The Best Performing Dividend ETFs over the Last 10 Years

Updated as of: September 12, 2025

Dividend income composes a major part of equity investing over the long run; more than one-third of U.S. stock market total returns since 1930 have been produced by dividends.

The rise of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in recent decades have enabled exposure to many individual stocks through a single security that trades on the open market. Thanks to ETFs, portfolio managers and clients have been afforded convenient access to a basket of companies packaged together in a single, cost-efficient security focused on a targeted investment objective.

One common investment objective is dividend income, and this article contains the best-performing dividend ETFs from the last year all the way back to the past decade, with data routinely updated by YCharts.

To create this list, we analyzed the entire ETF universe using the YCharts Fund Screener to find the best-performing equity income ETFs on a 1-year, 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year basis. (ETFs with leveraged or inverse attributes as well as those in the alternative currency strategy and options arbitrage strategy peer groups were excluded to focus on long-term investment vehicles that align with broader financial planning goals)

Click to jump to a section:

• Best-Performing Dividend ETFs in the Last Year
• Best-Performing Dividend ETFs in the Last 3 Years
• Best-Performing Dividend ETFs in the Last 5 Years
• Best-Performing Dividend ETFs in the Last 10 Years
• What Was the Growth of $10,000 Over the Last 10 Years?

Best Performing Dividend ETFs in the Last Year

These are the top-performing dividend ETFs over the past year, as of August 31, 2025.

 Start a Free Trial to See Full Rankings | View & Modify in Fund Screener

Download Visual | Modify in YCharts

Best Performing Dividend ETFs in the Last 3 Years

These are the top-performing dividend ETFs on an annualized basis between September 1st, 2022 and August 31, 2025.

Start a Free Trial to See Full Rankings | View & Modify in Fund Screener

Download Visual | Modify in YCharts

Best Performing Dividend ETFs in the Last 5 Years

These are the top-performing dividend ETFs on an annualized basis between September 1, 2020 and August 31, 2025.

Start a Free Trial to See Full Rankings | View & Modify in Fund Screener

Download Visual | Modify in YCharts

Best Performing Dividend ETFs in the Last 10 Years

These are the top-performing dividend ETFs on an annualized basis between September 1, 2015 and August 31, 2025.

Start a Free Trial to See Full Rankings | View & Modify in Fund Screener

Download Visual | Modify in YCharts

What Was the Growth of $10,000 in the Top Dividend ETFs Over the Last 10 Years?

If you invested $10,000 ten years ago into any of the ten best-performing dividend ETFs over the last 10 years, your total return would be lower than if that $10K was invested in the S&P 500.

The best-performing dividend ETF in the last 10 years was the First Trust Rising Dividend Achievers ETF (RDVY). A $10,000 investment into RDVY 10 years ago would be worth over $37K today. Right behind it was the WisdomTree US Quality Dividend Growth Fund ETF (DGRW); investing $10,000 into DGRW back in 2015 would’ve turned into $36,600.

Investing $10,000 into the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index netted a balance of $28,000 on a 10.9% annualized total return over the last ten years, landing it just shy of the ten best-performing dividend ETFs.

Download Visual | Modify in YCharts

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how YCharts can help you:

1. Interested in doing further ETF research with YCharts?

2. Want to test out YCharts for free?

Start a no-risk 7-Day Free Trial.

3. Sign up for a copy of our Fund Flows Report and Visual Deck to stay on top of mutual fund trends:

Sign up to recieve a copy of our monthly Fund Flows Report:

Disclaimer

©2025 YCharts, Inc. All Rights Reserved. YCharts, Inc. (“YCharts”) is not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (or with the securities regulatory authority or body of any state or any other jurisdiction) as an investment adviser, broker-dealer or in any other capacity, and does not purport to provide investment advice or make investment recommendations. This report has been generated through application of the analytical tools and data provided through ycharts.com and is intended solely to assist you or your investment or other adviser(s) in conducting investment research. You should not construe this report as an offer to buy or sell, as a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or as a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or trade, any security or other financial instrument. For further information regarding your use of this report, please go to: ycharts.com/about/disclosure.