Your CEO earns
how much more than you?
According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Item 402(u) of Regulation S-K (Dodd-Frank §953(b)), every domestic public registrant must disclose its CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio in Form DEF 14A. PlainCEOPay's August 2026 refresh organizes those EDGAR proxy figures for 2,456 issuers across fiscal years 2021–2025; see our methodology for parsing rules and cadence.
- Public companies
- 2,456
- Median ratio
- 87:1
- Years tracked
- 2021–2025
- Source
- SEC EDGAR
The national picture
General Merchandise Stores leads median ratio at 767:1; Amusement & Recreation leads median CEO pay at $16.9M.
According to SEC EDGAR DEF 14A industry medians (latest fiscal year per SIC-2, 63 industries), ratio rank is not dollar rank. General Merchandise Stores is #1 of 63 on median ratio and #5 on median CEO pay (8 filers). Amusement & Recreation is #1 of 63 on median CEO pay and #4 on median ratio (14 filers). The company-level median across complete FY2025 filings is 87:1; about 45% report at least 100:1.
- Median-ratio #1
- 767:1
- General Merchandise Stores · pay rank #5 of 63
- Median-pay #1
- $16.9M
- Amusement & Recreation · ratio rank #4 of 63
- Company median
- 87:1
- Complete FY2025 DEF 14A filings
Where the 1,423 complete FY2025 filings sit
Exclusive CEO-to-median-worker ratio bands across every complete DEF 14A in FY2025. Segments sum to 1,423: a corpus shape, not a leaderboard.
Where the ratios sit
Two views of the same FY2025 SEC population: the extreme leaders, and how common a 100:1+ ratio is across every complete filing.
Highest Pay Ratios
CEO-to-median-worker pay gap leaders
Highest Paid CEOs
Top executive compensation by total pay
Learn About Executive Pay
Four explainers that use the same DEF 14A fields as the rankings above. They do not add a second set of typed tables.
CEO Pay Ratio Explained
What the SEC-mandated pay ratio means, how it's calculated, and what it reveals about income inequality within a company.
How Executive Compensation Works
Stock awards, options, bonuses, and base salary: the full structure of modern CEO pay packages at public companies.
Highest Paid CEOs 2025
The top 25 highest-paid chief executives in publicly traded companies, ranked by total compensation.
Pay Equity Trends in Corporate America
How CEO-to-worker pay ratios have shifted since mandatory disclosure, and what the data shows across industries.
CEO Pay by Industry
SIC-2 median ratios with company counts, so a 3-filer railroad is not read as an 18-filer restaurant set.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a CEO pay ratio?
The CEO pay ratio compares a company's CEO total compensation to the annual total compensation of its median (middle) employee. Required by the SEC since 2018 (Dodd-Frank Section 953(b)), it appears in every public company's annual proxy statement. A ratio of 300:1 means the reported CEO compensation is 300 times the reported median employee compensation.
Where does the data come from?
All data comes directly from SEC EDGAR proxy statements (DEF 14A filings). Public companies are required to disclose CEO pay, median employee pay, and the resulting ratio. PlainCEOPay aggregates these disclosures from 2,456 companies.
Why do ratios vary so much between companies?
Several factors drive differences: industry (tech CEOs often earn more stock awards), workforce composition (companies with many part-time or international workers show lower median pay), company size, and individual CEO pay packages. Stock awards and options can dramatically inflate CEO compensation in good years.
Is this data free to use?
Yes, all data on PlainCEOPay is completely free. The underlying data is public SEC disclosure. We organize it for easy research with no paywalls or account requirements.
About this data
How PlainCEOPay works, and why you can trust these numbers
What this site is
PlainCEOPay is a plain-language reference for CEO-to-worker pay ratios at U.S. public companies. Every figure comes directly from SEC EDGAR proxy statement filings (Form DEF 14A), covering 2,456 companies across 62 SIC industry groups, with no editorializing or estimation of unreported figures.
Editorial process
- Source. Download DEF 14A proxy filings from SEC EDGAR for S&P 500, Russell 1000, and additional mid-cap companies.
- Verify. Extract the Item 402(u) pay-ratio disclosure, then validate that the reported ratio matches reported CEO total compensation divided by reported median employee pay.
- Publish. Map each company to its SIC industry group, compute industry benchmarks, and load the figures into searchable company profiles, unmodified from the filing.
Editorial independence & corrections
PlainCEOPay accepts no advertising, sponsorship, or promoted placement from the companies it covers. Found a figure that looks wrong? Reach us via the contact page and we will verify against the source EDGAR filing. See our methodology for full source attribution and refresh cadence.
Frequently asked
What is a CEO pay ratio?
The CEO pay ratio compares a company's CEO total compensation to the annual total compensation of its median (middle) employee. Required by the SEC since 2018 (Dodd-Frank Section 953(b)), it appears in every public company's annual proxy statement. A ratio of 300:1 means the reported CEO compensation is 300 times the reported median employee compensation.
Where does the data come from?
All data comes directly from SEC EDGAR proxy statements (DEF 14A filings). Public companies are required to disclose CEO pay, median employee pay, and the resulting ratio. PlainCEOPay aggregates these disclosures from 2,456 companies.
Why do ratios vary so much between companies?
Several factors drive differences: industry (tech CEOs often earn more stock awards), workforce composition (companies with many part-time or international workers show lower median pay), company size, and individual CEO pay packages. Stock awards and options can dramatically inflate CEO compensation in good years.
Is this data free to use?
Yes, all data on PlainCEOPay is completely free. The underlying data is public SEC disclosure. We organize it for easy research with no paywalls or account requirements.
Live filing views
Every company, ranking, and industry page reads the same SEC EDGAR DEF 14A extract. Browse one issuer, compare two national boards, or open a SIC-2 median. See research notes.
Issuer profiles
Reported CEO total pay, median employee pay, and the Item 402(u) ratio for one CIK at a time.
National boardsPay vs ratio ranks
Two sort orders on the same FY2025 complete filings: highest reported CEO pay is not automatically the widest ratio.
SIC-2Industry medians
Latest-year medians per two-digit SIC, with company counts so a 3-filer railroad is not read as a 18-filer restaurant set.
Data currency: Executive compensation from SEC EDGAR DEF 14A proxy statements through fiscal year 2025, compiled and last refreshed August 2026. See our methodology for source dates and refresh cadence. Spot a figure that looks wrong? Report a correction.
Download the FY complete cohort extract (same CSV as /statistics): ceo-pay-ratios.csv (CC BY 4.0; aggregate pay-ratio rows only, CEO names are not inferred).
Source and method. PlainCEOPay is rendered directly from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR Form DEF 14A proxy statements. PlainCEOPay extracts disclosed values and does not estimate a figure that a filing does not report. Homepage aggregates are computed directly from SEC EDGAR filings, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our Editorial & Corrections Policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or Report a correction. Data current as of August 2026.