ETF Statistics (2026)

The ETF has gone from a niche product to the dominant way the world invests. Global ETF assets reached a record $19.85 trillion at the end of 2025, up 33.7% from $14.85 trillion a year earlier, a combination of strong markets and relentless inflows.

2026 has extended the run. ETFGI put global ETF assets at $24.03 trillion at the end of August 2026, the first time above $24 trillion and up 21.3% in eight months, and the streak of monthly net inflows reached 87 consecutive months, one that has survived rate shocks, a bear market, and a pandemic.

At the end of August 2026 the industry spanned 17,713 ETFs from 1,044 providers, listed across 86 exchanges in 66 countries, up from 15,807 products and 967 providers at the end of 2025. The US dominates: its $16.24 trillion at the end of September 2026 is roughly two-thirds of all global ETF assets (see the table below).

For scale, US ETFs alone now hold more than the entire global industry did in 2020. The product category is barely three decades old and already rivals the mutual fund.

In the US, ETFs crossed $10 trillion in 2024 and reached $13.4 trillion by the end of 2025, equal to 30% of all US investment-company assets, up from a rounding error two decades ago.

The lineup keeps expanding: 4,495 US ETFs from 288 sponsors at the end of 2025 by ICI's count, with 757 new funds launched in 2024 alone, 46% more than the year before. Large-cap domestic equity ETFs are the biggest slice at about $5 trillion (38% of assets). ETFGI counted 1,130 new US ETFs from 206 providers in the first nine months of 2026, against 238 closures, and $16.24 trillion in US ETF assets at the end of September.

Money is flooding in. US ETFs took in a record roughly $1.5 trillion in net new money in 2025, up from $1.1 trillion in 2024 and the first year the figure crossed $1 trillion was only 2024 (see the chart below).

Globally, 2025's $2.37 trillion of net inflows was the highest annual total on record, with December alone drawing $330.78 billion.

2026 is running ahead of that pace. US-listed ETFs gathered $1.56 trillion of net inflows through September, beating 2025's full-year US record of $1.50 trillion with a quarter still to go, and global ETFs gathered a record $1.96 trillion through August (ETFGI).

US flows favored equities but bonds held their own. Domestic equity ETFs drew $708 billion of net issuance, bond ETFs $443 billion, and global or international equity ETFs $248 billion (see the table below).

The strength in bond ETFs is notable: once an equity-first product, ETFs are now a core way institutions and individuals hold fixed income, with US bond ETFs alone at about $2.2 trillion.

The fastest-growing corner is actively managed ETFs. Global active-ETF assets hit a record $1.86 trillion by late 2025, up 59.4% on the year, and pulled in a record $581 billion through November, more than triple 2023's total (see the chart below). By the end of August 2026 they had reached $2.72 trillion, up 42.6% year to date, with a record $663.6 billion of net inflows in eight months.

Active ETFs logged their 77th straight month of inflows in August 2026, across 5,797 funds from 736 providers. Dimensional ($320.1 billion) and JP Morgan ($319.1 billion) lead the segment, ahead of iShares ($186.7 billion). Much of the growth is mutual fund managers repackaging strategies in the cheaper, more tax-efficient ETF wrapper.

The bigger story remains passive's triumph. In 2024, US passive fund and ETF assets surpassed active assets for the first time, and the performance data explains why (see the table below).

Only 38% of active US funds beat their average passive peer in 2025, and just 21% did so over 10 years. Among active corporate-bond funds, the 10-year figure was a dismal 4.4%. For most investors, low-cost index ETFs are simply hard to beat, echoing the SPIVA record.

Cost is the ETF's decisive edge. Index equity ETFs averaged an expense ratio of just 0.14% in 2025, and index bond ETFs 0.09%, versus 0.40% and 0.36% for the equivalent mutual funds (see the chart and table below).

Those fees keep falling: index equity ETF costs have dropped 33% over nine years, and index bond ETF costs 50%. On a $100,000 portfolio, the ETF-versus-mutual-fund gap is roughly $260 a year, every year, compounding.

The industry is highly concentrated. At the end of August 2026 iShares (BlackRock) led with $6.55 trillion and a 27.3% global share, followed by Vanguard at $5.18 trillion (21.6%) and SPDR (State Street) at $2.35 trillion (9.8%); the top three controlled 58.7% of all ETF assets, and 70.0% of US ETF assets at the end of September (see the table below).

That concentration reflects the economics: ETFs are a scale business where the cheapest, most-liquid funds attract the most money, reinforcing the incumbents' lead. Vanguard has been gaining fastest, leading all providers with $440.7 billion of global net inflows in the first eight months of 2026.

At the fund level, S&P 500 trackers reign. Vanguard's VOO became the world's largest ETF at $839.3 billion, having pulled in $137.7 billion in 2025, the largest annual inflow ever for a single fund; iShares' IVV followed at $766.2 billion (see the table below).

S&P 500-tracking ETFs together held more than $1.8 trillion at the end of 2025, up from just $88 billion in 2010. As of October 16, 2026, IVV held about $881.3 billion and SPY about $809.2 billion. A single, cheap, broad index fund is where most of the money has chosen to go.

ETFs are now a mainstream household holding. About 19.8 million US households, roughly 15% of all households, owned ETFs in 2025, a share that has climbed steadily as the products entered 401(k) menus and advisor portfolios.

That is still below mutual fund ownership, leaving substantial room for further adoption as younger, ETF-native investors accumulate assets.

Beyond the core, several niches are growing fast. Global thematic ETF assets rose 49.6% over the first 11 months of 2025, and ESG ETFs reached a record $799 billion.

The mutual-fund-to-ETF conversion trend is reshaping the industry too: 191 mutual funds holding about $113 billion converted into ETFs between 2021 and 2025, as managers chase the wrapper's lower costs and tax efficiency.

The newest category is crypto. US spot bitcoin ETFs, launched in January 2024, grew to roughly $114 billion in assets by late 2025, with iShares' IBIT alone around $67 billion, making it one of the fastest-growing ETF launches in history (these crypto figures come from secondary aggregators, not ICI or ETFGI, and vary by date).

Whether crypto ETFs prove durable or faddish, they show the wrapper's reach: almost any asset class, from Treasuries to bitcoin, is now packaged as an ETF, which is a large part of why the category keeps setting records.