The Best US Total Stock Market ETFs to Buy

For many investors, exchange-traded funds are an efficient, low-cost way to invest in US stocks. Total stock market funds provide the broadest exposure. Morningstar’s manager research team has identified the strategies most likely to outperform.

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

The 4 Best US Equity ETFs to Buy in 2026

To find the best US total stock market ETFs to buy, we screened for those earning a

of Bronze, Silver, or Gold with 100% analyst coverage. All funds on the list have at least C$100 million in assets. This screen included versions of US total stock market ETFs that hedge exposure to the Canadian dollar, meaning investors earn the index’s underlying returns without the impact of currency movements, which can boost or reduce performance. All data is as of Aug. 28.

• Vanguard Morningstar US Total Market Index ETF VUN
• iShares Core S&P US Total Market Index ETF XUU
• iShares Core S&P US Total Market Index ETF (CAD-Hedged) XUH
• Vanguard Morningstar US Total Market Index ETF (CAD-hedged) VUS

Morningstar expects the highly rated US equity funds on this list to outperform their peers over a full market cycle. But though they fall into the same category, they may practice different strategies and behave differently. Investors need to do some homework to understand exactly what a particular fund invests in before buying.

Here’s a quick look at some standout picks from the best US equity ETFs. Review a fund’s complete report for more details.

Vanguard Morningstar US Total Market Index ETF

• Fund Size
  : C$19.8 billion
• MER: 0.17
• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

Over the past year, the Vanguard fund rose 20.82%, while the average fund in its category rose 16.26%. The fund, launched in August 2013, has climbed 21.99% over the past three years and 13.63% 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.

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 gaining 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 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.

When a few richly valued companies or sectors power most of the market gains, the strategy’s market-cap weighting may overexpose it 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 14.3% annualized over the past 10 years through 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.

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.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the Vanguard Morningstar US Total Market Index ETF.

iShares Core S&P US Total Market Index ETF

• Fund Size
  : C$4.7 billion
• MER: 0.07
• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★★

The C$4.7 billion fund has climbed 20.34% over the past year, outperforming the average fund in its category, which rose 16.26%. The BlackRock fund, launched in February 2015, has climbed 21.97% over the past three years and 13.98% 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.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the iShares Core S&P US Total Market Index ETF.