The paychecks of America’s top CEOs have reached jaw-dropping heights that would make even lottery winners do a double-take. In 2024, the typical CEO of a major S&P 500 company earned between $17.1 and $18.9 million. To put this in perspective, that’s enough money to buy a mansion every year and still have millions left over for vacations.
These enormous paychecks have grown at lightning speed. Since 1978, CEO pay has skyrocketed by 878 percent after adjusting for inflation. Meanwhile, regular workers saw their pay creep up by just 4.5 percent over the same period. It’s like comparing a rocket ship to a bicycle in terms of speed.
CEO paychecks have blasted off like rockets while worker wages crawled forward at snail speed since 1978.
The gap between bosses and workers has become a massive canyon. The average CEO now earns about 285 times more than their typical employee. Back in 1965, CEOs made only 21 times more than regular workers. Some companies show even more extreme differences. Starbucks reported their CEO earned over 6,600 times more than their median worker in 2024.
Most CEO pay doesn’t come from regular salaries like the rest of us receive. Instead, about 70 percent comes from stock awards that can become incredibly valuable when company shares perform well. This system acts like a turbo boost for executive compensation. Companies have spent $644 billion on stock buybacks, often prioritizing these purchases over long-term investments in their businesses and workforce. Many investors use the S&P 500 as a benchmark to measure how well their investment portfolios perform compared to these major companies.
Companies that employ lots of low-wage workers show the starkest contrasts. These firms paid their CEOs an average of $17.2 million while their median workers earned around $35,000. That’s like having a neighbor who drives a Ferrari while you’re walking to work. Recent data shows that billionaires accumulated approximately $206 billion in new wealth over just the past year.
Certain industries pay their leaders even more generously. Entertainment, technology, and healthcare sectors often hand out packages worth $20 to $25 million annually. Financial companies alone had 55 CEOs earning median pay of nearly $19 million.
Even America’s millionaires might feel a twinge of envy when comparing their wealth to these corporate paychecks. While a million dollars represents incredible success for most people, today’s CEO compensation makes millionaire status look almost modest by comparison.
