IPS Report Finds S&P 500 CEOs Earn 614 Times More Than Workers

The Institute for Policy Studies released an executive excess report showing that CEOs at the 100 largest, lowest-paying S&P 500 corporations earned an average of 614 times more than their median workers in 2025. The analysis found that between 2019 and 2025, CEO compensation rose by 41.4%, while median worker pay grew by only 20.7%, failing to keep pace with a 25.9% inflation increase during that period.

In 2025, the average CEO at these firms earned $17.5 million, while the median worker salary was $36,571. Walmart served as a primary example of this disparity; former CEO Doug McMillan received $29.2 million in 2025, which was 958 times the company's median worker pay of $30,520. The report also noted that these 100 firms spent $718 billion on stock buybacks from 2019 to 2025, with Walmart alone spending $8.1 billion in 2025.

To address these gaps, the Institute for Policy Studies proposes increasing taxes on stock buybacks and implementing tax hikes for corporations with CEO-to-worker pay ratios exceeding 50:1.