What Is AGG? iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

AGG is iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, an ETF that tracks Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index at a 0.03% expense ratio. Tracks the Bloomberg US Aggregate, the standard investment-grade bond benchmark spanning Treasuries, agency mortgage-backed, and corporate bonds. Functionally very similar to BND at the same 0.03% fee; the choice is iShares versus Vanguard as an ecosystem.

AGG is issued by iShares and tracks Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index, so a single ticker gives you the whole basket of underlying holdings weighted by the index's methodology rather than by any active stock-picking.

AGG does not hold a basket of individual stocks. It gets its exposure synthetically, through derivatives such as swaps and futures rather than by owning the underlying shares, so there is no conventional top-10 equity holdings list. See the description above for what AGG actually tracks and how that exposure is built.

AGG gives you Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index exposure in one ticker at a 0.03% expense ratio. Most investors use it as a core holding and layer more concentrated thematic baskets on top.

Whether AGG is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is AGG a buy?

AGG yields ~3.96% as of mid-2026, paid by passing through the dividends of its underlying holdings. For the payout schedule, history, and how the distributions are taxed, see AGG dividend: yield and schedule.

AGG and BND both track the total US investment-grade bond market with very similar holdings and the same 0.03% fee, so their returns track closely. The choice is really iShares (BlackRock) versus Vanguard; either works as a one-fund core bond allocation. Read the full side-by-side in AGG vs BND.