This Map Shows the Highest Paid CEO In Every State
It's no secret that where you live can have a big effect on how much you earn.
What you may not know: This can be as true for CEOs as it is for the rest of us.
Curious to see what head honchos around the country earn, Money compiled a list of the top paid chief executives in each state from the AFL-CIO's Executive Paywatch project. The AFL-CIO culled Securities and Exchange Commission filings to catalogue what every company in the Russell 3000 index of publicly traded U.S. stocks pays its CEO — and how that pay compares to what a typical worker at the same company earns.
There are some caveats: You'll notice that this map does not include some familiar names like Amazon's Jeff Bezos or Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett. That's because while those men run giant companies and are among the world's richest, the bulk of their wealth technically comes from the fact that they own their companies — not from what their companies choose to pay them annually.
Also, the $151 million that Florida-based railroad CSX reported paying to Hunter Harrison, who died late last year, has a complicated back-story. Excluding some pay Harrison collected before he died, but including other compensation not calculated in the official tally, The Wall Street Journal pegged Harrison's pay at about $90 million.
Still, it's hard to miss a pattern: The highest-paid CEOs tend to cluster in a handful of coastal states, that have the largest populations, the most number of public companies, and the largest overall economies.
This may explain why these states also seem like the ones most obsessed with economic inequality.
Alabama
Thomas A. Fanning
Most recent pay: $15,702,228
Company: Southern Co.
Median worker pay: $138,000
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 114
Alaska
Ronald A. Duncan*
Most recent pay: $2,960,086
Company: General Communication
Median worker pay: NA
Years to earn what the CEO makes: NA
*Figure for 2016
Arkansas
C. Douglas McMillon**
Most recent pay: $22,791,276
Company: Wal-Mart Stores
Median worker pay: $19,177
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 1,188
**Figure for 2018
Arizona
Richard C. Adkerson
Most recent pay: $18,396,037
Company: Freeport-McMoran
Median worker pay: $66,490
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 277
California
Peter P. Gassner**
Most recent pay: $88,143,333
Company: Veeva Systems
Median worker pay: $94,810
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 930
**Figure for 2018
Colorado
Gregory B. Maffei
Most recent pay: $47,809,756
Company: Liberty Interactive Corporation
Median worker pay: $26,407
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 1810
Connecticut
Glenn D. Fogel
Most recent pay: $27,774,458
Company: The Priceline Group
Median worker pay: $46,355
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 599
District of Columbia
Thomas P. Joyce, Jr.
Most recent pay: $14,786,341
Company: Danaher Corporation
Median worker pay: $67,756
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 218
Delaware
Herva Hoppenot
Most recent pay: $16,087,031
Company: Incyte Corporation
Median worker pay: $253,015
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 64
Florida
Hunter Harrison
Most recent pay: $151,147,286
Company: CSX Corporation
Median worker pay: $98,697
Years to earn what the CEO makes: NA
Georgia
Ronald F. Clarke
Most recent pay: $52,643,810
Company: FleetCor Technologies
Median worker pay: $34,700
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 1,517
Hawaii
Constance H. Lau
Most recent pay: $5,913,746
Company: Hawaiian Electric Industries
Median worker pay: $126,857
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 47
Idaho
Darrel T. Anderson
Most recent pay: $6,695,596
Company: IDACORP
Median worker pay: $161,297
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 42
Illinois
Dirk Van De Put
Most recent pay: $42,442,924
Company: Mondelez International
Median worker pay: $42,893
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 990
Indiana
Joseph R. Swedish
Most recent pay: $18,553,317
Company: Anthem
Median worker pay: $70,867
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 262
Iowa
Daniel J. Houston
Most recent pay: $11,958,736
Company: Principal Financial Group
Median worker pay: $100,355
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 119
Kansas
Thomas C. Gentile
Most recent pay: $9,907,398
Company: Spirit Aerosystems Holdings
Median worker pay: $70,452
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 141
Kentucky
Bruce D. Broussard
Most recent pay: $19,768,525
Company: Humana
Median worker pay: $57,385
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 344
Louisiana
Glen F. Post
Most recent pay: $14,715,560
Company: CenturyLink
Median worker pay: $69,252
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 212
Maine
Melissa D. Smith
Most recent pay: $10,847,606
Company: WEX
Median worker pay: $62,621
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 173
Maryland
David M. Zaslav
Most recent pay: $42,247,984
Company: Discovery Communications
Median worker pay: $80,858
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 522
Massachusetts
Douglas Ingram
Most recent pay: $56,866,241
Company: Sarepta Therapeutics
Median worker pay: $256,151
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 222
Michigan
Mark Fields
Most recent pay: $23,500,111
Company: Ford Motor
Median worker pay: $87,783
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 268
Minnesota
James M. Cracchiolo
Most recent pay: $23,900,309
Company: Ameriprise Financial
Median worker pay: $107,082
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 223
Mississippi
Joe F. Sanderson Jr.
Most recent pay: $6,640,211
Company: Sanderson Farms
Median worker pay: NA
Years working to match the CEO: NA
Missouri
Michael F. Neidorff
Most recent pay: $25,259,468
Company: Centene
Median worker pay: $66,600
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 379
Montana
Kevin P. Riley
Most recent pay: $1,796,040
Company: First Interstate BancSystem
Median worker pay: $50,483
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 36
Nebraska
Lance M. Fritz
Most recent pay: $13,794,237
Company: Union Pacific
Median worker pay: $82,994
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 166
Nevada
Stephen A. Wynn*
Most recent pay: $34,522,695
Company: Wynn Resorts
Median worker pay: $44,437
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 777
(*Resigned in February)
New Hampshire
Manning Rountree
Most recent pay: $6,633,124
Company: White Mountains Insurance Group
Median worker pay: $88,307
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 75
New Jersey
Alex Gorsky
Most recent pay: $29,802,564
Company: Johnson & Johnson
Median worker pay: $66,000
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 452
New Mexico
Patricia K. Collawn
Most recent pay: $4,425,922
Company: PNM Resources (Holding Co.)
Median worker pay: $103,864
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 43
New York
Frank J. Bisignano
Most recent pay: $102,210,395
Company: First Data
Median worker pay: $50,406
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 2,028
North Carolina
Douglas Lebda
Most recent pay: $59,591,002
Company: LendingTree
Median worker pay: $108,536
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 549
North Dakota
David L. Goodin
Most recent pay: $4,058,001
Company: MDU Resources Group
Median worker pay: $84,883
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 48
Ohio
W. Nicholas Howley
Most recent pay: $61,023,102
Company: Transdigm Group
Median worker pay: NA
Years to earn what the CEO makes: NA
Oklahoma
James D. Bennett*
Most recent pay: $18,824,850
Company: SandRidge Energy
Median worker pay: NA
Years to earn what the CEO makes: NA
*Figure for 2016
Oregon
Mark G. Parker
Most recent pay: $13,851,499
Company: Nike
Median worker pay: NA
Years working to match the CEO: NA
Pennsylvania
Alan B. Miller
Most recent pay: $21,630,861
Company: Universal Health Services
Median worker pay: $39,978
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 541
Rhode Island
Scott C. Donnelly
Most recent pay: $14,825,330
Company: Textron
Median worker pay: $90,025
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 165
South Carolina
Jack Sanders
Most recent pay: $8,834,144
Company: Sonoco Products Company
Median worker pay: $48,645
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 182
South Dakota
J. Tyler Haahr
Most recent pay: $11,893,752
Company: Meta Financial Group
Median worker pay: NA
Years to earn what the CEO makes: NA
Tennessee
Kenneth W. Lowe
Most recent pay: $28,784,240
Company: Scripps Networks Interactive
Median worker pay: NA
Years to earn what the CEO makes: NA
Texas
R. Stephenson
Most recent pay: $28,720,720
Company: AT&T
Median worker pay: $78,437
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 366
Utah
Sunny S. Sanyal
Most recent pay: $6,559,636
Company: Varex Imaging Corporation
Median worker pay: NA
Years to earn what the CEO makes: NA
Vermont
John W. Casella
Most recent pay: $2,885,473
Company: Casella Waste Systems
Median worker pay: $37,578
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 77
Virginia
Phebe N. Novakovic
Most recent pay: $21,501,429
Company: General Dynamics
Median worker pay: $98,563
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 218
Washington
Mark D. Okerstrom
Most recent pay: $30,720,457
Company: Expedia
Median worker pay: $71,696
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 428
West Virginia
Richard M. Adams
Most recent pay: $3,638,031
Company: United Bankshares
Median worker pay: $53,145
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 68
Wisconsin
Kevin T. Conroy
Most recent pay: $13,265,089
Company: Exact Sciences Corporation
Median worker pay: $98,724
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 134
Wyoming
Colin Marshall
Most recent pay: $4,426,954
Company: Cloud Peak Energy
Median worker pay: $90,980
Years to earn what the CEO makes: 49