CEO compensation, CEO-to-worker compensation ratio, and stock prices (2021$), selected years, 1965–2021

CEO annual compensation (thousands) Private-sector production/nonsupervisory workers annual compensation Stock market (indexed to 2021$) CEO-to-worker compensation ratio
Year(s) Realized Granted All private-sector workers Workers in the firms’ industries* S&P 500 Dow Jones Realized Granted
1965 $995 $758 $45.2 NA 664 6,856 20.4 14.9
1973 $1,300 $990 $53.1 NA 587 5,051 22.7 16.6
1978 $1,781 $1,356 $54.3 NA 367 3,138 30.3 22.3
1989 $3,317 $2,526 $51.7 NA 683 5,311 59.3 43.6
1995 $6,435 $7,149 $51.7 $57.1 959 7,968 118.8 131.6
2000 $23,219 $23,242 $54.6 $59.8 2,252 16,919 371.7 392.9
2007 $20,696 $15,459 $56.8 $63.2 1,935 17,262 334.6 246.0
2009 $10,995 $11,367 $59.0 $65.1 1,200 11,248 178.3 176.6
2020 $25,008 $14,195 $63.8 $70.4 3,368 28,146 365.6 208.6
Projected 2021 $27,780 $15,592 $64.1 $70.4 4,273 34,055 398.8 236.0
2020 FH $24,620 $14,602 $63.8 $71.6 3,368 28,146 354.0 207.2
2021 FH $27,349 $16,039 $64.1 $70.4 4,273 34,055 387.2 234.6
Percent change Change in ratio
1965–1978 78.9% 78.9% 20.0% NA -44.6% -54.2% 10.0 7.3
1978–2000 1,204.0% 1,614.5% 0.6% NA 513.0% 439.1% 341.3 370.6
2000–2007 -10.9% -33.5% 4.1% 5.5% -14.1% 2.0% -37.0 -146.8
2007–2009 -46.9% -26.5% 3.9% 3.1% -38.0% -34.8% -156.4 -69.5
2009–2021 152.7% 37.2% 8.6% 8.1% 256.1% 202.8% 220.5 59.4
2007–2021 34.2% 0.9% 12.8% 11.5% 120.8% 97.3% 64.2 -10.0
1978–2021 1,460.2% 1,050.2% 18.1% NA 1,063.4% 985.2% 368.5 213.7
2020–2021 11.1% 9.8% 0.4% 0.0% 26.9% 21.0% 33.2 27.4

* Average annual compensation of the workers in the key industry of the firms in the sample.

Notes: Average annual compensation for CEOs at the top 350 U.S. firms ranked by sales is measured in two ways. Both include salary, bonus, and long-term incentive payouts, but the “granted” measure includes the value of stock options and stock awards when they were granted, whereas the “realized” measure captures the value of stock-related components that accrues after options or stock awards are granted by including “stock options exercised” and “vested stock awards.” FH = First half. CEO-to-worker compensation ratios are based on averaging specific firm ratios in samples and not the ratio of averages of CEO and worker compensation. Ratios prior to 1992 are constructed as described in the CEO pay series methodology (Sabadish and Mishel 2013).

Source: Authors’ analysis of data from Compustat’s ExecuComp database, the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Employment Statistics data series, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis NIPA tables.

View the underlying data on epi.org.