Comparing the Largest 150 US Fund Families

The 150 largest fund families in the United States collectively manage trillions of dollars across a range of open-end mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, with Vanguard and BlackRock leading the way. 

How do the largest providers compare? 

The 2025 Fund Family Digest includes comprehensive factsheets, including Parent Pillar ratings, for each of the US’s largest 150 fund families. Download the full report for a deeper dive into these leading firms.

We also cover Japan fund families in a dedicated report for the region.

Morningstar's Parent Pillar rating, one of three pillars that comprise the Morningstar Medalist Rating, provides investors with valuable insight into how well a fund family is managed for the benefit of its clients.  

The Parent Pillar assessment is grounded in Morningstar analysts' evaluations of several factors:  

• Investment culture, including a firm's ability to attract, develop, and retain top investment talent. 

• Business practice and governance of product offerings. 

• Philosophies that guide fund fees and portfolio-manager compensation. 

• Regulatory infractions. 

These factors together reflect a fund family's overall care of investors’ capital and its alignment with investors' interests. 

Morningstar analysts use a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches to assess a fund family's leadership, investment team, and product development, among other relevant characteristics. 

At the leadership level, they consider a firm’s business structure and attention to core functions, such as risk management and capacity management.  

In the investment team evaluation, analysts utilize Morningstar data to assess factors like manager retention and fund performance, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of a firm's strengths and weaknesses. Here, succession planning and investment-team resources are also considered. 

On the product development side, data on fund launches, mergers, and liquidations are critical. Analysts also assess a firm’s commitment to keeping costs competitive: how does a firm price its strategies and does it share economies of scale?  

This detailed analysis helps investors identify firms that offer thoughtful leadership, long-term investment-team stability, and a focus on delivering value to their clients. 

Just 10 out of the 150 largest asset managers in the US receive High Parent Pillar ratings from Morningstar analysts. Morningstar's High Parent Pillar rating is reserved for firms with investment and commercial cultures that demonstrate a strong commitment to investors’ interests.  

These firms share several characteristics, often having stable portfolio management teams with long tenures and clear succession plans. High-rated firms also attract top talent and maintain competitive fee structures, ensuring investors get a good deal. 

Firms like Vanguard, Capital Group, and T. Rowe Price earn High Parent Pillar ratings given a long track record of delivering favorable investor outcomes, whether an output of low-cost offerings, judicious product development, or the development and retention of skilled portfolio managers that have produced strong investment results. 

Have a fund family you’re curious about? Get the insights that matter with Morningstar Data + Analytics. Morningstar offers unparalleled fund data, including detailed analysis of passive vs. active strategies, Medalist ratings, and more. 

The table below shows how the largest fund families in the United States stack up in Medalists-rated shares, assets under management, and net fund flows. 

Morningstar assigns forward-looking Medalist Ratings to convey the manager research team‘s confidence in a strategy‘s ability to outperform its category index after fees. We calculated the percentage of each fund families‘ fund shares that have earned Medalist Ratings of Gold, Silver, or Bronze—which are all expected to outperform—as a proportion of their funds under coverage.