VANGUARD HIGH-YIELD TAX-EXEMPT FUND
Actively managed U.S. bond fund
As of its 2026 Q2 report, VANGUARD HIGH-YIELD TAX-EXEMPT FUND held 3,369 positions with $17.31B in net assets. Its ten largest holdings made up 8.5% of the fund. The VWAHX share class costs 0.17% a year. Over the 12 months to May 2026, VWAHX returned 8.2%, with dividends reinvested. In 2026 Q3 it added 217 new positions and exited 140.
Vanguard High-Yield Tax-Exempt Fund (the Fund) seeks to provide a high and sustainable level of current income that is exempt from federal personal income taxes.
The fund actively selects investment-grade municipal bonds expected to deliver high current income exempt from federal tax, with flexibility to hold up to 20% in below-investment-grade bonds. The fund maintains a dollar-weighted average maturity between 10 and 25 years. Because security selection depends on the advisor's assessment of income generation and credit quality, performance will diverge from any benchmark.
What you own
| Company | Weight | Value | Shares |
|---|---|---|---|
Vanguard Cmt Funds-Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund | 5.21% | $902.50M | — |
Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corp Sales Tax Revenue 4.33% · due 2040-07-01 | 0.59% | $102.20M | — |
Public Finance Authority 6.50% · due 2065-12-31 | 0.49% | $84.48M | — |
Public Finance Authority 6.50% · due 2060-06-30 | 0.37% | $63.29M | — |
New York Transportation Development Corp 5.50% · due 2060-06-30 | 0.32% | $55.34M | — |
Buckeye Tobacco Settlement Financing Authority 5.00% · due 2055-06-01 | 0.31% | $54.34M | — |
Louisiana Public Facilities Authority 5.75% · due 2064-09-01 | 0.31% | $54.05M | — |
County of Jefferson AL Sewer Revenue 5.50% · due 2053-10-01 | 0.31% | $53.39M | — |
Chicago Board of Education 6.25% · due 2050-12-01 | 0.30% | $51.27M | — |
The Lower Alabama Gas District 5.00% · due 2033-12-01 | 0.28% | $48.92M | — |
The 200 largest of 3,369 holdings, with the share counts as filed, open with a free account.
What the fund is made of
Percentages are of fund net assets. Rounding, liabilities and short positions can make totals differ from 100%.
| Bonds | 93.86% |
| Cash & short-term | 5.21% |
| Securitized | 0.39% |
| Derivatives | 0.00% |
Derivatives are shown at market value, not notional exposure.
How it has done
VWAHX share class · total returns with dividends reinvested
Volatility over the last 12 months: 4.59%. Past returns are a record, not a forecast.
Jun 2026 and Jul 2026 have been filed since the trailing figures were struck, so they are not in the table above or the curve — every figure here shares one cut-off, which is what makes them comparable with other funds.
The 2 share classes hold the same portfolio
| Share class | Expense ratio | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | Worst fall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.17% | +8.24% | +15.57% | +6.18% | -6.46% | |
| 0.09% | +8.32% | +15.85% | +6.60% | -6.45% |
These classes hold the same portfolio, so the 0.42pp spread over 5 years is the cost difference between them — roughly 0.08pp a year — not a difference in what they own.
Fees & fund details
VANGUARD HIGH-YIELD TAX-EXEMPT FUND is an actively managed U.S. bond fund.
- Asset class
- Bonds
- Region
- United States
- Management
- Actively managed
- Fund type
- Open-end fund
- Credit quality
- Investment grade
- Rate sensitivity
- Long duration
- Expense ratio, by class
- 0.09% – 0.17%· VWAHX 0.17%
- Portfolio turnover
- 37.00% a year · as of 2026 Q1
Turnover is how much of the portfolio was replaced in a year.
Classified from what the fund holds, not from its name · 2026 Q2. The summary is a paraphrase of the prospectus; the objective is verbatim.
What changed this quarter
Positions that entered or left the fund since its previous filing. Positions that were only resized are not listed.
217 new· the largest 7
140 exited· the largest 7
Debt profile
What this fund holds — value-weighted across its bond and securitized long positions · as of 2026-04-30
Share of the fund's debt by how its coupon behaves — the fact that decides whether a rate move reaches this portfolio at all.
| Fixed rate | 86.2% |
| Floating rate | 12.2% |
| Zero-coupon or unclassified | 1.5% |
Share of the fund's debt value in each maturity band, shortest first.
| <1y | 0.1% |
| 1-3y | 0.6% |
| 3-5y | 1.3% |
| 5-10y | 8.9% |
| 10y+ | 89.0% |
These three overlap — one holding can be in arrears and paying in kind at once — so they are shown separately and never summed.
Risk profile
Interest-rate and credit-spread sensitivity, both in years · as of 2026Q2
Most of this fund’s sensitivity is to interest rates, with credit spreads carrying nearly as much.
Where the loss would come from. The two shocks are the same size, so this is the balance of the fund's two sensitivities rather than a bet on one moving more.
| Interest rates | 58% |
| Credit spreads | 42% |
Filers report the impact of a 0.01% move only, so the total is our own scaling of that one number and overstates the loss on most bonds — read it as approximate, never as precise. The two sensitivities overlap rather than add up: they measure the same positions against different shocks, which is why the durations above are shown side by side and never summed.
Share of the fund's spread duration carried by each credit tier.
| Investment grade | +5.92 yr |
| High yield | +0.25 yr |
Share of duration at each point, shortest first. A positive figure loses value when spreads widen; a negative one offsets — a credit hedge.
| 3 mo | 0.02 yr | 0% |
| 1 yr | 0.29 yr | 3% |
| 5 yr | 1.40 yr | 16% |
| 10 yr | 4.47 yr | 52% |
| 30 yr | 2.48 yr | 29% |
| 3 mo | 0.01 yr | 0% |
| 1 yr | 0.18 yr | 3% |
| 5 yr | 0.97 yr | 16% |
| 10 yr | 3.20 yr | 52% |
| 30 yr | 1.80 yr | 29% |
The two bands measure the same positions against different shocks and do not add — a Treasury carries rate duration and no spread duration, a floating-rate credit the reverse. Rate tenors are also summed across every currency the fund discloses.
Show the numbers
| Tenor | Rate yrs | IG yrs | HY yrs | IG $/bp | HY $/bp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 mo | +0.02 | +0.01 | +0.00 | $14.8k | $1.4k |
| 1 yr | +0.29 | +0.17 | +0.01 | $301.5k | $16.3k |
| 5 yr | +1.40 | +0.93 | +0.04 | $1.61m | $70.9k |
| 10 yr | +4.47 | +3.06 | +0.13 | $5.30m | $228.0k |
| 30 yr | +2.48 | +1.74 | +0.06 | $3.01m | $108.8k |
Dollar change per 1bp of spread movement, as filed and sign-anchored. A blank cell was not filed; a zero was.
A newer credit-spread reading (2026Q3) is on file. This page holds one quarter across every figure on it, so that one appears here next quarter.
Understand how this fund fits with the rest.
Explore shared holdings, compare funds and follow their businesses with your connected AI:
- “Where do my funds overlap — VWAHX, QQQ and the fund in my 401(k)?”
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