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executive paywatch

Executive Paywatch Logo

 

payflation

Inflation has slowed, but large corporations are still charging high prices.

Meanwhile, it would take more than five career lifetimes for workers to earn what CEOs receive in just one year.

ceos-stats


 

In 2023, commodity prices that companies pay fell by 3% while consumer prices rose 3%, boosting corporate profits and CEO pay.

In 2023, commodity prices that companies pay fell by 3% while consumer prices rose 3%, boosting corporate profits and CEO pay.

Data Source

 

 

S&P 500 Index Company CEO Pay Has Increased $4.2 Million Over the Past Decade

CEO Pay Increase


 

Average CEO Pay Is Growing, Fueling Economic Inequality


In 2023, CEO pay at S&P 500 companies increased 6% over the previous year—to an average of $17.7 million in total compensation.

The average CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 268-to-1 for S&P 500 Index companies in 2023. It would take more than five career lifetimes for workers to earn what CEOs receive in just one year.

VIEW CEO PAY DATA     VIEW COMPANY PAY RATIOS

Search by Company Name or Ticker





 

Companies Where CEO Pay and Prices Are Rising

Charter

Charter Communications

 
Charter Communications CEO Christopher Winfrey’s total compensation increased from $15.6 million in 2022 to $89.1 million in 2023, a 470% annual increase. In November 2022, Charter Communications increased its Spectrum home internet service prices by $5 per month, affecting an estimated 9.5 million customers. Charter Communications increased prices again in 2024, including a $6-per-month increase in its low-income internet plan.

Delta Air Lines

 
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian’s total compensation increased from $9.6 million in 2022 to $32.2 million in 2023, a 256% annual increase. In 2022, he announced that summer air travel pricing would increase between 25% to 30% on average, noting that “we’ve never seen anything of that scale.” Delta also increased its checked baggage fees by $5 in 2024, increasing the cost of checking a bag by 17%.

Exxon Mobil

 
Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods’ total compensation increased from $23.6 million in 2021 to $35.9 million in 2022 and $36.9 million in 2023, a 57% increase over two years. Exxon Mobil posted record earnings of $55.7 billion in 2022 after global energy prices increased due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and U.S. gasoline prices peaked at more than $5 per gallon.

Johnson & Johnson

 
Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato’s total compensation increased from $13.1 million in 2022 to $28.4 million in 2023, a 117% annual increase. Johnson & Johnson has sued to block implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program that will reduce drug prices. The company’s pharmaceutical subsidiary Janssen claims that while list drug prices are going up, its net drug prices have fallen due to increased insurance company-negotiated discounts, but that patients do not always benefit from these lower prices.
live nation

Starbucks

 
Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan’s total compensation increased from $8.8 million in 2022 to $14.6 million in 2023, a 66% annual increase. Starbucks has increased its prices several times in recent years, with the cost of a Venti-size cup of coffee reportedly increasing 20% in some locations between 2021 and 2022. In 2023, Starbucks also doubled the amount of purchases required to earn rewards under its loyalty program.
oracle

UDR

 
Apartment rental company UDR CEO Thomas Toomey’s total compensation increased from $8.1 million in 2022 to $11.6 million in 2023, a 44% annual increase. In 2023, UDR reported a 5.6% increase in its rental income from its existing apartment homes, which had followed an 11.1% increase in 2022. UDR was named as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Washington, D.C., attorney general alleging that various apartment rental companies used rent-setting computer algorithms from the property management software company RealPage to artificially inflate rent prices.


 

Trump’s Tax Cuts Continue to Benefit Corporations and CEOs

trump money bag

The 2017 tax cuts that primarily benefited corporations and the wealthy during the Trump administration remain in place, costing an estimated $1.9 trillion over 10 years. 

These tax cuts permanently reduced the top corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. Economists estimate that 51% of the income gains from the corporate tax cuts went to firm owners, 10% went to the top five highest-paid senior executives, 38% went to the top 10% and 0% of the wage gains went to the bottom 90% of workers.


 

Who Benefits? Trump's Corporate Tax Cuts Increased Inequality and Executive Pay, but Did Not Increase Wages for the Bottom 90% of Workers

Who Benefits?

Source: Patrick Kennedy et. al., The Efficiency-Equity Tradeoff of the Corporate Income Tax: Evidence from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, March 21, 2024, Table 11.

    

Stock Buybacks Continue to Boost Executive Pay

In 2023, S&P 500 companies repurchased $795.1 billion in shares, a financial engineering practice that increases earnings per share that is used in many CEOs’ incentive pay plans. The Institute for Policy Studies notes that the money used for stock buybacks could instead be reinvested by companies to create good jobs, and has called for a ban on stock buybacks for companies receiving federal grants under the CHIPS and Science Act.    


 

CEO Pay Matters

The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay is important. A higher pay ratio could be a sign that companies suffer from a winner-take-all philosophy, where executives reap the lion’s share of compensation. A lower pay ratio could indicate the companies that are dedicated to creating high-wage jobs and investing in their employees for the company’s long-term health.



 


 

How Long Workers Would Need to Work to Earn One Year of CEO Pay

On average, the median employee of an S&P 500 company would have had to start working in 1755 (prior to the start of the American Revolution) to earn what the average CEO received in 2023. Here is how long the median employee would need to work at the companies with the highest pay ratios to earn what their CEO received in just one year.


Nu Skin Enterprises Inc.

10,377:1

Jericho

A median worker from Nu Skin Enterprises would have to work starting in 8,354 B.C. in order to earn what the CEO made in 2023. 

For comparison, the tower of Jericho was built circa 8,000 B.C. 

Abercrombie & Fitch Co.

6,076:1

Pyramid Giza

A median worker from Abercrombie & Fitch would have to work starting in 4,053 B.C. in order to earn what the CEO made in 2023. 

For comparison, the Great Pyramid of Giza was built circa 2,560 B.C.

Coty Inc.

3,769:1

A median worker from Coty would have to work starting in 1,746 B.C. in order to earn what the CEO made in 2023. 

Mattel Inc.

3,620:1

poverty point

A median worker from Mattel would have to work starting in 1,597 B.C. in order to earn what the CEO made in 2023. 

For comparison, the Poverty Point Earthworks was built circa 1,200 B.C.

Yum China Holdings Inc.

2,858:1

Parthenon

A median worker from Yum China Holdings would have to work starting in 835 B.C. in order to earn what the CEO made in 2023. 

For comparison, the Greek Parthenon was built circa 447 B.C. 

Universal Corp.

2,411:1

A median worker from Universal would have to work starting in 388 B.C. in order to earn what the CEO made in 2023. 

Concentrix Corp.

2,333:1

Great Wall of China

A median worker from Concentrix would have to work starting in 310 B.C. in order to earn what the CEO made in 2023. 

For comparison, the Great Wall of China was built circa 220 B.C. 

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.

2,201:1

A median worker from AMC Entertainment would have to work starting in 187 B.C. in order to earn what the CEO made in 2023. 

Skechers USA Inc.

2,199:1

A median worker from Skechers would have to work starting in 176 B.C. in order to earn what the CEO made in 2023. 

Gap Inc.

2,160:1

Colosseum

A median worker from Gap would have to work starting in 137 B.C in order to earn what the CEO made in 2023. 

For comparison, the Roman Colosseum was built circa 80 A.D.

 

What Can You Do?

Large corporations should pay their fair share by increasing corporate taxes if their CEO-to-worker pay ratios exceed 50-to-1. Tell Congress to tax runaway CEO pay.

SEND A LETTER

 

 

 Trump Wants Further Cuts to the Corporate Tax Rate

Workers bearing the weight of Project 2025

As reported in The Washington Post, Donald Trump and his top advisers have said they would like to implement further tax breaks for corporations. The Trump Project 2025 Agenda for a second Trump administration would make it tougher for working people to win gains in union contracts and would stack the deck in favor of CEOs.

LEARN MORE

 


 

World’s Richest CEO Endorses Trump for President

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the world’s richest person, has pledged his support to re-electing Donald Trump as president. In 2024, Tesla’s shareholders voted to re-approve Musk’s $56 billion pay plan—the largest ever received by a CEO—that a Delaware court had struck down. Musk responded to the court decision on his pay package by reincorporating Tesla from Delaware to Texas.

 

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Test Your Paywatch Knowledge


 


 

How S&P 500 Company CEO Pay Breaks Down

Pay TypeAverage Amount
Salary$1,249,632
Bonus$2,936,266
Nonequity Incentives$3,123,279
Restricted Stock$10,494,176
Stock Options$1,927,899
Retirement Plans$1,284,350
All Other$680,422
Total$17,734,075


 

 

CEO Pay by Industry

S&P 500 company CEO pay was the highest in the Communication Services sector; those CEOs received more than $27.9 million on average in 2023. The pay ratio was the highest in the Consumer Discretionary sector, where the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 492-to-1 in 2023.

SectorAverage Executive CompensationAverage Median Worker PayAverage Disclosed Pay Ratio
Communication Services$27,938,121$127,872346
Consumer Discretionary$15,803,514$53,044529
Consumer Staples$16,214,288$56,497384
Energy$18,385,001$159,793122
Financials$19,418,746$94,398217
Health Care$16,991,232$89,636237
Industrials$14,555,428$75,212210
Information Technology$24,791,710$100,370333
Materials$14,389,469$76,495217
Real Estate$14,174,661$114,737155
Utilities$13,790,950$141,522101
All S&P 500 Companies$17,734,075$91,917268

 


 

CEO Pay by State

Too many working people across the country are struggling to afford the basics, much less save for college or retirement. Some states serve as stark examples of the incredible gap between CEOs and the hardworking people who make their companies profitable. This map shows how the CEO pay at companies headquartered in each state compares with the pay of the average employee in the state.

 

State Icon
State Name
Top-line Numbers:
  • Average S&P 500 CEO Pay: CEO pay
  • Average Russell 3000 CEO Pay: CEO pay
  • Average Worker Pay*: Worker pay
  • S&P 500 CEO-to-Worker Ratio: Ratio
  • Russell 3000 CEO-to-Worker Ratio: Ratio

See all in this state
*State average employee pay data is from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates.
CEO Pay by State

NOTE: For companies with more than one CEO during the year, the highest-paid CEO is included in the database. Pay ratio between CEO pay and median employee pay are displayed as disclosed by each company’s proxy statement. The CEO pay ratio may not equal the displayed CEO’s total compensation due to differing company methodologies in calculating pay ratios.


About Paywatch | Terms and Data Sources | Contact the Press Office

 

 

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