VANGUARD HIGH-YIELD TAX-EXEMPT FUND
VANGUARD MUNICIPAL BOND FUNDS · 2 share classes
Fund classification
Classified from what the fund holds · as of 2026 Q2
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
Fund profile
As filed in the prospectus · 2026 Q1
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.
| Share class | Expense ratio |
|---|---|
| VWAHX | 0.17% |
| VWALX | 0.09% |
Portfolio turnover 37.00% · as of 2026 Q1
Allocation
Asset groups · long / short shown separately, never netted · 2026 Q2
| Bonds | 93.86% |
| Cash & short-term | 5.21% |
| Securitized | 0.39% |
| Derivatives | 0.00% |
Derivatives are shown at market value, not notional exposure.
Latest quarter
What changed since the fund's previous filing
Largest new: Black Belt Energy Gas District ×3, City of Austin TX Airport System Revenue, California Community Choice Financing Authority ×2, Southeast Energy Authority A Cooperative District, State of Washington
Largest exited: The Public Building Authority of Blount County Tennessee, Mississippi Business Finance Corp, California Community Choice Financing Authority, County of Warren KY, New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority, City of Houston TX Airport System Revenue, Public Finance Authority, City of Grand Forks ND
Return profile
Total return as filed — price change plus distributions reinvested · trailing figures to Apr 2026
| Share class | 1-year | 3-year | 5-year | Vol | Worst fall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +6.89% | +13.98% | +6.28% | 4.74% | -6.46% | |
| +6.97% | +14.26% | +6.71% | 4.74% | -6.45% |
These classes hold the same portfolio, so the 0.43pp spread over 5 years is the cost difference between them — roughly 0.09pp a year — not a difference in what they own.
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.
Holdings
By % of NAV · equity positions carry filed share counts · every resolvable issuer links to its company page
| Ticker | Issuer | %NAV | Value | Shares |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Vanguard Cmt Funds-Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund | 5.21% | $902.50M | — |
| — | Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corp Sales Tax Revenue4.33% · due 2040-07-01 | 0.59% | $102.20M | — |
| — | Public Finance Authority6.50% · due 2065-12-31 | 0.49% | $84.48M | — |
| — | Public Finance Authority6.50% · due 2060-06-30 | 0.37% | $63.29M | — |
| — | New York Transportation Development Corp5.50% · due 2060-06-30 | 0.32% | $55.34M | — |
| — | Buckeye Tobacco Settlement Financing Authority5.00% · due 2055-06-01 | 0.31% | $54.34M | — |
| — | Louisiana Public Facilities Authority5.75% · due 2064-09-01 | 0.31% | $54.05M | — |
| — | County of Jefferson AL Sewer Revenue5.50% · due 2053-10-01 | 0.31% | $53.39M | — |
| — | Chicago Board of Education6.25% · due 2050-12-01 | 0.30% | $51.27M | — |
| — | The Lower Alabama Gas District5.00% · due 2033-12-01 | 0.28% | $48.92M | — |
Top 10 positions are 8.49% of net assets, top 25 12.19%, across 871 issuers.
See more of this fund's book
More positions with filed share counts, and the quarter-over-quarter change list rather than the largest few — free with an account, no card required.
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