VIG dividend: yield, history and calculator (2026)

VIG at a glance

Dividend yield

1.5%

Paid last 12 months

$3.65 / share

Pays dividends

quarterly

Expense ratio

0.04%

Fund size

$114.4 billion

Average per year since 2006

+10.3%

Yield, expense ratio, fund size and total return from the TopDividendETFsPRO database, updated October 31, 2026. Per-share payments from StockAnalysis, through the September 2026 payment. Holdings as of September 30, 2026.

The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF launched on April 21, 2006, and it's now one of the biggest dividend funds in the world, with more than $110 billion in it. If you've ever typed "VIG dividend calculator" into Google, you're probably asking the right question: not "how much does it pay today" but "how much will it pay me in 10 or 20 years."

Because today's number is small. At about 1.5%, $VIG yields more than $VOO but less than $VYM or $SCHD. The whole case for $VIG is growth. So let's look at the real numbers.

VIG dividend schedule for 2026

$VIG pays four times a year. You need to own shares before the ex-dividend date to get paid, and the cash shows up a couple of business days later:

The amounts bounce around from quarter to quarter. That's normal for a stock fund. $VIG just passes through whatever its 340 or so companies paid during the quarter, and they don't all pay on the same calendar. Don't read too much into one quarter. Look at the full year.

When is the next VIG dividend?

Vanguard keeps $VIG on a steady rhythm, with ex-dates near the end of each quarter. The last three December ex-dates were December 21, 2023, December 23, 2024 and December 22, 2025. So the next one should be around December 21, 2026, with the cash landing just before Christmas.

The amount isn't known until Vanguard announces it. Recent December checks have been in the $0.87 to $0.92 range, but that's history, not a promise.

And please don't buy the day before the ex-date to "grab" the dividend. The share price drops by about the dividend amount on the ex-date. You don't make money, you just turn part of your investment into a taxable payment.

VIG dividend history: how fast is the payout growing?

This is the section that matters for $VIG. Here's what it paid per share each year, counted by ex-dividend date:

From 2022 to 2025 the payout went from $2.97 to $3.56 a share. That's about 6% growth per year, every year, without you doing anything. Compare that with $VYM, where the dividend went basically flat from 2023 through 2025.

2026 is running a little slower so far, up about 3.3% through three quarters. One soft year doesn't break the story, but it's worth watching the December check.

Here's the part most people miss. The yield stays low partly because the share price keeps going up too. If a fund's dividend grows 6% a year and the price grows faster, the yield shrinks even though your income is rising. That's a good problem to have.

What VIG holds (and why the yield is so low)

$VIG tracks the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index. The rules are what make it different:

• A company needs at least 10 straight years of dividend increases to get in.
• The highest-yielding 25% of those eligible companies are cut out. That's on purpose: very high yields are often a sign of trouble.
• REITs are excluded, and what's left is weighted by market cap, with a cap on any single stock at each rebalance.

As of September 30, 2026 that came to 343 holdings. Here are the top 10, about 35% of the fund:

Look at that list. $MSFT, $AAPL, $LLY, $V. These are growing businesses that raise their dividend every year but pay a small yield. That's exactly why $VIG yields about 1.5%. It's a quality and growth fund that happens to pay dividends, not an income fund.

The TopDividendETFsPRO database shows price decay: none and a total return of +644% since launch with dividends reinvested. The fee is 0.04%, about $4 a year on $10,000.

Are VIG dividends qualified? How they're taxed

For the most part, yes. $VIG holds U.S. common stocks and skips REITs, so the large majority of its dividends usually count as qualified dividends. In a taxable account those are taxed at long-term capital gains rates (0%, 15% or 20% depending on income), as long as you've held the shares more than 60 days around the ex-date.

Vanguard publishes the exact qualified percentage every tax season, and your 1099-DIV is the final word. I walk through the same question for a close cousin in are DGRO dividends qualified.

Low yield plus qualified dividends also means a small tax bill while you're building. Most of your return comes as price growth that you don't pay tax on until you sell. For a taxable account, that's a real advantage over a T-bill fund like $SGOV or a covered call fund, where most of the income is taxed every year.

VIG dividend calculator: what $10,000 pays

At today's yield of 1.5%, here's what $VIG would pay if the yield held for a year:

Being honest, that's not much. If your goal is $1,000 a month from $VIG alone, you'd need about $800,000 at today's yield. Nobody should buy $VIG to replace a paycheck next year.

But here's what the calculator shows when you add time. If the payout keeps growing around 6% a year, the income on the same shares roughly doubles in 12 years. Reinvest the dividends and keep adding money, and it compounds on itself. That's why the "VIG calculator with DRIP" question is the right one to ask.

And the history backs it up: $10,000 put into $VIG at launch in 2006 with every dividend reinvested would be worth about $74,400 today.

VIG vs SCHD, DGRO, VYM and NOBL

Most people looking at $VIG are choosing between it and a few other dividend ETFs. Same $10,000 in each:

$VIG pays the least today. $DGRO is its closest sibling: it also screens for dividend growth, but only needs 5 years of increases and keeps more yield, so it pays a bit more. $SCHD pays roughly double $VIG and has the best long-run return here, which is why I covered it in my full SCHD review. $NOBL holds S&P 500 companies with 25+ years of raises, but costs almost nine times as much in fees.

To compare long-run total returns across all of these on equal footing, my sister site ETFTotalReturns.com ranks them side by side. If you want more growth than dividends, GrowthETFs.com covers the growth side of the market, and TopDividendETFs.com has a ranked list of dividend ETFs with price decay flags.

My take: who VIG is for

I've been a dividend investor for over a decade, and the thing I wish I'd understood earlier is that the yield you start with matters less than the income you end with. $VIG is built around that idea.

• You have a long runway: 10, 20, 30 years before you need the income. Growing dividends plus price growth is a powerful combo over time.
• You want quality without picking stocks: every holding has raised its dividend for at least a decade, and the riskiest high yielders are screened out.
• You invest in a taxable account: low yield, mostly qualified dividends and a 0.04% fee keep the drag small.

Where I'd push back: if you need income now, $VIG is the wrong tool. A 1.5% yield won't pay your bills. I'd rather own $SCHD if I wanted a dividend core today, and add $VIG for quality and growth. If you're early on, the reverse can make total sense.

Whatever you pick, know what you own. If you want to compare $VIG on yield, total return and price decay against 130+ other income ETFs, that's exactly what TopDividendETFsPRO is built for.

Sources

• StockAnalysis: VIG dividend history (ex-dates, pay dates, amounts)
• StockAnalysis: VIG holdings (holdings count and top 10 weights as of September 30, 2026)
• Vanguard: VIG fund page (inception date, benchmark, expense ratio)
• Live yield, total return, fund size, price decay and expense ratios: TopDividendETFsPRO.com database

This article is for education only and is not financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Do your own research and read the fund's prospectus before investing, and talk to a tax professional about your own situation. Yields, payments and returns change, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Dividend payments as of October 31, 2026; live numbers update daily.