Average and median growth of CEO compensation and salary, all firms and firms with remaining CEO, 2019–2020
| Thousands (2020$) | Change (2019–2020) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2020 | $ (thousands) | % | |
| All early-reporting firms (281) | ||||
| Salary | $1,280 | $1,213 | -$67 | -5.2% |
| Realized compensation | $18,469 | $21,413 | $2,945 | 15.9% |
| Granted compensation | $13,167 | $13,008 | -$159 | -1.2% |
| Early-reporting firms with same CEO (239) | ||||
| Salary | $1,257 | $1,216 | -$41 | -3.2% |
| Realized compensation | $18,495 | $23,795 | $5,300 | 28.7% |
| Granted compensation | $13,166 | $13,197 | $32 | 0.2% |
| Median growth in realized compensation* | ||||
| All | $101 | $100 | -$1 | -1.0% |
| Same CEO | $6,023 | $6,337 | $314 | 5.2% |
Notes: Sample is firms in the top 350 U.S. firms ranked by sales (as of June 2020 Compustat sample) who have reported by end of April 2021. Average annual compensation is measured in two ways. Both include salary, bonus, and long-term incentive payouts, but the “granted” measure includes the value of stock options and stock awards when they are grants, whereas the “realized” measure captures the value of stock-related components that accrues after options or stock awards are granted by including “stock options exercised” and “vested stock awards.”
* Calculated as median of firms ranked by percent growth of realized compensation.
Source: Authors’ analysis of data from Compustat’s ExecuComp database.
This chart appears in:
Previous chart: « Collective bargaining rights can vary by occupation: Local government workers’ collective bargaining rights and union density by state and occupational group
Next chart: CEO-to-worker ratio for all firms and for firms with same CEO, 2019–2020 »