100%. This left eight investments.

Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

Over the past 12 months, this fund rose 24.51%, while the average fund in its category rose 18.78%. The fund, launched in November 2012, has climbed 23.62% over the past three years and 16.36% over the past five.

The fund holds a broad, well-diversified portfolio. It typically includes around 500 stocks, and the top 10 represented around 40% of the portfolio at year-end 2025. Still, market-cap weighting can contribute to portfolio concentration when a few stocks dominate the market. This has been the case lately with a handful of mega-cap technology stocks growing to prominence and commanding a greater share of the portfolio.

When a few richly valued companies or sectors power most of the market gains, market-cap weighting may overexpose the strategy to the fluctuations of one stock or sector. But this is not a fault in design, as it simply reflects the market’s composition. The strategy’s low turnover, low fee, and broad diversification across the US market more than offset these risks.

The US exchange-traded fund share class returned 14.8% annualized over the past 10 years through year-end 2025. It holds little cash, which should help it outperform cash-saddled active peers during market rallies. Likewise, low cash drag could hurt this fund when the stock market declines, but long-term positive returns give this efficient approach a clear edge. Performance across share classes will vary owing to differences in fees and currency exchange rates for non-US investors.

BMO S&P 500 Index ETF

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

This C$27.3 billion fund has climbed 24.55% over the past 12 months, outperforming the average fund in its category, which rose 18.78%. The BMO fund, launched in November 2012, has climbed 23.61% over the past three years and 16.36% over the past five.

BMO S&P 500 accurately represents the large-cap US stock market, allowing its low fee and efficient portfolio to carve out a long-term edge.

The fund tracks the S&P 500. A committee selects 500 of the largest US stocks, or roughly 80% of the US stock market, and weights them by market cap. The index committee has discretion over selecting companies that meet its liquidity and profitability standards. While a committee-based approach may lack clarity, it adds flexibility to reduce unnecessary changes during reconstitution, taming transaction costs compared with more rigid rules-based indexes.

The S&P 500 returned 14.7% annualized over the past 10 years through year-end 2025. It holds little cash, which should help it outperform cash-saddled active peers during market rallies. Likewise, low cash drag could hurt this fund when the stock market declines, but long-term positive returns give this efficient approach a clear edge. Performance across share classes will vary owing to differences in fees and currency exchange rates.

iShares Core S&P 500 Index ETF

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

This C$12.2 billion fund has climbed 24.30% over the past 12 months, outperforming the average fund in its category, which rose 18.78%. The BlackRock fund, launched in April 2013, has climbed 23.57% over the past three years and 16.42% over the past five.

IShares S&P 500 accurately represents the large-cap US stock market, allowing its low fee and efficient portfolio to carve out a long-term edge.

The US exchange-traded fund returned 15.5 % annualized over the past 10 years through February 2026. It holds little cash, which should help it outperform cash-saddled active peers during market rallies. Likewise, low cash drag could hurt this fund when the stock market declines, but long-term positive returns give this efficient approach a clear edge. Performance across share classes will vary on account of differences in fees and currency exchange rates for non-US investors.

Vanguard US Total Market Index ETF

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

This C$17.5 billion fund has gained 24.04% over the past 12 months, while the average fund in its category is up 18.78%. The Vanguard fund, launched in August 2013, has climbed 23.02% over the past three years and 15.03% over the past five.

Vanguard Total Stock Market accurately represents the large-cap US stock market, allowing its low fee and efficient portfolio to carve out a long-term edge.

The fund tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index, which selects all investable US stocks and weights them by market cap. As a result, the fund experiences little turnover because of the minuscule average size of additions or deletions to the existing portfolio. Stocks must pass an eligibility screen that ensures they are easy to trade, and rebalancing is spread across a five-day period to minimize market impact costs. The fund holds a representative basket of stocks within the index, which further reduces unnecessary trading costs.

The portfolio is broad and well-diversified. It typically holds around 3,500 stocks, and the top 10 represented 35% of the portfolio as of year-end 2025. Still, a portfolio’s market-cap weighting can contribute to concentration when a few stocks dominate the market. This has been the case lately with a handful of mega-cap technology stocks growing to prominence and commanding a greater share of the portfolio.

Morningstar acquired the Center for Research in Security Prices, the provider of the index tracked by this fund, in February 2026. Morningstar analysts work independently from the index business, and the Morningstar Medalist Ratings for funds tracking CRSP indexes are based solely on the fund’s investment merits. Analysts do not provide qualitative ratings or opinions for investments managed by Morningstar or managed investments that track Morningstar indexes that incorporate discretionary inputs assigned by Morningstar employees on an ongoing basis, such as Morningstar Economic Moat Ratings or ESG Risk Ratings.

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Index ETF

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

This C$712 million fund has gained 23.41% over the past 12 months, while the average fund in its category is up 18.78%. The BlackRock fund, launched in March 2019, has climbed 22.87% over the past three years and 15.12% over the past five.

IShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF integrates environmental, social, and governance considerations without sacrificing the benefits of a broadly diversified, low-turnover portfolio.

This fund tracks the MSCI USA Extended ESG Focus Index, which captures large- and mid-cap stocks with acceptable environmental, social, and governance practices. The index filters out companies with controversial product lines or those currently involved in severe controversies. An optimizer determines the weightings of the remaining stocks, systematically tilting toward firms with better ESG characteristics while aiming for a 0.5% tracking error versus its parent index, the MSCI USA Small-Cap index. The fund’s actual tracking error hovered around 0.6% annualized from its 2016 inception through January 2026—not far from its target.

The fund tethers stock weightings to those of the parent index. This keeps performance in line with its tracking error target. Sector weightings must remain within 5 percentage points of those in the MSCI USA Index, and individual positions can’t deviate by more than 2 percentage points. The resulting portfolio has a similar makeup to the Morningstar Category average and category index. Its active share against the category index tends to hover between 20% and 25%, which means its portfolio looks very similar to the category index. Most of the fund’s largest and most consequential holdings overlap with those of the category index.

These constraints keep the fund’s performance and composition close to those of the broad market. However, this can limit its appeal for investors with stricter ESG preferences since the fund can include companies that might not have best-in-class ESG practices.

The fund charges a 0.15% expense ratio, which is competitive in its category. This should preserve the performance advantage earned by the fund’s diversified portfolio over its average category peer since its 2016 inception.

iShares Core S&P US Total Market Index ETF

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

This C$4.4 billion fund has gained 23.32% over the past 12 months, while the average fund in its category is up 18.78%. The BlackRock fund, launched in February 2015, has climbed 22.98% over the past three years and 15.40% over the past five.

IShares Core S&P Total Market accurately represents the US stock market, allowing its low fee and efficient portfolio to carve out a long-term edge.

The fund tracks the S&P Total Market Index, which selects all investable US stocks and weights them by market cap. As a result, the index experiences little turnover because of the minuscule average size of additions or deletions to the existing portfolio. The fund holds a representative basket of stocks within the index, which further reduces unnecessary trading costs.

Assigning position sizes based on a stock’s market cap is a simple and efficient method to weight the portfolio. Since US stocks are highly traded, they quickly reflect new information, and carving an edge is difficult. Market-cap weighting naturally adjusts to price changes without frequent rebalancing, lowering trading costs. That, and lower fees, give large-blend index funds a long-term performance advantage over most actively managed peers.

The portfolio is broad and well-diversified. It typically holds around 2,500 stocks, and the top 10 represented 34% of the portfolio as of January 2026. Still, market-cap weighting can contribute to portfolio concentration when a few stocks dominate the market. This has been the case lately with a handful of mega-cap technology stocks growing to prominence and commanding a greater share of the portfolio.

When a few richly valued companies or sectors power most of the market’s gains, market-cap weighting may overexpose the strategy to the fluctuations of one stock or sector. But this is not a fault in design, as it simply reflects the market’s composition. Its low turnover, low fee, and broad diversification across the US market more than offset these risks.

The US exchange-traded fund share class returned 15.1% annualized over the past 10 years through January 2026. It holds little cash, which should help it outperform cash-saddled active peers during market rallies. Likewise, low cash drag could hurt this fund when the stock market declines, but long-term positive results for the US market have given this efficient approach an edge. Performance across share classes will vary owing to differences in fees and currency exchange rates for non-US investors.

Franklin FTSE US Index ETF

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

This C$424.9 million fund has climbed 23.54% over the past 12 months, outperforming the average fund in its category, which rose 18.78%. The Franklin Templeton fund, launched in February 2019, has climbed 23.65% over the past three years and 16.03% over the past five.

The FTSE USA Index offers giant- to mid-cap exposure by targeting about 85% of the free-float-adjusted market capitalization of the US equity market. At the time of writing, the index included about 500 companies.

Like other well-known US equity indexes such as the S&P 500 and MSCI USA Index, the index leans toward large and mega-caps, with nearly no exposure to small caps.

This means the fund’s overall performance is driven by the largest US stocks.

The index is broadly diversified across sectors, with its largest allocation to the technology sector, accounting for roughly a third of the overall portfolio, followed by financials, with a weight between 10% and 15%.

Note: This share class’ Process Pillar rating and analysis are inherited from an analyst-covered passive share class which tracks the same index: L&G US Index C Acc (SecID: F00000QTMH).

BMO MSCI USA Selection Equity Index ETF

• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Silver
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★★

This C$196.1 million fund has climbed 25.67% over the past 12 months, outperforming the average fund in its category, which rose 18.78%. The BMO fund, launched in January 2020, has climbed 24.09% over the past three years and 16.49% over the past five.

While its composition follows the broad strokes of its average peer, the fund has some distinct and sizable stock bets. Large technology firms such as Apple and Meta, or financial giants J.P. Morgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway, are all absent from the lineup. The fund concentrates its portfolio in the remaining mega-cap stocks. It parked nearly 24% of its assets in its top two positions, Nvidia and Microsoft, at the end of January 2026. Mega-cap stocks’ recent dominance amplified this effect, but the fund will likely continue to be more top-heavy than a typical peer in calmer markets.

Similar sector and factor exposures should keep the fund’s performance in line with the category average. Its weighting scheme also tilts the portfolio toward the same group of larger companies that drive market returns.

Note: This share class’ Process Pillar rating and analysis are inherited from an analyst-covered passive share class which tracks the same index: Xtrackers MSCI USA Selection Eq ETF (SecID: F000011RC9).