Fund Evaluator:

Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm Overview

Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm (VPALX) is an actively managed Municipal Bond Muni Pennsylvania fund. Vanguard launched the fund in 2001.

The investment seeks to provide current income that is exempt from both federal and Pennsylvania personal income taxes. The fund invests primarily in high-quality municipal bonds issued by Pennsylvania state and local governments, as well as by regional governmental and public financing authorities. Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its assets will be invested in securities whose income is exempt from federal and Pennsylvania state taxes. Although the fund has no limitations on the maturities of individual securities, its dollar-weighted average maturity is expected to be between 10 and 25 years. It is non-diversified.

About Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm (VPALX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 8.71 years: James D'Arcy (2011), Grace Boraas (2023). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg Municipal TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg Municipal Pennsylvania TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm has 1287 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 6.6% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a nondiversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Municipal Bond fund group. Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm has 1.6% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 100.0% (98.4% domestic bond, 1.6% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm has 0.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $3 billion in total assets, which is above the $190 million average for the Muni Pennsylvania category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

VPALX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm expense ratio is low compared to funds in the Muni Pennsylvania category. Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm has an expense ratio of 0.09%, which is 89% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm has a portfolio turnover rate of 25%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 27% for the Muni Pennsylvania category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm returned 0.9%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Muni Pennsylvania category had an average return of 1.0%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm has a trailing yield of 3.70%, which is above the 3.41% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 2.4%, 0.2 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 8.3% over the past year (grade of B), 4.4% over the past three years (grade of A) and 1.1% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 2.6% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

For more mutual fund grades, analysis and screening tools to help your investment discovery, join AAII for a $2, full-access trial. Learn more here: https://invest.aaii.com/membership.

Otherwise, for more information about Vanguard PA Long-Term Tax-Exempt Adm, including its riskiness, submit your email to unlock the rest of the article.