
CEOs at America’s 100 largest low-wage employers are paid 632 times more than the average worker, study finds
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From 2019 to 2024, average CEO pay at these firms climbed 34.7%, compared to just a 16.3% rise for their average worker pay. Inflation was 22.6% over the same period.
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August 21, 2025
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Fortune
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C-Suite·wagesCEOs at America’s 100 largest low-wage employers are paid 632 times more than the average worker, study findsBy Nick LichtenbergBy Nick LichtenbergFortune Intelligence EditorNick LichtenbergFortune Intelligence EditorNick Lichtenberg is Fortune Intelligence editor and was formerly Fortune's executive editor of global news.SEE FULL BIO There's a widening gap at the biggest low-wage companies.Getty ImagesA new report from the Institute for Policy Studies reveals that executive compensation at the country’s 100 largest low-wage employers—dubbed the “Low-Wage 100”—has reached unprecedented heights, with CEOs taking astronomical pay packages while typical workers’ wages stagnate or even decline
This annual “Executive Excess” analysis scrutinizes six years of pay and investment trends at major publicly traded companies, including household names Starbucks, Walmart, Depot, and Amazon
Key findings CEO compensation vs. worker pay: From 2019 to 2024, average CEO pay at Low-Wage 100 firms climbed 34.7%, compared to just a 16.3% rise for their average median worker pay—less than the cumulative 22.6% U.S. inflation over the same period
The average CEO now earns $17.2 million, while the typical worker receives only $35,570 a year
At 22 of these companies, even nominal median pay dropped over six years
Widening pay gaps: The CEO-to-worker pay ratio ballooned 12.9%, from 560:1 in 2019 to 632:1 in 2024—more than double the S&P 500 average
Starbucks set a new record with a staggering 6,666:1 ratio last year, reflecting CEO Brian Niccol’s $95.8 million pay package versus $14,674 for the median employee
Stock buybacks over investment: These 100 companies spent $644 billion on stock buybacks between 2019 and 2024
A majority, 56 firms, invested more in buybacks than in long-term capital imvements, with Lowe’s and Depot leading the pack
Lowe’s alone spent $46.6 billion—enough for an annual $28,456 bonus for every employee over six years
Billionaire fortunes: At least 32 U.S. billionaires owe their wealth to these companies, with a combined net worth of $827 billion
Policy solutions and public support: The report outlines numerous policy reforms to rein in excessive executive pay and buybacks, including higher corporate taxes for outsized pay gaps—a posal supported by 80% of ly voters in a 2024 survey
Other measures include boosting the federal stock buyback excise tax, restricting buybacks for companies accepting government contracts or subsidies, and tying pay ratio benchmarks to federal curement
Case studies: stark examples Starbucks: Its median worker pay rose just 4.2% in real terms over six years amid mounting unionization drives
The company spent $18.2 billion on buybacks, far outpacing capital investment
Nearly half its employees eligible for 401(k) plans in 2023 had zero savings
Ulta Beauty: The cosmetics retailer saw median pay plummet 46% (to $11,078), as its workforce shifted toward part-time employment
CEO pay surged 45%—now 1,130 times the median
Ulta spent three times as much on buybacks as capital imvements
The wider context The CEO-worker pay gap is an issue beyond the Low-Wage 100
Among a broad sample of 50 public companies with revenues over $1 billion, a March 2025 study from Compensation Advisory Partners found a widening split between actual company performance and CEO pay
Median revenue growth collapsed on a year-over-year basis from 3.7% to 1.6% and earnings per growth dropped from 0.3 to basically zero among the 50 firms, but the companies still issued bumper bonuses to their leaders
The significant boosts averaged a whopping 280% increase, and bonuses were still up by 45% at other firms, Fortune reported
Two leading academics, Claudio Fernández-Aráoz and Greg Nagel, argued in the pages of Fortune in April that the data is daming
Back in 1965, CEOs earned 21 times more than the average worker; by 2023, this ratio had escalated to 290x
For 100 of the S&P 500 corporations, they noted, this ratio climbed to 603x in 2022
Adjusted for inflation, they found, CEO compensation in large firms increased by 878% from 1978 to 2022, whereas real worker compensation only by 4.5%
It’s part of a wider story of wealth inequality, certainly in the United States, where the Congressional Budget Office found in late 2024 that the top 10% wealthiest Americans own the majority of assets, and the top 1% controls nearly a third
There’s a bit of a “perfect storm” in the confluence of holder primacy, stock buybacks, and falling corporate tax rates by which “companies have gotten bigger, corporate power is on the rise, and the benefits that they’ve accrued in fit they are funneling to a smaller number of people,” Irit Tamir, senior director of Oxfam America’s private sector department, told Fortune in October 2024
Legislative action The IPS report catalogs a sweeping set of reforms already on the legislative agenda in Congress and in cities such as Portland and San Francisco. posals range from taxes and contract restrictions for excessive CEO-worker pay gaps to strengthening board accountability, corporate transparency, and holder powers
Many measures have drawn strong bipartisan as well as public support
Ultimately, the Institute for Policy Studies warns that without decisive reform, America’s largest corporations will regret this
The report cited Drew Hambly, the investment director at the country’s largest public penson fund CalPERS, warning of the harmful effects of this imbalance at an SEC roundtable on executive compensation
CalPERS re, he said, finds high levels of worker unrest at low-wage corporations where median worker pay has either remained flat or declined over the past five years. “I want corporate boards to think more the bottom 50% of people who work for them,” he told the roundtable. “Because when I go into a , I’m bably interacting with a lower-wage worker
And if you’re going to drive value over time, that’s the face of your company.” Starbucks, Lowe’s and Ulta Beauty did not respond to requests for
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft
An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing
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