US-listed ETFs Hit $1.54T YTD After $13B Sept. Inflow

State Street Investment Management reported that US-listed exchange-traded funds reached $1.54 trillion in year-to-date inflows after a $13 billion inflow on Sept. 30 pushed September’s total to $151 billion. That figure surpasses the previous annual record of $1.52 trillion set in 2025. State Street also publishes a full-year forecast of $2.3 trillion for ETF inflows.

The firm’s report shows US-listed ETFs have attracted $7.8 trillion of net inflows over the past ten years while mutual funds recorded $3 trillion of net outflows in the same period. Mutual funds continued to experience net outflows this year, according to the data.

Low-cost core equity and fixed-income ETFs drew nearly $700 billion year-to-date. If the current pace continues, those core products would exceed $1 trillion in annual inflows.

Active ETFs collected a record $574 billion year-to-date, including more than $60 billion in September, reflecting growing use of actively managed strategies inside the ETF structure.

Short-term government bond ETFs were a notable destination for flows, taking in about $100 billion year-to-date and $19 billion in September. The report links that demand to a preference for short-duration and cash-equivalent exposure amid a tighter policy environment and highlights ETF liquidity and tradability as factors that make them useful for quick portfolio adjustments.

State Street’s report describes ETFs as the primary vehicle investors use to allocate capital across core and tactical exposures and contrasts the steady inflows to ETFs with continued outflows from traditional mutual funds.