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The AFL-CIO's annual executive paywatch found Musk's $158 billion compensation package skewed S&P 500 CEO pay averages to a record high
Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP
Elon Musk's $158 billion compensation package at Tesla $TSLA was 2,522,203 times the median Tesla employee's pay in 2025, according to the AFL-CIO's annual executive paywatch report. The labor federation said the package was 14 times larger than the combined total compensation of all other S&P 500 CEOs.
Musk's pay inflated the average compensation figure for S&P 500 CEOs to $340.1 million in 2025, a roughly 1,700% increase over the prior year. Excluding Musk, average CEO pay at S&P 500 companies rose 21%, from $18.9 million in 2024 to $22.8 million in 2025 — the highest figure since the AFL-CIO began tracking compensation in the 1990s, according to Forbes. Fred Redmond, the AFL-CIO's secretary-treasurer, said in comments reported by Forbes that Musk's Tesla arrangement "changes the dynamic when other CEO compensation plans come up" and that "boards use it as a reference."
