Passive Funds Held 55% of U.S. Fund Assets as Global ETFs Reached $24 Trillion

Passive funds accounted for 55% of U.S. fund assets at the end of 2025, while global exchange-traded fund assets reached $24.03 trillion in August, underscoring the scale of two distinct shifts in investing.

Passive U.S. mutual funds and ETFs held $19.4 trillion on Dec. 31, 2025, compared with $16 trillion in actively managed funds. Passive funds’ share of U.S. fund assets rose from 53% a year earlier. They first surpassed active funds in total assets in 2023.

The U.S. figures measure investment strategy, while the global total measures a fund structure. Passive funds generally follow a set strategy, such as tracking an index; an ETF can be either passive or actively managed. That distinction means the global ETF total does not represent passive assets alone.

Global ETF assets stood at $24.03 trillion at the end of August 2026. The funds drew $1.96 trillion in net inflows from January through August, including $248.15 billion in August. August marked the 87th consecutive month of net inflows into global ETFs. Assets and inflows are separate measures: the $24.03 trillion total is the value held in the funds, while inflows track money added over a period.

Actively managed ETFs accounted for $2.72 trillion of global ETF assets at August’s end. They drew $663.59 billion in net inflows during the first eight months of 2026, including $73.12 billion in August. In the United States, 4,495 ETFs held $13.4 trillion at year-end 2025. An estimated 19.8 million U.S. households, about 15%, owned ETFs that year; the fund count includes both index-based and actively managed products.

Performance figures provide another measure of the active-fund landscape. In 2025, 78.78% of active large-cap funds underperformed the S&P 500. Over 15 years, 89.93% underperformed. These figures describe past results for that fund category and period.

U.S.-registered investment companies held 33% of U.S. corporate equity outstanding at the end of 2025. That measure covers investment companies overall, including active and passive funds, and does not isolate passive funds’ share of the stock market.