CEOs make 351 times as much as typical workers: CEO-to-worker compensation ratio, 1965–2020

Realized CEO compensation Granted CEO compensation
1965 21.1 15.4
1966 22.3 16.3
1967 23.5 17.2
1968 24.8 18.2
1969 24.5 18.0
1970 24.3 17.8
1971 24.0 17.6
1972 23.7 17.4
1973 23.4 17.2
1974 24.9 18.2
1975 26.4 19.3
1976 27.9 20.5
1977 29.6 21.7
1978 31.4 23.0
1979 33.4 24.4
1980 35.5 26.0
1981 37.7 27.6
1982 40.1 29.3
1983 42.6 31.2
1984 45.3 33.1
1985 48.1 35.2
1986 51.1 37.4
1987 54.4 39.8
1988 57.8 42.3
1989 61.4 45.0 
1990 74.3 54.4
1991 90.0 65.9
1992 109.0 79.8
1993 108.6 99.6
1994 87.4 116.6
1995 117.6 131.0
1996 150.6 177.0
1997 223.4 234.1
1998 297.4 293.4
1999 266.1 284.4
2000 365.7 386.1 
2001 210.6 322.6
2002 186.8 235.0
2003 228.8 227.0
2004 265.7 235.0
2005 318.4 244.5
2006 328.2 244.1
2007 330.9 242.0 
2008 206.7 219.4
2009 177.6 178.3
2010 213.1 202.8
2011 242.4 208.1
2012 371.7 201.3
2013 318.5 209.7
2014 326.6 217.2
2015 318.8 209.5
2016 271.6 205.8
2017 302.1 193.2
2018 293.3 212.3
2019 306.9 211.9
2020 351.1 202.7

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.” Projected value for 2020 is based on the percent change in CEO pay in the samples available in June 2019 and in June 2020 applied to the full-year 2019 value. “Typical worker” compensation is the average annual compensation (wages and benefits of a full-time, full-year worker) of production/nonsupervisory workers in the industries that the top 350 firms operate in.

Source: Authors’ analysis of data from Compustat’s ExecuComp database, 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.