The salary statistics of chief executives are shown in Table 1. In the next few tables we compare the average salaries of chief executives within different industry sectors and in the 50 states of the United States. The chief executives annual salary statistics are from the national compensation survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2019 and published in April 2020 [1].
| Percentile Bracket | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| 10th Percentile Wage | $62,290 |
| 25th Percentile Wage | $112,790 |
| 50th Percentile Wage | $184,460 |
| 75th Percentile Wage | No Data |
| 90th Percentile Wage | No Data |
Table 1 shows the average annual salary for chief executives. The median annual salary (50th percentile) is $184,460. The average annual salary of the 25th percentile is $112,790. The average annual salary for the bottom 10 percent is $62,290. It is noted that in the United States, the median (50th percentile) annual salary is almost 196% higher than that of the bottom 10 percent.
The table and chart below show the trend of the median salary of chief executives from 2012 to 2019.
| Year | Median Salary | Yearly Growth | 7-Year Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $184,460 | -2.79% | 8.85% |
| 2018 | $189,600 | 3.34% | - |
| 2017 | $183,270 | 1.12% | - |
| 2016 | $181,210 | 3.37% | - |
| 2015 | $175,110 | 1.02% | - |
| 2014 | $173,320 | 0.99% | - |
| 2013 | $171,610 | 2.02% | - |
| 2012 | $168,140 | - | - |
The average salaries of chief executives in 16 major industry sectors are shown in Table 2. We note that the salaries vary considerably within different industry sectors. The highest paying industry sector for chief executives occupations is the wholesale trade sector with an annual salary $206,460. The lowest paying sector is the federal, state, and local government sector (annual salary $110,030).
From the above tables we note that not only chief executives salaries vary considerably based on one's education and experience, and the industry sectors, they also change considerably from state to state. In the following table we compare the median salary of chief executives in all 50 states of the United States. We note that the median annual salaries range from $79,140 to $207,620. The highest paying state for chief executives is Nevada with a median annual salary of $207,620. The lowest paying state is Idaho with a median annual salary of $79,140. For more salary information of chief executives profession in a specific state, use the links in the table.