The median compensation for CEOs of the largest U.S. public companies rose to $17.7 million in 2025 [1].
This increase highlights a growing disparity between executive earnings and the wages of average employees, reflecting broader trends in corporate wealth distribution.
The Associated Press released the annual survey on Wednesday, using data provided by the executive-pay research firm Equilar [2]. According to the findings, the typical CEO compensation package rose nearly six percent in 2025 [1]. Other reports indicate a wider variance in growth, with some sources citing a surge of 23% in CEO compensation for the same period [3].
The data emphasizes a widening pay gap between top executives and the workforce. The Associated Press said it would take the worker at the middle of a company's pay scale 200 years to make what the CEO did in one [4]. This is an increase from the 192 years required in the previous year's survey [4].
To produce the analysis, the Associated Press relied on Equilar to track total compensation and year-over-year changes [2]. The survey compares these earnings against the median worker pay to illustrate the scale of executive pay in the United States [5].
Corporate boards typically determine these packages based on performance metrics, and market competitiveness. However, the gap continues to expand as median executive pay outpaces the growth of worker wages [5].
“The typical CEO compensation package rose nearly 6% in 2025 to $17.7 million.”
The widening gap between CEO and worker pay suggests that corporate productivity gains and profits are being disproportionately allocated to top leadership. By tracking the 'years of work' metric, the data provides a tangible measure of income inequality within the U.S. corporate structure, signaling a trend where executive wealth is decoupling from the median employee's earning potential.
