The typical CEO compensation package rose nearly 6% in 2025 to $17.7 million, as company boards rewarded top executives for higher profits and stock prices, and provided incentives to remain and generate further shareholder value. The median employee at S&P 500 companies earned $89,744, a 4.7% increase year over year. While this gain outpaced inflation in 2025, many workers still felt the pinch from cumulative price hikes over recent years, cutting corners and accruing credit card debt for essentials.
Pay Gap Widens
At half the companies surveyed, it would take the median worker 200 years to earn what the CEO made in one year, up from 192 years in the previous survey. The pay ratio, required disclosure since 2018, is highest at companies with one-time stock awards for CEOs and in low-wage industries. For instance, Coca-Cola's CEO earned 1,739 times the median worker pay of $17,947, while TJX Cos. CEO made 1,774 times the median.
Sarah Anderson of the Institute for Policy Studies criticized the trend, noting ballot initiatives in San Francisco and Los Angeles to tax companies with large CEO-worker pay gaps. Overall, private-sector wages and benefits rose 3.4% in 2025, with the average U.S. worker earning $67,000 annually, or $96,000 including benefits.
Nature of CEO Pay
Modern CEO pay packages consist largely of stock awards tied to performance, rather than salary and bonuses. These awards often vest over years and depend on meeting targets like higher stock prices or operating profits. Shareholders can vote on pay packages through non-binding 'say on pay' votes, which typically pass with around 90% approval.
Notable Compensation Packages
Elon Musk of Tesla received the largest package at $132.3 billion, all in stock awards contingent on ambitious goals for market value, electric vehicles, robotaxis, and humanoid robots over 10 years. Welltower's Shankh Mitra received $821.1 million, mostly stock, after tripling the company's stock price since 2020; full payout requires a decade. Broadcom's Hock Tan got $205.3 million tied to AI revenue growth through 2028-2030, a rare use of AI metrics. David Zaslav of Warner Bros. earned $165 million for negotiating a sale at a premium, bringing his total compensation since 2007 to $1.1 billion.
Banking CEOs Reap Rewards
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon received nearly $119 million, including $80 million in stock vesting over five years, after a 57% share price gain and sale of the Apple Card portfolio. Citigroup's Jane Fraser got $95.8 million, the highest for a woman CEO in the survey, including awards for becoming chairman and reorganizing the company. Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf received $94.5 million for leading the bank past a fake accounts scandal. However, median compensation for women CEOs fell 2.6% to $18.1 million, while male CEO pay rose 6.4% to $17.7 million.
Other Notable Figures
Warren Buffett's final year as Berkshire Hathaway CEO brought $389,488, down 4%. Meta's Mark Zuckerberg had $25.1 million, mostly for security and aircraft costs. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang received $36.3 million but was excluded from the survey due to a late proxy filing.
