CEO realized direct compensation and the S&P 500 index (2016 dollars), 1965–2016

Year CEO realized direct compensation (in millions of 2016 dollars) S&P 500 index (adjusted to 2016 dollars)
1965 0.84 88.15
1966 0.91 85.18
1967 0.98 91.96
1968 1.05 98.37
1969 1.06 97.77
1970 1.07 83.17
1971 1.08 98.32
1972 1.09 109.13
1973 1.10 107.44
1974 1.17 82.78
1975 1.25 86.18
1976 1.33 102.03
1977 1.42 98.18
1978 1.51 96.11
1979 1.60 103.00
1980 1.69 118.71
1981 1.79 128.04
1982 1.89 119.71
1983 2.00 160.47
1984 2.12 160.46
1985 2.24 186.81
1986 2.37 236.39
1987 2.51 287.00
1988 2.65 265.88
1989 2.81 323.05
1990 3.40 334.63
1991 4.11 376.19
1992 4.98 415.75
1993 5.58 451.61
1994 4.42 460.42
1995 5.95 541.72
1996 7.56 670.50
1997 11.51 873.43
1998 17.15 1,085.50
1999 15.15 1,327.33
2000 20.66 1,427.22
2001 11.59 1,194.18
2002 10.24 993.94
2003 13.06 965.23
2004 14.38 1,130.65
2005 16.88 1,207.23
2006 18.76 1,310.46
2007 19.11 1,477.19
2008 13.40 1,220.04
2009 10.75 948.05
2010 12.83 1,139.97
2011 12.96 1,267.64
2012 15.26 1,379.35
2013 15.60 1,643.80
2014 16.57 1,931.38
2015 16.34 2,061.07
2016 15.64 2,094.65

Notes: CEO annual compensation is computed using the “options realized” compensation series, which includes salary, bonus, restricted stock grants, options realized, and long-term incentive payouts for CEOs at the top 350 U.S. firms ranked by sales. Projected value for 2016 is based on the change in CEO pay as measured from June 2015 to June 2016 applied to the full-year 2015 value.

Source: Authors’ analysis of data from Compustat’s ExecuComp database and the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

View the underlying data on epi.org.