Average CEO Salary by Company Size
Median CEO compensation by market-cap bracket from SEC proxy filings.
Median CEO compensation by market-cap bracket from SEC proxy filings.
Quick answer
Small-Cap CEO Salary is $6.3M at the median ($3.9M–$9.1M typical) across 197 public companies in the $300M – $2B market-cap bracket. Figures are company-level totals from SEC proxy filings, drawn from a 1086-company snapshot. This page ranks by market cap, not revenue — see all brackets on CEO salary by company size or pay by sector on CEO salary by industry.
Company-level CEO compensation varies dramatically by company size. At mega-cap companies (over $200B market cap), the median company total is $32.5M. At large-cap companies ($10B–$200B), the median company total drops to $16.1M. All figures are median company-level totals from SEC proxy filings (DEF 14A) across 1086 public companies.
| Market Cap Bracket | Median CEO Pay (company total) | Companies |
|---|---|---|
| Mega-cap(Over $200B) | $32.5M | 47 |
| Large-cap($10B – $200B) | $16.1M | 299 |
| Mid-cap($2B – $10B) | $8.1M | 450 |
| Small-cap($300M – $2B) | $6.3M | 197 |
Source: SEC DEF 14A proxy filings. Market cap from Yahoo Finance (updated hourly). Total compensation includes salary, bonuses, stock awards, option awards, and other compensation as reported in the Summary Compensation Table.
Nearby size brackets
This bracket
Median $6.3M across 197 companies. Click any row for the cited company page.
Small-cap
Sorted by Market cap
Market Cap
$2.0B
CEO compensation
$5.7MMarket Cap
$2.0B
CEO compensation
$5.5MMarket Cap
$2.0B
CEO compensation
$9.6MMarket Cap
$2.0B
CEO compensation
$4.6MMarket Cap
$2.0B
CEO compensation
$6.4MMarket Cap
$2.0B
CEO compensation
$5.5MMarket Cap
$1.9B
CEO compensation
$8.1MMarket Cap
$1.9B
CEO compensation
$7.2MMarket Cap
$1.9B
CEO compensation
$1.9MMarket Cap
$1.9B
CEO compensation
$3.2MMarket Cap
$1.9B
CEO compensation
$6.5MMarket Cap
$1.9B
CEO compensation
$3.7MMarket Cap
$1.9B
CEO compensation
$16.8MMarket Cap
$1.9B
CEO compensation
$8.9MMarket Cap
$1.9B
CEO compensation
$4.6MMarket Cap
$1.9B
CEO compensation
$11.8MMarket Cap
$1.8B
CEO compensation
$8.6MMarket Cap
$1.8B
CEO compensation
$9.2MMarket Cap
$1.8B
CEO compensation
$2.4MMarket Cap
$1.8B
CEO compensation
$7.5MMarket Cap
$1.8B
CEO compensation
$4.9MMarket Cap
$1.8B
CEO compensation
$4.6MMarket Cap
$1.8B
CEO compensation
$10.5MMarket Cap
$1.8B
CEO compensation
$9.1MMarket Cap
$1.8B
CEO compensation
$9.9M| STRA | Strategic Education, Inc. Karl McDonnell | $2.0B | $5.7M | |
| PRDO | PERDOCEO EDUCATION Corp Todd S. Nelson | $2.0B | $5.5M | |
| KSS | KOHLS Corp Ashley Buchanan | $2.0B | $9.6M | |
| ICHR | ICHOR HOLDINGS, LTD. Phil Barros | $2.0B | $4.6M | |
| WKC | WORLD KINECT CORP Michael J. Kasbar | $2.0B | $6.4M | |
| ALG | ALAMO GROUP INC Jeffery A. Leonard | $2.0B | $5.5M | |
| ECPG | ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC Ashish Masih | $1.9B | $8.1M | |
| WS | Worthington Steel, Inc. Geoffrey G. Gilmore | $1.9B | $7.2M | |
| CHCO | CITY HOLDING CO Charles R. Hageboeck | $1.9B | $1.9M | |
| PLAB | PHOTRONICS INC Frank Lee | $1.9B | $3.2M | |
| EPAC | ENERPAC TOOL GROUP CORP Paul E. Sternlieb | $1.9B | $6.5M | |
| NBHC | National Bank Holdings Corp G. Timothy Laney | $1.9B | $3.7M | |
| NSP | INSPERITY, INC. Paul J. Sarvadi | $1.9B | $16.8M | |
| GNL | Global Net Lease, Inc. Edward M. Weil | $1.9B | $8.9M | |
| TFIN | Triumph Financial, Inc. Aaron P. Graft | $1.9B | $4.6M | |
| DV | DoubleVerify Holdings, Inc. Mark Zagorski | $1.9B | $11.8M | |
| SONO | Sonos Inc Patrick Spence | $1.8B | $8.6M | |
| EVTC | EVERTEC, Inc. Morgan M. Schuessler | $1.8B | $9.2M | |
| STBA | S&T BANCORP INC Christopher J. McComish | $1.8B | $2.4M | |
| CNXN | PC CONNECTION INC Timothy McGrath | $1.8B | $7.5M | |
| GSHD | Goosehead Insurance, Inc. Mark K. Miller | $1.8B | $4.9M | |
| CASH | PATHWARD FINANCIAL, INC. Brett L. Pharr | $1.8B | $4.6M | |
| PRGS | PROGRESS SOFTWARE CORP /MA Yogesh Gupta | $1.8B | $10.5M | |
| NEO | NEOGENOMICS INC Tony Zook | $1.8B | $9.1M | |
| PRG | PROG Holdings, Inc. Steven A. Michaels | $1.8B | $9.9M |
Compensation is extracted from the executive pay table in each company's SEC proxy filing. Market cap is current (not filing-date) and comes from Yahoo Finance. Medians use company-level totals so co-CEO years are not double-counted as two companies.
Companies with co-CEOs show the combined company-level total across every reported CEO.
$47.8M
| Micro-cap(Under $300M) | $3.6M | 11 |
Small-cap CEO salary in this dataset is the small-cap median: $6.3M company-level total (typical range $3.9M–$9.1M), based on 197 companies ($300M – $2B).
CEOs at small-cap public companies ($300M – $2B) have a median company-level total of $6.3M. The middle half of the bracket falls between $3.9M–$9.1M. These are grant-date totals from SEC proxy filings, not cash paychecks.
Median company CEO pay by market-cap bracket: Micro-cap $3.6M (n=11); Small-cap $6.3M (n=197); Mid-cap $8.1M (n=450); Large-cap $16.1M (n=299); Mega-cap $32.5M (n=47). Open /ceo-salary-by-company-size for the full table, or stay on /ceo-salary-by-company-size/small-cap for this bracket.
Companies are grouped by market capitalization (share price times shares outstanding), not revenue. Market cap is the standard size benchmark because compensation committees typically design CEO pay around shareholder value.
Compensation comes from the executive pay table in each company's SEC proxy filing. This page summarizes 1086 public companies and isolates the 197 in the small-cap bracket.