Highest-paid CEOs in America

Among the most hotly contested debates in America is what to make of the vast discrepancy between the salaries of the country's top-earning CEOs and the average workers at their companies.

CEO compensation rose nearly 1,045% between 1978 and 2022, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute released in September 2023. Their findings showed that CEOs made 344 times as much as a typical worker in 2022, a massive spike from the 21-1 ratio in 1965. Amid the United Auto Workers strike in the fall of 2023, for example, NPR reported that General Motors CEO Mary Barra's 2022 salary was 362 times that of the median GM employee.

That ratio widens even further when looking at companies with lower median wages. In an in-depth analysis of the 100 S&P 500 corporations with the lowest median worker pay levels in 2022, the Institute for Policy Studies found that the average CEO-worker pay gap was 603-to-1.

To see which CEOs make the most money in the U.S., Stacker analyzed data from the AFL-CIO to determine the 20 highest-paid CEOs nationwide. All pay data is for 2023. Any CEOs who did not still hold their position as of August 2024 were excluded.

You'll notice some of the biggest names in business, like Tesla CEO Elon Musk (who's currently in a legal battle regarding his $56 billion pay package) and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (whose salary is technically $1 per year), are not on the list. But who did make the cut? Read on to see how much the chief executives of top companies made.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella addresses shareholders during Microsoft Shareholders Meeting in 2014.

Stephen Brashear // Getty Images

1 / 25

#25. Satya Nadella (Microsoft Corp.)

- CEO pay: $48,512,537
- Median worker pay: $194,050
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 250:1

Idrees Abbas/SOPA Images // LightRocket via Getty Images

2 / 25

#24. Robert Antokol (Playtika Holding Corp.)

- CEO pay: $48,989,446
- Median worker pay: $98,769
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 496:1

David Michery, CEO and founder of Mullen Automotive, speaks during AutoMobility LA ahead of the Los Angeles Auto Show in 2021.

Patrick T. Fallon // AFP via Getty Images

3 / 25

#23. David Michery (Mullen Automotive Inc.)

- CEO pay: $49,629,463
- Median worker pay: $61,959
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 801:1

David Zaslav speaks onstage during The New York Times Dealbook Summit 2023 at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Slaven Vlasic // Getty Images for The New York Times

4 / 25

#22. David M. Zaslav (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)

- CEO pay: $49,702,546
- Median worker pay: $171,388
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 290:1

Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO at Netflix attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Netflix's "Beef" in 2023 in Hollywood, California.

JC Olivera // Getty Images

5 / 25

#21. Ted Sarandos (Netflix Inc.)

- CEO pay: $49,834,936
- Median worker pay: $200,947
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 248:1

Joseph Bae speaks onstage during the TAAF Heritage Month Awards Dinner.

JP Yim // Getty Images for The Asian American Foundation

6 / 25

#20. Joseph Bae (Kkr & Co. Inc.)

- CEO pay: $49,959,449
- Median worker pay: $208,164
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 240:1

Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images // LightRocket via Getty Images

7 / 25

#19. James Belardi (Athene Holding Ltd.)

- CEO pay: $50,782,768
- Median worker pay: $96,179
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 528:1

Hamid Moghadam attends the Pars Equality Center's 5th Annual Nowruz Gala in 2015.

Kimberly White // Getty Images for Pars Equality Center

8 / 25

#18. Hamid Moghadam (Prologis, Inc.)

- CEO pay: $50,891,597
- Median worker pay: $127,229
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 400:1

CryptoFX // Shutterstock

9 / 25

#17. Gary Steele (Splunk Inc.)

- CEO pay: $51,212,720
- Median worker pay: $238,199
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 215:1

T. Schneider // Shutterstock

10 / 25

#16. Githesh Ramamurthy (CCC Intelligent Solutions Holdings Inc.)

- CEO pay: $54,549,486
- Median worker pay: $158,574
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 344:1

Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images // LightRocket via Getty Images

11 / 25

#15. Jay Chaudhry (Zscaler, Inc.)

- CEO pay: $57,775,483
- Median worker pay: $181,114
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 319:1

Tim Cook delivers remarks at the start of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference.

Justin Sullivan // Getty Images

12 / 25

#14. Tim Cook (Apple Inc.)

- CEO pay: $63,209,845
- Median worker pay: $94,062
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 672:1

FICO sign on headquarters of Fair Isaac Corporation in Silicon Valley.

Michael Vi // Shutterstock

13 / 25

#13. William Lansing (Fair Isaac Corp.)

- CEO pay: $66,349,962
- Median worker pay: $101,608
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 653:1

David Risher attends the 31st Annual White House Correspondents' Garden Brunch at Beall-Washington House in April 2024.

Paul Morigi // Getty Images for Haddad Media

14 / 25

#12. David Risher (Lyft, Inc.)

- CEO pay: $78,238,027
- Median worker pay: $150,748
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 519:1

Poetra.RH // Shutterstock

15 / 25

#11. Adam Foroughi (Applovin Corp.)

- CEO pay: $83,361,678
- Median worker pay: $104,857
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 795:1

Ariel Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor, poses for a portrait in 2021 in Century City, California.

Amy Sussman // Getty Images

16 / 25

#10. Ariel Emanuel (Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc.)

- CEO pay: $83,879,505
- Median worker pay: $70,844
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 1184:1

Pablo Legorreta attends the International Center Of Photography's 2018 Infinity Awards in New York City.

Craig Barritt // Getty Images for ICP

17 / 25

#9. Pablo Legorreta (Royalty Pharma PLC)

- CEO pay: $84,837,077
- Median worker pay: $353,488
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 240:1

John Hanson Pye // Shuttestock

18 / 25

#8. Christopher Winfrey (Charter Communications, Inc.)

- CEO pay: $89,077,078
- Median worker pay: $54,481
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 1635:1

Stephen Schwarzman as he visits "Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street" at Fox Business Network Studios.

Roy Rochlin // Getty Images

19 / 25

#7. Stephen Schwarzman (Blackstone Inc.)

- CEO pay: $119,784,375
- Median worker pay: $244,958
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 489:1

George Mattson attends the Wheels Up Hosts Annual Rao's Pop-up in Las Vegas Ahead of Super Bowl LVIII in 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Marcus Ingram // Getty Images for Wheels Up

20 / 25

#6. George Mattson (Wheels Up Experience Inc.)

- CEO pay: $148,978,853
- Median worker pay: $61,920
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 2406:1

Sue Nabi speaks onstage during the 17th Annual DKMS Gala at Cipriani Wall Street in 2023 in New York City.

Jamie McCarthy // Getty Images for DKMS Gala

21 / 25

#5. Sue Nabi (Coty Inc.)

- CEO pay: $149,429,486
- Median worker pay: $39,647
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 3769:1

Nikesh Arora at The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

David Cannon // Getty Images

22 / 25

#4. Nikesh Arora (Palo Alto Networks Inc.)

- CEO pay: $151,425,203
- Median worker pay: $206,021
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 735:1

Ying Tang/NurPhoto // Getty Images

23 / 25

#3. Hock Tan (Broadcom Inc.)

- CEO pay: $161,826,161
- Median worker pay: $317,306
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 510:1

Harvey Schwartz speaks at the 2024 Forbes Iconoclast Summit at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Steven Ferdman // Getty Images

24 / 25

#2. Harvey Schwartz (Carlyle Group Inc.)

- CEO pay: $186,994,098
- Median worker pay: $230,005
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 813:1

T. Schneider // Shutterstock

25 / 25

#1. Jon Winkelried (TPG Inc.)

- CEO pay: $198,685,926
- Median worker pay: $290,902
- CEO to worker pay ratio: 683:1