If the Top 10 S&P 500 CEO Salaries Were Distributed Equally Among Workers, How Much Money Would Each Person Make?

The average total compensation for CEOs at S&P 500 companies was $18.9 million in 2024, according to American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). That’s a 7% increase from the year before. That same year, the median pay for employees was just $49,500 — about a 3% increase.

That’s a substantial difference between the two sides. But the employees play a pivotal role in keeping a company running. And with rising costs, it wouldn’t be remiss to boost their pay a little (or a lot).

In an ideal world, CEOs and their employees would have more equal pay. And while it’s a thought experiment only, this pay gap begs the question: How much money would each employee at their respective company make if their CEO’s pay was distributed equally amongst them? Find out below.

Explore Next: If the Top 10 Billionaires’ Wealth Was Distributed Equally in America, How Much Money Would Each Person Get?

See Next: 8 Subtly Genius Moves All Wealthy People Make With Their Money

QXO, Inc.

CEO: Brad Jacobs CEO pay: $189,367,735 Estimated employee count: 211, per Yahoo Finance CEO pay split evenly across all company employees: $897,477

Trending Now: 3 Ways Billionaires Like Mark Cuban Protect Wealth in Any Market

Veeva Systems, Inc.

CEO: Peter Gassner CEO pay: $172,436,133 Estimated employee count: 7,291, per Macrotrends CEO pay split evenly across all company employees: $23,650

Axon Enterprise, Inc.

CEO: Patrick Smith CEO pay: $164,525,721 Estimated employee count: 4,970, per Macrotrends CEO pay split evenly across all company employees: $33,104

Snowflake, Inc.

CEO: Sridhar Ramaswamy CEO pay: $101,325,374 Estimated employee count: 7,834, per Macrotrends CEO pay split evenly across all company employees: $12,934

Starbucks Corp.

CEO: Brian Niccol CEO pay: $95,801,676 Estimated employee count: 381,500, per Macrotrends CEO pay split evenly across all company employees: $251

General Electric Co.

CEO: Lawrence Culp CEO pay: $88,954,586 Estimated employee count: 57,000, per StockAnalysis.com CEO pay split evenly across all company employees: $1,561

Tevogen Bio Holdings, Inc.

CEO: Ryan Saadi CEO pay: $87,764,783 Estimated employee count: 17, per PitchBook CEO pay split evenly across all company employees: $5,162,634

Ares Management Corp.

CEO: Michael Arougheti CEO pay: $85,381,842 Estimated employee count: 3,200, per Macrotrends CEO pay split evenly across all company employees: $26,682

Playtika Holding Corp.

CEO: Robert Antokol CEO pay: $84,141,574 Estimated employee count: 3,500, per StockAnalysis.com CEO pay split evenly across all company employees: $24,040

Story Continues

Blackstone, Inc.

CEO: Stephen Schwarzman CEO pay: $84,027,074 Estimated employee count: 4,895, per Macrotrends CEO pay split evenly across all company employees: $17,166

Distributing All S&P 500 CEOs’ Salaries Across Workers

The combined total compensation for the top 10 S&P 500 CEOs is $1,153,726,498, or just under $1.2 billion. As of the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data (2023), there were 171.9 million total US workers. If you were to split the total CEO pay across these workers, the individual pay would be $6.71.

When you consider all S&P 500 companies, the average CEO’s total compensation is $18.9 million. Multiply that amount by all 500 companies and the grand total is $9,450,000,000 (or $9.45 billion). Splitting that amount across all U.S. workers would get you $55 per person. It’s higher, but not life-changing.

Editor’s note: Each CEO’s salary was sourced from Salary.com.

More From GOBankingRates

21 Insider Costco Moves That Could Add Up to Thousands in Yearly Savings 5 Reliable Cars That Will Have Massive Price Drops Ahead of Spring 2026 5 Clever Ways Retirees Are Earning Up to $1K Per Month From Home 9 Low-Effort Ways to Make Passive Income (You Can Start This Week)

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: If the Top 10 S&P 500 CEO Salaries Were Distributed Equally Among Workers, How Much Money Would Each Person Make?

View Comments