Elon Musk
Musk’s 2025 Tesla compensation stands out against broader trends in corporate America, where executive earnings continued climbing during the year. Tesla Owners Club Belgium, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Elon Musk received more than 2.5 million times the compensation of Tesla's average worker in 2025, according to a new report examining the widening gap between corporate executives and employees. Musk received a $158.3B compensation package from Tesla, making his pay an extreme outlier among chief executives at America's largest companies.

The figures come from the AFL-CIO's latest Executive Paywatch report, released this week. The report also found that the gap between CEOs and workers increased across major US companies, even when Musk's compensation was excluded.

Musk's Pay Changes the Numbers

The scale of Musk's compensation is difficult to compare with a conventional salary. According to the report, Musk received the equivalent of the median Tesla worker's annual pay every 4.23 seconds in 2025. The AFL-CIO said a majority of S&P 500 chief executives made more in one day than the median US worker earned in an entire year.

Without Musk, the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio among the top S&P 500 companies stood at 312 to 1 in 2025. That was up from 285 to 1 in 2024. Once Musk's compensation was included, the average ratio jumped to 5,387 to 1. The difference shows how strongly one exceptionally large compensation package can affect the overall figures.

Musk's Tesla package is linked to a large performance-based award, making the headline figure unusually high. That distinction matters when comparing his compensation with the pay of other CEOs. Even so, the AFL-CIO report places Musk at the centre of a wider debate over executive compensation.

CEO Pay Rose Across Major Companies

Musk was an outlier, but executive compensation increased more broadly during the year. The average CEO pay among the companies covered by the report, excluding Musk, reached $22.8M in 2025. That was an increase from $18.9M in 2024.

When Tesla was included, the average rose dramatically to $340.1M. The report said the growing pay gap came against a broader decline in the share of US national income going to workers. It described workers' share as being at its lowest level since the Second World War.

Workers Face Financial Pressure

The report also highlighted several measures of financial insecurity among US households. It cited data showing that 33% of US adults have no retirement savings. Another 37% do not have enough money to cover a $400 emergency expense.

The report also said 26% of adults have skipped medical care because of the cost, while 23% of renters have fallen behind on rent during the past year. Those figures form part of the AFL-CIO's argument about the growing distance between executive compensation and the financial position of many workers. They do not, however, establish that executive pay directly causes those financial difficulties.

Trump's Income Also Examined

The AFL-CIO report also examined Donald Trump's income during 2025. It estimated his income at $2.2B, with much of it linked to his cryptocurrency holdings. The report said Trump's income increased by nearly 254% from the previous year. It calculated that the median US worker would need 43,154 years to earn the same amount.

Fred Redmond, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, criticised the economic policies of the Trump administration and argued that they had benefited corporations and wealthy Americans. Those comments reflect the position of the AFL-CIO and are not presented as an independent assessment.

A White House spokesperson defended Trump's financial arrangements. The spokesperson said Trump's assets were held in fully discretionary accounts managed by independent third-party financial institutions and said there were no conflicts of interest.

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