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CEO Pay Gap Rises Under Trump as Workers Fall Further Behind

The gap is becoming “obscene,” according to one expert.

America’s CEOs got another raise last year. A new Associated Press survey found the typical S&P 500 chief executive received a compensation package worth $17.7 million in 2025, up nearly six percent from the year before. The median employee at those companies earned $89,744, a 4.7 percent increase. At half the companies surveyed, a worker earning the company’s median salary would need 200 years to make what the CEO earned in a single year. Last year, that figure stood at 192 years. The findings come as many workers continue feeling squeezed by years of elevated prices, with some cutting spending and relying on credit cards to cover everyday expenses. “At a time when working families are struggling with rising costs, it’s obscene to see CEO pay continuing to skyrocket,” Sarah Anderson of the Institute for Policy Studies said. Some of the biggest disparities were at low-wage employers. Coca-Cola’s chief executive earned nearly 1,739 times the company’s median worker pay. At TJX Companies, which runs T.J. Maxx among other retailers, the ratio was about 1,774-to-1. Meanwhile, shareholders continue overwhelmingly approving executive pay packages, with the average “say on pay” vote receiving around 90 percent support.