The salary statistics of top executives are shown in Table 1. The average hourly salary of top executives in the United States is shown in Table 2. In the next few tables we compare the average salaries of top executives within different industry sectors and in the 50 states of the United States. The top 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 | $43,710 |
| 25th Percentile Wage | $65,910 |
| 50th Percentile Wage | $103,230 |
| 75th Percentile Wage | $163,970 |
| 90th Percentile Wage | No Data |
Table 1 shows the average annual salary for top executives. The average annual salary for the 75th percentile (the top 25 percent of the highest paid) is $163,970. The median annual salary (50th percentile) is $103,230. The average annual salary for the bottom 10 percent is $43,710. It is noted that in the United States, the annual salary of the 75th percentile (the top 25 percent of the highest paid) is almost 275% higher than that of the bottom 10 percent.
The table and chart below show the trend of the median salary of top executives from 2012 to 2019.
| Year | Median Salary | Yearly Growth | 7-Year Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $103,230 | -0.21% | 3.56% |
| 2018 | $103,450 | 0.32% | - |
| 2017 | $103,120 | 0.78% | - |
| 2016 | $102,320 | 1.35% | - |
| 2015 | $100,940 | 0.03% | - |
| 2014 | $100,910 | 0.59% | - |
| 2013 | $100,310 | 0.76% | - |
| 2012 | $99,550 | - | - |
The average salaries of top executives in 20 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 top executives occupations is the management of companies and enterprises sector with an annual salary $152,100. The lowest paying sector is the accommodation and food services sector (annual salary $64,510).
The average annual salary of top executive related occupations at the national level is given in Table 3. For more salary information about a specific occupation, use the links below.
| Occupation | Median Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| Chief Executives | |
| General and Operations Managers | |
| Legislators |