The average CEO of the 100 largest, lowest-paying corporations in the US earned 614 times more than their average worker last year, according to an analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).
The IPS's latest executive excess report examined compensation at S&P 500 corporations with the lowest median worker pay. Between 2019 and 2025, CEO compensation at these firms increased by 41.4%, unadjusted for inflation. This was double the 20.7% increase in median worker pay during the same period, while inflation rose by 25.9%.
In 2025, the average CEO compensation among these 100 corporations was $17.5m, in contrast to a median worker pay of $36,571. The report also noted that the CEO to worker pay ratio at these firms increased by 8.4% between 2019 and 2025.
Sarah Anderson, lead author of the report, stated that such extremes present a significant societal problem. The report also highlighted that these corporations collectively have 1,282 registered federal lobbyists.