Corporate executives at America’s largest companies received substantial pay increases in 2025, with the typical chief executive earning $17.7 million – a jump of nearly 6% from the previous year. Company boards justified these increases by pointing to improved profits and rising stock values, while structuring packages to encourage executives to remain and continue generating shareholder returns.
Meanwhile, the typical employee at S&P 500 companies brought home $89,744, representing a 4.7% increase compared to the prior year. Although this raise exceeded inflation rates for 2025, many employees continued struggling with accumulated price increases from recent years, forcing them to reduce spending and rely on credit cards for basic expenses.
The compensation analysis from The Associated Press examined data from Equilar covering 337 executives at S&P 500 firms who completed at least two consecutive full fiscal years and filed required documents between January 1 and April 30.
The survey revealed that at half of the examined companies, a median-wage employee would need 200 years to match their CEO’s single-year earnings – an increase from 192 years in the previous survey. Federal regulations have mandated disclosure of these pay ratios since 2018.
The most dramatic disparities appeared at companies offering CEOs substantial one-time stock grants, and typically occurred in industries known for lower wages. Coca-Cola’s chief executive earned nearly 1,739 times the $17,947 median worker salary. At retailer TJX Cos., the CEO’s compensation was approximately 1,774 times the median employee pay.
Sarah Anderson, who directs the Global Economy Project at the progressive Institute for Policy Studies, noted in an email that there are ballot initiative campaigns in San Francisco and Los Angeles to raise taxes on companies with sizable gaps between CEO and worker pay.
“At a time when working families are struggling with rising costs, it’s obscene to see CEO pay continuing to skyrocket,” Anderson wrote.
According to Labor Department figures, overall compensation for private-sector employees across the United States increased 3.4% throughout 2025. The typical American worker earns $67,000 annually, rising to $96,000 when including benefits like healthcare and insurance coverage.
Modern executive compensation extends far beyond traditional salary, bonuses and perks, which now represent only small portions of total packages. Responding to shareholder demands, many corporations have linked CEO pay more closely to company performance. Consequently, stock awards comprise large portions of compensation packages, often requiring executives to wait years before accessing the money and only if specific targets are achieved – typically higher stock prices, increased market value, or better operating profits. When CEOs meet these benchmarks, companies frequently provide additional one-time incentives to prevent departures to competitors.
Shareholders can express opinions on executive compensation through “say on pay” votes during annual meetings, though these votes carry no binding authority and most plans receive overwhelming approval. Companies in this year’s analysis averaged approximately 90% “yes” votes.
As CEO compensation has expanded dramatically over recent decades, criticism of these substantial payouts has primarily emerged from worker advocacy groups and certain congressional members.
Elon Musk’s pay package is so extraordinary that even the pope weighed in.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla, received compensation valued at $132.3 billion, all in the form of stock awards. To actually get the shares, Musk must meet ambitious targets over the next 10 years for the company’s market value and Tesla’s electric vehicles, as well as his futuristic goals of developing a fleet of robotaxis and an army of humanoid robots.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shankh Mitra of Welltower received the second-largest compensation package in the survey at $821.1 million, the bulk of it in stock awards. Since October 2020, when he became CEO of the healthcare real estate investment trust, and October 2025, Welltower’s stock price tripled. Mitra can only receive the full compensation, beyond a $110,000 annual salary, after a 10-year period.
CEO Hock Tan’s pay package at Broadcom, valued at $205.3 million, covers the years 2028-2030 — companies assign a value at the time the package is awarded — and is tied to Tan’s ability to greatly increase the revenue Broadcom generates from artificial intelligence, making it one of the few companies at this time to use AI as a benchmark in its compensation plans.
“Use of AI considerations or metrics in incentive plans has not yet taken hold as a majority practice,” said Kelly Malafis, founding partner at Compensation Advisory Partners, in an email, although she expects that could change going forward.
David Zaslav was at the center of a takeover battle that ended with him selling Warner Bros. to Paramount Skydance for $31 a share, up from $12.54 before reports of Paramount’s interest in a deal came out. For negotiating the deal at a premium and also exceeding certain financial and strategic goals, Warner gave Zaslav a pay package valued at $165 million, fourth largest in the survey. Since becoming CEO in 2007, Zaslav’s compensation has totaled $1.1 billion, according to Equilar.
CEOs of three the nation’s biggest banks got rewarded for yearslong efforts to retool their companies and revive a stagnant stock price.
Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon’s pay package totaled almost $119 million — including stock valued at $80 million he can receive after five years. Goldman’s board pointed to the 57% gain in the company’s shares, as well as a hefty increase in its earnings per share. Solomon also sold off the company’s Apple Card portfolio after an unsuccessful effort to expand Goldman’s consumer-focused business.
Jane Fraser of Citigroup received a pay package valued at $95.8 million — tops among the 27 women CEOs in this year’s survey and the highest-ever for a woman CEO in the survey’s history. Fraser received a one-time award valued at $25 million in restricted stock and options after being elected Citi’s chairman. She also got a one-time award for overseeing a wholesale reorganization of Citi into a leaner company, including laying off thousands of workers.
Overall, the median compensation for women CEOs in the survey fell 2.6% to $18.1 million, compared to a 6.4% increase for their male counterparts to $17.7 billion.
Wells Fargo gave CEO Charles Scharf a pay package worth $94.5 million after his yearslong effort to lead the bank back from a scandal involving fake bank accounts that landed Wells under federal supervision. And new scandals emerged along the way. The Federal Reserve finally let Wells leave the penalty box last year.
In his last year as CEO of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett received compensation worth $389,488 — down 4% from the year prior.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s compensation was valued at $25.1 million and almost all of it involved costs for the company to provide security for him and his family, as well as the use of corporate aircraft.
Jensen Huang of Nvidia, the most valuable publicly traded company, got a pay package valued at $36.3 million. He didn’t make the AP survey because Nvidia filed its proxy after April 30.
