CEO Salaries

There's often an air of mystery surrounding the head of a company, especially in a large corporation with thousands of employees. To some, the actual duties and responsibilities of a CEO may seem elusive. The truth is that a CEO is responsible for the entire business, from operations and financing to sales and marketing. Of course, other employees take on most of the tasks involved in actually running a business. But, if anything goes wrong within a company, the CEO will always take some heat. In this post-Enron era, the public is all too familiar with how scandal can hit a CEO like a tornado. However, for every executive who seems to have been swept away by power and greed, there are a dozen others who have managed to remain humble while building successful companies. While CEO salaries reflect the importance of the position, the success of a CEO can only really be measured by the success of the business they lead. Becoming a CEO requires leadership and vision as well as the ability to handle an often stressful, high-pressure position. On the plus side, the salary of a CEO generously compensates for all that stress. If you have what it takes to thrive in the all-encompassing position of CEO, you will generally be rewarded with high CEO salaries and bonuses.

CEO Salary Survey Data

For CEO salaries, size of company matters. That is to say, the larger the company, the higher the salary of a CEO. There are always exceptions, but the correlation between large companies and high CEO salaries is generally true, as shown in the CEO Salaries by Company Size chart. Industry also makes a difference in the salary of a CEO. Looking at the CEO Salaries by Industry report, you can see that IT companies currently offer some of the highest CEO salaries. At the other end of the spectrum, the median salary of a CEO in the health care industry is significantly lower. From small start-ups to multi-million dollar corporations, CEO positions exist in all business sectors and every region. This raises an interesting question - what are the top locales for high CEO salaries? Measuring the Salary of a CEO by City, the East Coast wins for high CEO salaries with New York City in the top spot. Similar results are found when measuring CEO Salaries by State; the median salary of a CEO in New York is currently much higher than the salary of a CEO in the second-ranked state, California. For further comparison, use the PayScale Cost of Living Calculator to research both Cost of Living Data and CEO Salaries in New York, San Francisco and other U.S. cities.

No matter where one lives and works, experience will play a large part in determining the salary of a CEO. The CEO Salaries by Years Experience chart shows that the salary of a CEO increases significantly after several years of experience. As an added bonus, experience leads not only to higher CEO salaries, but also more vacation time. Of course, just as the salary of a CEO varies by industry and employer type, vacation benefits are also variable. However, looking at Average Vacation Weeks by years of experience confirms that both CEO salaries and vacation time tend to increase steadily over the course of a career.

What is the Average Salary of a CEO?

Are you wondering why CEO salaries tend to be so high? Do you think the salary of a CEO accurately reflects the importance of the job? For a discussion of these questions, and a look at the CEO salaries at specific companies, read "CEO Salaries: What is the Average Salary of a CEO?" in the PayScale blogs section.

Many chief executive officers could be called visionaries - natural leaders who are unafraid to take a few risks. However, they still have to pay attention to cold hard facts when it comes to successfully running a business. The same holds true for doing research on CEO salaries; having the most accurate salary information will lead to better career decisions. As you continue your inquiry into the salary of a CEO, find out why asking, "what are median CEO salaries" is a better question than, "what is the average salary of a CEO" by reading the Ask Dr. Salary article, "Why is Median Better than Mean for a Typical Salary?"

To expand your research on CEO salaries, see how the Salary of a CEO at a Non-Profit Organization compares to other CEO salaries.