The $17.7 million CEO Pay Gap Widens in 2025

CEO compensation packages in S&P 500 companies increased nearly 6% to a median of $17.7 million in 2025, while average worker pay rose 4.7% to $89,744, according to an AP analysis.

The widening gap has sparked criticism from worker advocates and ballot initiatives in California to tax firms with large pay disparities.

According to an analysis of 337 executives by Equilar for The Associated Press, the typical compensation package for a CEO in the S&P 500 increased nearly 6% in 2025 to $17.7 million.

Why 4,000 unsold units became the prize

At half of the companies surveyed, the median worker would need 200 years to earn what their CEO made in a single year, up from 192 years in the previous survey.

The disparity is most pronounced at firms where CEO compensation includes large one-time stock awards, but also tends to be higher in industries with typically low wages.

For example, at Coca-Cola, the CEO earned nearly 1,739 times the average worker salary of $17,947.

Who is the unnamed buyer?

Ballot initiatives in San Francisco and Los Angeles aim to raise taxes on companies with large CEO-to-worker pay gaps, said Sarah Anderson, who directs the Global Economy Project at the progressive Institute for Policy Studies.

Anderson wrote in an email that at a time when working families are struggling with rising costs, it is obscene that CEO pay keeps skyrocketing.

Many people might think executive compensation consists of salary, bonus, and benefits, but those components represent only a small fraction of modern CEO pay.

An echo of Sydney's 2024 institutiional buy-up

Companies have responded to shareholder calls to tie CEO compensation more closely to performance, resulting in a large portion of pay packages coming in the form of stock awards.

These awards often cannot be converted to cash for years,if at all, unless the company meets specific targets such as a higher stock price or increased operating earnings.

Shareholders can voice their opinion through say-on-pay votes at annual meetings, but these votes are non-binding, and most plans pass with overwhelming support.

What auditors flagged in the May filing

The average yes vote in this year's survey was about 90%.

As CEO pay has surged over the past decades, criticism has largely come from worker advocates and some members of Congress.

Notably, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, received compensation valued at $132.3 billion, all in stock awards, which stands as an extreme example of the widening gap.