SCHD vs SCHG: Dividend/Income Calculator Comparison
SCHD (Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF) screens for quality dividend payers while SCHG (Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF) buys large-cap growth for price appreciation, so this page runs both through one scenario to compare income now against pure growth.
SCHD
SCHG
Set one scenario below — the same contribution, horizon, and account run through both funds, so the numbers are comparable rather than pulled from two separate defaults. Each result is a range, not a single figure: forward growth is an editorial preset assumption, not a prediction.
Base-scenario path for each fund at your horizon. Watch the split: SCHD carries most of its result in the income line, SCHG almost entirely in the value line. After-tax reflects the taxable account and reads as a dash inside an IRA or Roth; NAV erosion shows a dash for both, since neither manufactures its payout from principal.
| Fund | Annual income | Portfolio value | After-tax (if sold) | Yield on cost | NAV erosion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCHD | — | — | — | — | — |
Which one fits whom
These two Schwab funds sit at opposite ends of what a stock can give you. SCHD screens for quality dividend payers and yields around 3.3%, with a per-share dividend that has grown roughly 7% a year recently (+5.4% in 2025) — it hands back a sizable, rising check. SCHG holds large-cap growth companies that mostly retain their earnings, so it yields about 0.4% and puts nearly the entire outcome in price appreciation rather than income. Someone who wants a growing income stream, or is at a stage where the payout matters, leans SCHD; someone accumulating over a long horizon with no need to spend the distribution leans SCHG. Neither is better in the abstract — the calculator shows SCHD's result mostly in the income line and SCHG's almost entirely in the value line, so you can see which one answers the question you are actually asking.
Income that grows versus price that grows
The split is structural, not incidental. SCHD's construction — the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 screen on companies with ten consecutive years of payments, ranked on cash-flow-to-total-debt, return on equity, dividend yield, and five-year dividend growth — is built to produce a growing dividend, which is why its per-share payout has compounded near 7% a year in recent years and its yield-on-cost drifts upward the longer you hold. SCHG's index screens the growth half of large-cap America on sales and earnings growth, and those companies plow earnings back into the business instead of paying them out, so almost none of your return arrives as a dividend and almost all of it as share-price movement. Turn DRIP off on each and the contrast is stark: SCHD's income line bends because reinvested dividends did much of its lifting, while SCHG's hardly moves either way because there was little dividend to reinvest.
Concentration and the shape of the band
The funds also differ in how bumpy the ride is likely to be. SCHG carries a heavy mega-cap technology tilt at the top of its book, the same concentration that can drive both larger gains and larger drawdowns, which is why its projection uses a higher 7% forward price-growth assumption but also a wider band around it. SCHD's quality screen leans toward established, cash-generative businesses and pairs with a lower 5% price-growth anchor and a steadier payout. That is the honest trade behind the two value lines: SCHG reaches for more price growth and accepts more uncertainty to get it, while SCHD gives up some of that upside for an income stream that keeps rising. Fees barely enter it — SCHG runs 0.04% and SCHD 0.06%, both low enough that the growth and yield assumptions, not the expense ratio, decide the outcome.
The tax angle, and the honest bottom line
Both pay generally qualified dividends taxed at long-term capital-gains rates, so unlike a dividend-versus-covered-call comparison there is no ordinary-income penalty on either side. The difference is timing: SCHD's ~3.3% yield is taxable every year in a taxable account, even when reinvested, so it carries a real annual drag; SCHG's ~0.4% yield defers almost all of its tax into the capital gain you eventually realize when you sell. Move the Account toggle to an IRA or Roth and both of those frictions disappear, which pushes the comparison back to raw income versus raw growth. That is a trade-off the calculator makes visible rather than a verdict it hands down — read the metric you care about, then the after-tax column. For the full single-fund detail, see the SCHD dividend calculator and the SCHG dividend calculator.
Compare & go deeper
- SCHD dividend calculator
The single-fund projection with year-by-year breakdown and yield-on-cost.
- SCHG dividend calculator
The single-fund projection under the same honest after-tax engine.
- Qualified vs ordinary dividends
Why the tax character of a distribution changes the after-tax number.
- All ticker dividend calculators
The full set across income, dividend-growth, and broad funds.