7 Top High-Dividend ETFs by Yield for May 2025

High-dividend ETFs offer instant diversification and potential income.

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Updated May 21, 2025 

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Written by Alana Benson

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Reviewed by Tiffany Kent

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Edited by Arielle O’Shea

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Co-written by Kevin Voigt

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Dividends can be a powerful source of income, and during times of stock market volatility, dividend-paying companies may even be more stable than their growth-stock peers. To generate income, some investors harness dividends by investing in dividend stocks individually, but there’s another option for those who want to save some time and energy: high-dividend ETFs.

7 high-dividend ETFs

Below is a list of seven large-cap U.S. dividend ETFs, ordered by annual dividend yield. Note that some high dividend ETFs may come with higher risk (rather than the stability some dividend investors are looking for). Always read the fine print, investigate dividends that seem too good to be true and look at the components of the ETF to determine if it fits in your portfolio.

The best high-dividend ETF is Invesco KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT ETF (KBWY), which currently has a dividend yield of 9.93%. This is based on our screen of U.S. equity ETFs, which excludes inverse, leveraged and actively managed ETFs and any with expense ratios over 0.5%.
Ticker	Company	Dividend Yield
KBWY	Invesco KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT ETF	9.93%
XSHD	Invesco S&P SmallCap High Dividend Low Volatility ETF	7.48%
NUDV	Nuveen ESG Dividend ETF	5.66%
DIV	Global X SuperDividend U.S. ETF	5.61%
SPYD	SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF	4.48%
RDIV	Invesco S&P Ultra Dividend Revenue ETF	4.15%
SCHD	Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF	3.96%
Source: Finviz. ETF data is current as of May. 21, 2025, and is intended for informational purposes only.

High-dividend ETFs may generate income

Dividend-paying ETFs can be a great tool for those looking to increase cash flow and diversify their investments. They offer a simple solution to getting exposure to a specific investing niche — in this case, stocks that pay a regular dividend.

You can use those dividends to pad your income as many retirees do. You can also reinvest those dividends back into the fund to better take advantage of compound interest and grow your investment portfolio. Whatever you choose, dividend-paying ETFs make it easy to add a large variety of investments to your portfolio all at once.