VOO vs SCHD vs QQQ: Which Should You Pick?
VOO, SCHD and QQQ year by year since 2011: QQQ led 11 of 14 years, SCHD led in value years, VOO sat in the middle 13 times. Fees, taxes, and which to own.
VOO, SCHD and QQQ are three of the most-bought U.S. stock ETFs, and they are often treated as three versions of the same choice. VOO owns the S&P 500 at market weight. SCHD owns about 100 dividend payers tilted toward value and profitability. QQQ owns the 100 largest non-financial Nasdaq companies, 68% of it technology. All three are U.S. large-cap funds, and VOO sits between the other two.
Quick answer
If you own one, own VOO, or a total-market fund that adds mid and small caps. It is the cheapest of the three, it holds every sector at market weight, and SCHD and QQQ are tilts away from it in opposite directions. From October 2011 to September 2026 QQQ returned the most and SCHD the least, a ranking that held in 10 of 14 calendar years and reversed in years like 2022. Pick SCHD or QQQ only as a deliberate tilt you can hold through the years it trails.
| VOO | SCHD | QQQ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Index | S&P 500 | Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 | Nasdaq-100 |
| What it selects | 500 largest U.S. companies by value | 100 dividend payers ranked on yield, cash flow and growth | 100 largest non-financial Nasdaq companies |
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.06% | 0.18% |
| Holdings | 505 | 102 | 102 |
| Top 10 holdings | 38% | 41% | 47% |
| Trailing 12-month yield | 1.06% | 3.24% | 0.42% |
| Annual return, Oct 2011 to Sep 2026 | 15.10% | 13.09% | 19.80% |
| $10,000 grew to | $81,803 | $62,852 | $148,732 |
| Volatility | 13.9% | 13.6% | 17.4% |
| Worst decline in the window | -34.0% (2020) | -33.4% (2020) | -35.1% (2022) |
Vanguard, Schwab and Invesco fund pages, read October 25, 2026. Returns, volatility and declines are Summitward calculations from daily prices and distributions, October 20, 2011 (SCHD’s first day) to September 30, 2026.
Year by year
The three funds traded the lead depending on which style the market rewarded. QQQ finished first in 11 of the 14 full years. SCHD finished first in 2016, 2021 and 2022, years when value stocks beat growth stocks, and it is first again in 2026 so far. VOO finished between the other two in 13 of the 14 years and never finished first.
| Year | VOO | SCHD | QQQ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 16.0% | 11.4% | 18.1% |
| 2013 | 32.4% | 32.9% | 36.6% |
| 2014 | 12.9% | 11.7% | 19.2% |
| 2015 | 1.3% | -0.3% | 9.4% |
| 2016 | 12.2% | 16.4% | 7.1% |
| 2017 | 21.8% | 20.8% | 32.7% |
| 2018 | -4.5% | -5.6% | -0.1% |
| 2019 | 31.4% | 27.3% | 39.0% |
| 2020 | 18.3% | 15.1% | 48.4% |
| 2021 | 28.8% | 29.9% | 27.4% |
| 2022 | -18.2% | -3.2% | -32.6% |
| 2023 | 26.3% | 4.6% | 54.9% |
| 2024 | 25.0% | 11.7% | 25.6% |
| 2025 | 17.8% | 4.3% | 20.8% |
| 2026 to Sep 30 | 12.7% | 21.5% | 20.8% |
Calendar-year total returns with distributions reinvested; the leader each year is highlighted. Summitward calculation.
The widest gaps came in 2020 and 2023, when QQQ beat SCHD by 33 and 50 points. In between, 2022 ran the other way: SCHD lost 3.2% and QQQ lost 32.6%. An investor who sold QQQ for SCHD after 2022 trailed by 50 points the next year.
How they move together
Monthly returns from October 2011 to September 2026 had these correlations: VOO and QQQ 0.91, VOO and SCHD 0.84, SCHD and QQQ 0.62. VOO is closely tied to both because it holds the companies at the center of each: its top ten overlaps heavily with QQQ’s, and 95% of SCHD by weight is in S&P 500 stocks. SCHD and QQQ share only eight stocks. Holding all three in equal parts mostly reproduces VOO with heavier weight on the largest technology companies and on 100 dividend payers, a mix our VOO + QQQ + SCHD guide examines.
Costs and taxes
VOO charges 0.03%, SCHD 0.06% and QQQ 0.18% (QQQM, the same index, 0.15%). In a brokerage account the yields matter more than the fees. At the top 23.8% federal rate, taxes on distributions cut ten-year returns by 0.45 points a year for VOO, 0.90 for SCHD and 0.19 for QQQ, before any shares were sold. That ordering is by yield, and part of SCHD’s extra tax is only paid early, as our SCHD after-tax analysis explains. In an IRA, 401(k) or HSA, none of the three creates a yearly tax bill.
Which one to pick
VOO
The default. Lowest cost, every sector at market weight, and the middle result in most years. Add an international fund beside it.
SCHD
A value and dividend tilt. Best in a tax-advantaged account, for an investor who will hold it through years like 2023.
QQQ
A growth and technology tilt. Low taxable income, higher fee, and a history that includes an 83% decline from 2000 to 2002.
The two-fund pages go deeper on each pair: VOO vs SCHD, VOO vs QQQ and SCHD vs QQQ. For the reasoning behind preferring a broad core, see Why I Avoid SCHD and Why I Avoid QQQ.
Sources
- Vanguard, VOO fund page; Schwab Asset Management, SCHD fund page; Invesco, QQQ fund page, all read October 25, 2026. S&P 500 top-ten weight from the iShares IVV holdings file, October 22, 2026.
- Summitward calculations: script and data. The script’s ten-year returns match the issuers’ published figures to within 0.02 points.
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