Starbucks CEO pay ratio leads S&P 500 at 6,666 to 1

At 6,666 to 1, the ratio of CEO Brian Niccol's compensation to that of the median Starbucks worker was the widest astatine immoderate institution successful the S&P 500, according to the AFL-CIO's 2025 Executive Paywatch report. The fig is not a typo. Starbucks annualized Niccol's basal wage and bonus for calculating his 2024 wage ratio full compensation of $96 million. The emblematic Starbucks worker's wage was $14,674.

That fig sits beneath the national poorness enactment for an individual. Starbucks noted successful its SEC filing that its emblematic idiosyncratic is simply a part-time barista successful the U.S. and that galore of its employees enactment successful part-time, flexible positions, which has the effect of lowering the compensation level of its median employee. The calculation besides includes the company's planetary workforce of astir 361,000 staffers, not conscionable the astir 210,000 U.S.-based workers.

Even accounting for those caveats, the spread places Starbucks successful a class of its own. The question is however this compares with the remainder of the nutrient work industry, and what the examination reveals.

How the remainder of the manufacture stacks up

Thanks to the Dodd-Frank Act, publically traded corporations are required to disclose the ratio betwixt the median idiosyncratic wage and respective CEO wage successful their proxy statements. That rule, adopted by the SEC successful 2015, has created a nationalist ledger of wage inequality crossed firm America.

Among large nutrient work companies, Starbucks leads by a origin of 4 oregon more. At Yum Brands, the genitor institution of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut, the median idiosyncratic was identified arsenic a part-time Taco Bell edifice worker successful the U.S. who made $17,160, portion CEO David Gibbs received $24.7 cardinal successful compensation, for a wage ratio of 1,440 to 1, according to Restaurant Dive.

Chipotle disclosed a CEO wage ratio of 1,148 to 1 for the fiscal twelvemonth ending successful 2024, according to the company's proxy statement, arsenic compiled by the AFL-CIO. In Niccol's past afloat twelvemonth astatine the burrito chain, helium earned $22.47 million, compared to the $16,595 earned by an hourly Florida worker who worked 24 hours weekly, according to Restaurant Dive.

McDonald's strategy is bulk franchised, and arsenic a result, the marque identified its median worker not arsenic a idiosyncratic successful the U.S. but arsenic a edifice worker successful Poland, earning $17,492 successful 2024. CEO Chris Kempczinski was paid astir $18.2 million, oregon astir 1,014 times what the median worker earned.

For contrast, see Costco. According to Costco's 2024 proxy statement, CEO Ron Vachris received $12.2 cardinal successful full compensation, translating to a 262:1 wage ratio betwixt him and the median employee. The median Costco worker earned $47,092, according to the proxy. Costco is not a edifice company, but its retail workforce and the examination exemplify what the ratios look similar erstwhile median wage sits person to a surviving wage.