Data sourced from Dakota Marketplace, the global LP and GP intelligence platform trusted by thousands of investment professionals. Learn More | Book a Demo
Every quarter, institutional investment managers with $100 million or more in 13(f) securities report their holdings to the SEC (SEC Form 13F FAQ). The filings are public but not built for prospecting: each is one firm's list of issuer names, share counts and values, with no asset class tags and no quarter-over-quarter comparison. Finding which RIAs hold a given ETF means pulling filings firm by firm and doing the matching yourself.
Dakota Marketplace does that work for you. Its 13F tab holds 2,621,000+ holdings, including 938,000+ ETF positions, searchable by ticker, asset class and product structure, with Status fields that flag each position as New, Increased, Decreased or Sold-Out versus last quarter.
We used that data to find which municipal bond ETFs the most RIAs actually own. iShares National Muni Bond (MUB) leads with 95 RIAs for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, followed by Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond (VTEB) at 75 and iShares Short-Term National Muni Bond (SUB) at 45. The ETF wrapper is winning in munis: muni ETFs took in about $19.6 billion in 2025 through August, more than twice the $8 billion that went into muni mutual funds (Bloomberg via Advisor Perspectives, September 2025).
In this article, we’ll rank the 10 municipal bond ETFs held by the most RIAs, show where the dollars concentrate, and break down what RIA muni portfolios mean for managers selling tax-exempt strategies.
The Top 10 Municipal Bond ETFs Held by RIAs
Ranked by the number of distinct RIAs reporting a position in 13F filings for the quarter ending December 31, 2025.
|
Rank
|
Ticker
|
ETF
|
Category
|
RIA holdings
|
|
1
|
MUB
|
iShares National Muni Bond ETF
|
National intermediate
|
95
|
|
2
|
VTEB
|
Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond ETF
|
National intermediate
|
75
|
|
3
|
SUB
|
iShares Short-Term National Muni Bond ETF
|
Short-term
|
45
|
|
4
|
JMST
|
JPMorgan Ultra-Short Municipal Income ETF
|
Ultra-short (active)
|
38
|
|
5
|
JMUB
|
JPMorgan Municipal ETF
|
National (active)
|
33
|
|
6
|
HYMB
|
SPDR Nuveen ICE High Yield Municipal Bond ETF
|
High yield
|
24
|
|
7
|
CGMU
|
Capital Group Municipal Income ETF
|
National (active)
|
24
|
|
8
|
DFNM
|
Dimensional National Municipal Bond ETF
|
National (active)
|
19
|
|
9
|
FMB
|
First Trust Managed Municipal ETF
|
National (active)
|
19
|
|
10
|
MUNI
|
PIMCO Intermediate Municipal Bond Active ETF
|
Intermediate (active)
|
17
|
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025. HYMB and CGMU tie at 24 RIAs, DFNM and FMB tie at 19, and MUNI ties with CMF at 17. Ties are ordered by RIA dollars held.
What the Ranking Shows
1. Two National Funds Anchor the Category (MUB and VTEB, 124 RIAs)
MUB and VTEB are held by far more RIAs than any other muni ETF. 124 RIAs hold at least one of them, and 46 hold both. Together they account for $794M, about 39% of RIA muni ETF dollars.
In total, 181 RIAs hold a municipal bond ETF, with $2.0B in holdings. That is most of the 292 RIAs that hold any bond ETF, which makes munis one of the most common fixed income sleeves in the RIA market. It reflects a high-net-worth client base in high tax brackets.
2. Short Duration Is the Second Layer (100 RIAs)
After the national core, RIAs move to the short end. SUB and JMST rank third and fourth, and across all short-term and ultra-short muni ETFs, 100 RIAs hold at least one, with $378M in holdings.
These funds often serve as a tax-exempt cash sleeve. For a client in a high bracket, an ultra-short muni fund can beat a taxable T-bill fund after taxes, which mirrors the cash-sleeve story in taxable bonds.
3. Active Management Has a Real Foothold (110 RIAs, 35% of Dollars)
Six of the top 10 funds are actively managed: JMST, JMUB, CGMU, DFNM, FMB and MUNI. Across the category, 110 RIAs hold an active muni ETF, with $711M, about 35% of RIA muni ETF dollars.
That is a much larger active share than in most equity categories we’ve covered. The muni market is fragmented, with thousands of issuers and uneven credit quality, so many RIAs prefer a manager doing the credit work. 55 RIAs also hold a high yield or opportunistic muni fund, and 29 hold a state-specific fund for California, New York or New Jersey residents.
Want to see which RIAs in your territory hold these funds? Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace.
Breadth vs. Dollars: Where RIA Assets Concentrate
The ETFs held by the most RIAs are not always the ones holding the most RIA money. RIAs The ETFs held by the most RIAs are also the ones holding most of the money. RIAs reported $2.0B in municipal bond ETF holdings for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, and the top 10 funds account for $1.5B of it, about 74%.
|
Ticker
|
ETF
|
RIA holding
|
RIA holdings
|
|
MUB
|
iShares National Muni Bond ETF
|
95
|
$464M
|
|
VTEB
|
Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond ETF
|
75
|
$330M
|
|
JMUB
|
JPMorgan Municipal ETF
|
33
|
$156M
|
|
JMST
|
JPMorgan Ultra-Short Municipal Income ETF
|
38
|
$120M
|
|
SUB
|
iShares Short-Term National Muni Bond ETF
|
45
|
$114M
|
|
DFNM
|
Dimensional National Municipal Bond ETF
|
19
|
$111M
|
The active funds draw large tickets. DFNM has the largest average position in the top 10 at $5.8M per RIA, ahead of MUB at $4.9M. JMUB averages $4.7M, and JPMorgan’s two muni ETFs together hold $276M. SUB goes the other way, with an average position of $2.5M, consistent with its use as a short-term holding.
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025.
What This Means for Investment Firms Pitching RIAs
Munis are a core sleeve for RIAs serving high-net-worth clients, and unlike most categories, active managers already have a meaningful share. That leaves real room for muni and tax-aware fixed income managers.
-
Pitch against the core, not instead of it. An RIA holding MUB or VTEB is unlikely to sell it. Show how your strategy adds to a passive national muni position: credit selection, a different maturity profile, state-specific exposure or a higher-yield sleeve.
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Target the tax-exempt cash sleeve. 100 RIAs hold short-term or ultra-short muni ETFs. For managers of short-duration or enhanced-cash muni strategies, these firms have already decided where client cash belongs.
-
Find the active muni buyers. The 110 RIAs in active muni ETFs, especially the firms writing large tickets to DFNM and JMUB, have shown they’ll pay for credit work. They are the first call for active muni managers.
-
Use muni holdings to find high-net-worth books. An RIA with a meaningful muni allocation is serving clients in high tax brackets. That is a strong signal for tax-aware strategies of all kinds, including separately managed muni accounts, direct indexing and tax-managed equity.
Turn 13F Holdings Into a Prospect List
Every number in this post came from the 13F tab in Dakota Marketplace. Members filter 2,621,000+ holdings by account name, investment strategy, ticker, asset class, sub-asset class, product structure, fund balance range and filing period, and switch between a By Investor and a By Fund view.
Seven new fields make the data faster to act on:
- Quarter-over-quarter change on any holding: Previous No. of Shares, Previous Quarter Value and Status (New, Increased, Decreased, Equal Shares or Sold-Out) show who is adding or trimming a position, with no filing to open and no math to do.
- ETF exposure on every account: ETF AUM, ETF AUM %, Active ETF AUM and Passive ETF AUM answer "does this RIA use ETFs, and how much?" right on the account page.
That gives investment firms three ways to build a sharper list:
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Find who holds a competitor's fund. Search a ticker and pull every firm reporting it.
-
Spot momentum. Filter by Status to see which RIAs bought or added to a position last quarter, and which sold out.
-
Target real holdings, not stated mandates. An RIA that leans active in its ETF book is a very different conversation than one that runs almost entirely passive.
Members can now build and save their own 13F lists with Create a List and My Lists, then export any list to Excel to share or print.
Find the RIAs Behind the Holdings
Dakota Marketplace tracks 8,700+ RIAs and 48,300+ RIA contacts, with 13F holdings attached to each firm profile. Filter by ETF ticker or asset class held, by RIA AUM, by metro area, or by decision-maker title such as CIO or portfolio manager.
Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace to know what an RIA already owns before you pitch what it should add.
