Mind the gap: The CEO-to-worker pay ratio is getting bigger

Spare a thought for your local Starbucks barista as they pour yet another pumpkin spice latte this fall.

Starbucks’ new CEO Brian Niccol reportedly earned a compensation package worth up to $95.8 million for his work between September and December 2024—equivalent to 14,738,462 pumpkin spice lattes—compared to $14,674 for the coffee chain’s average worker.

But Niccol isn’t alone or even in the minority. The Executive Excess 2025 report published by the Institute for Policy Studies found that CEO pay and stock buybacks have soared at the 100 largest low-wage corporations.

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Hitting the big time

Between 2019 and 2024, the average CEO compensation in this group rose by 34.7 percent, more than double the 16.3 percent increase in these firms’ average median worker pay.

To give this some additional context, U.S. inflation during the same period rose by 22.6 percent.

IPS also uncovered that in the past six years, 73 of the 100 largest low-wage corporations spent corporate dollars on stock buyback, which artificially inflated executive stock-based pay at the expense of worker wages.

Lowe’s completed the biggest buyback during this period, spending $46.6 billion on share repurchases from 2019 through 2024.

In 2024, Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison enjoyed a total compensation of $20.2 million—659 times more than the retailer’s $30,606 median annual worker pay.

Home Depot spent $37.9 billion on share repurchases between 2019 and 2024. This would have been enough to give each of Home Depot’s 470,100 global employees six annual $13,423 bonuses. The Home Depot median pay is just $35,196.

CEO-to-worker pay ratio

And in a report by Madison Trust which examined S&P 500 companies and ranked them using CEO-to-worker pay ratios, the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio for S&P 500 companies was 268-to-1.

In first place was Ross Dress for Less where its then CEO, Barbara Rentler earned $18,094,944, compared to $8,618 for its median worker salary, a ratio of 2,100:1.

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey came in second place, earning $24,742,908 versus the average employee’s $13,752 at a ratio of 1,799:1.

And at Charter Communications, CEO Christopher L. Winfrey earned $89,077,078. The average Charter Communications employee earned $54,476, bringing its CEO-to-worker pay ratio in at 1,635:1.

Coming in fourth place is Aptiv at a ratio of 1,545:1 thanks to its CEO Kevin P. Clark earning $18,000,136. The average worker at the tech company earned just $11,647.

Rounding out the top five is Accenture PLC where its CEO Julie Sweet earned $31,550,906, compared to the average worker’s $20,670.

While there’s no real way to quantify what a CEO should be paid, it’s believed that performance-based compensation is what’s driving these astronomical figures across the board.

Additionally, corporate boards play a big role in deciding how much a CEO should be paid and if competition for executive talent is high, companies may offer higher than usual salaries to secure the best talent.

Rolling in… the deep

But should a CEO earn excessively, at the expense of those lower down the corporate ladder? 

The majority of workers surveyed for Data for Progress signalled that they think corporations with extreme wage gaps should be penalized.

Additionally, 80 percent said they’d support an increase in tax for corporations that pay their CEOs 50 or more times what they pay their median employees.

And according to a recent survey by FlexJobs, 80 percent of workers say CEOs are overpaid.

Conducted in February 2025, the FlexJobs Employee & Executive DivideSurvey gathered insights from over 2,200 U.S. workers and found that nearly 70 percent of workers say CEOs couldn’t handle their jobs.

From compensation concerns to doubts around leadership credibility, workers are feeling undervalued, something Toni Frana, Manager, Career Expert at FlexJobs, describes as “the Great Workplace Divide”.

“The gap is widening between leadership direction and employee needs, like equitable pay, job flexibility, and representation,” she says. “Instead, workers are met with actions like mass layoffs and restrictive return-to-office mandates.”

If earning more in 2026 is your priority, head to The Hill Job Board where you can find thousands of open roles across the U.S.