With wage gaps between the rich and poor becoming ever more apparent worldwide, it is becoming an increasingly controversial topic for business owners to consider the ratio between the pay of the ‘top dogs’ and the ‘worker bees’.
How much should a CEO earn in comparison to their employees? Why do some CEOs take home such massive salaries while their employees face financial difficulties? And which businesses have the greatest pay gap between CEOs and employees?
To explore this topic, our research team has analysed the difference in wages between CEOs and employees in some of the USA’s largest businesses, providing an in-depth analysis of pay disparities – and unearthing some potentially shocking revelations.
How long would it take the average worker to earn a CEOs yearly salary?
To put things into perspective, we first analysed how long it would take for a median pay earner in America’s 100 largest companies to earn as much as their CEO does in a single year. You can see the difference in pay ratio visualised below for the five companies with the largest ratio difference between their CEO and median workers.
- Amazon – Andrew Jassy
Amazon has the biggest annual salary disparity between the CEO and average employees. In 2021, Amazon’s CEO Andrew Jassy took home an annual salary of $212,701,169 while most of the employees working there were paid $32,855 – which is a pay ratio of 6474:1. That means it would take the average employee at this multinational e-commerce giant over six millennia to earn what Andrew Jassy makes in a single year.
- McDonald’s – Christopher Kempczinski
McDonald’s is the second worst offender of the CEO vs. employee ratio gap. The CEO Christopher Kempczinski earns $20,028,132 per year, while the median salary for employees pales in comparison at just $8,897. This is a pay ratio of 2251:1, which means it would take employees just over 2,251 years to earn what Christopher Kempczinski does in one year.
- TJX Companies – Ernie Herrman
TJX Companies is the umbrella company for off-price department store chains T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, as well as furniture retailer Home Goods. The average employee at TJX companies takes home an annual salary of $14,139, while CEO Ernie Herrman pocketed $31,802,000 in 2022 alone.
This pay ratio of 2249:1 means a typical staff member would have to work for over 2,249 years to match the CEO’s annual pay.
- Oracle – Safra Catz
Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle (the third-largest software company in the world in 2020), earns $138,192,032 per year, while employees earn $75,043 on average. Even though tech salaries tend to be slightly higher in comparison to industries like retail and e-commerce, it would still take over 1,840 years for workers at Oracle to match their CEO’s annual earnings.
- Coca-Cola – James Quincey
Coca-Cola shows the fifth largest pay disparity. CEO James Quincey’s yearly salary is $24,883,878, while employees typically earn just $13,894 per year. This ratio of 1791:1 means 1,791 years would have to pass before the average employee’s earnings totalled what the CEO makes in a 12 month period.
The table below shows the top 10 companies where it would take median pay earners the longest time to earn what their CEO makes in just one year:
| Rank | Company | CEO | Annual salary (millions) | Annual salary of median worker | Years to reach CEO pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amazon | Andrew Jassy | $212.7 | $32,855 | 6473.9 |
| 2 | McDonald | Christopher Kempczinski | $20.0 | $8,897 | 2251.1 |
| 3 | TJX Companies | Ernie Herrman | $31.8 | $14,139 | 2249.2 |
| 4 | Oracle | Safra Catz | $138.2 | $75,043 | 1841.5 |
| 5 | Coca-Cola | James Quincey | $24.9 | $13,894 | 1791 |
| 6 | Intel | Patrick Gelsinger | $178.6 | $104,400 | 1710.6 |
| 7 | Starbucks | Kevin Johnson | $20.4 | $12,935 | 1579.1 |
| 8 | Apple | Timothy Cook | $98.7 | $68,254 | 1446.6 |
| 9 | Walmart | C. McMillon | $25.7 | $25,335 | 1013.2 |
| 10 | Booking Holdings (Booking.com) | Glenn Fogel | $54.0 | $58,005 | 930.6 |
How long does it take for CEOs to earn an average employee’s annual pay?
In many cases, it takes just one day for the CEOs of the largest companies in the US to earn more than their employees make all year. For the highest earning CEOs, this can take as little as a couple of hours. But which CEOs earn the equivalent of a median worker’s annual pay in the shortest amount of time?
Amazon’s CEO Andrew Jassy tops the list, earning the average Amazon employee’s annual salary in as little as one hour and 18 minutes. McDonald’s CEO Christopher Kempczinski and TJX CEO Ernie Herrman come next, both earning the average worker’s yearly salary in just under four hours.
Meanwhile, every four hours and 42 minutes the CEO of Oracle is paid what the average employee has to work a whole year for. Coca Cola’s CEO takes ever so slightly longer to match his employee’s yearly earnings at 4 hours and 48 minutes.
The table below shows the 10 companies where CEOs earn their employees’ average yearly salary the quickest:
| Rank | Company | Median worker pay ($) Annual | CEO pay (in millions) Annual | CEO pay Per-Day | CEO pay - Per-Hour | How many hours of CEO pay to reach median annual pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amazon | $32,855 | $212.7 | $590,837 | $24,618 | 1.3 |
| 2 | McDonald | $8,897 | $20.0 | $55,634 | $2,318 | 3.8 |
| 3 | TJX Companies | $14,139 | $31.8 | $88,339 | $3,681 | 3.8 |
| 4 | Oracle | $75,043 | $138.2 | $383,867 | $15,994 | 4.7 |
| 5 | Coca-Cola | $13,894 | $24.9 | $69,122 | $2,880 | 4.8 |
| 6 | Intel | $104,400 | $178.6 | $496,084 | $20,670 | 5.1 |
| 7 | Starbucks | $12,935 | $20.4 | $56,737 | $2,364 | 5.5 |
| 8 | Apple | $68,254 | $98.7 | $274,262 | $11,428 | 6 |
| 9 | Walmart | $25,335 | $25.7 | $71,307 | $2,971 | 8.5 |
| 10 | Booking Holdings (Booking.com) | $58,005 | $54.0 | $149,951 | $6,248 | 9.3 |
The top five companies with the smallest gap between CEO and employees
As well as identifying which big businesses in the US see the biggest pay disparities between employees and CEOs, we’ve also investigated which have the lowest pay difference ratios.
Airbnb, Berkshire Hathaway, and Alphabet (Google) are the country’s most equitable businesses when it comes to CEO vs employee salary disparity. Airbnb is the only company with a 1:1 pay ratio, making it the most equitable business in our study. Berkshire Hathaway follows with a pay ratio of 6:1, ahead of Alphabet (Google) with 21:1.
The table below shows the top five companies with the smallest ratio difference in pay per year between the CEO and median earning workers:
| Tickr | Name | Annual salary | Monthly salary | Pay ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABNB | Airbnb | $202,541 | $16,878 | 1:1 |
| BRK.B | Berkshire Hathaway | $58,881 | $4,907 | 6:1 |
| GOOGL | Alphabet (Google) | $295,884 | $24,657 | 21:1 |
| REGN | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals | $149,250 | $12,438 | 43:1 |
| ISRG | Intuitive Surgical | $140,163 | $11,680 | 58:1 |
Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy’s yearly salary could pay medical insurance for 19,806 people in the US
It’s no secret that medical insurance isn’t affordable for a lot of people, with costs averaging $10,739 per year. In fact, 64% of America’s million uninsured adults said that they were uninsured because the cost of coverage is just too high.
But for America’s top-earning CEOs, this amount is merely a drop in the ocean compared to their annual compensation. In fact, our research revealed that if Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy gave up just one year’s salary, he could cover annual medical insurance fees for nearly 20,000 people in the US.
And he’s not alone. The CEO of semiconductor chip manufacturer Intel could provide coverage for 16,630 people, while the CEO of software company ServiceNow could pay the medical insurance fees for 15,439 employees. These figures highlight the vast wealth disparity between top executives and everyday workers in America.
Below is a list of the top 10 companies whose CEOs could cover medical insurance costs for the greatest number of people:
| Medical cost based on average of $10,739 per person (annually) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Company | CEO | How many people the CEO could pay annual medical cost for |
| 1 | Amazon | Andrew Jassy | 19,806 |
| 2 | Intel | Patrick Gelsinger | 16,630 |
| 3 | ServiceNow | William McDermott | 15,439 |
| 4 | Oracle | Safra Catz | 12,868 |
| 5 | Apple | Timothy Cook | 9,194 |
| 6 | JPMorgan Chase | James Dimon | 7,862 |
| 7 | Broadcom | Hock Tan | 5,653 |
| 8 | Microsoft | Satya Nadella | 5,117 |
| 9 | Booking Holdings (Booking.com) | Glenn Fogel | 5,027 |
| 10 | Netflix | Reed Hastings | 3,801 |
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Methodology & sources
Seedlist of 100 largest American companies
CEO name & payAverage medical costs