CEO pay ratios are usually written as a colon. A 4,028:1 ratio is accurate, but it is still abstract. Put into working time, Mattel's FY2024 ratio means a median employee would need 100.7 full 40-year careers to earn one year of CEO pay.
This ranking converts each company's disclosed CEO-to-median-employee pay ratio into worker lifetimes. One lifetime means a 40-year career at that company's own disclosed median employee pay.
- Largest gap
- 100.7 lifetimes
- Top-15 floor
- 9.2 lifetimes
- Career model
- 40 years
- Data check
- 15 of 15
Mattel disclosed a 4,028:1 CEO-to-median-employee pay ratio.
Even the 15th row, 3M, is above nine full careers.
Worker lifetimes equal the disclosed pay ratio divided by 40.
All listed ratios were verified against public SEC proxy filings.
The widest CEO pay gaps by worker lifetime
MAT | $37.8M CEO pay
Mattel's disclosed ratio translates to more than 100 full careers at the company's median employee pay.
- Lifetimes
- 100.7
- Pay ratio
- 4,028:1
- Median pay
- $9,384
MELI | $13.7M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $8,650.
- Lifetimes
- 39.7
- Pay ratio
- 1,589:1
- Median pay
- $8,650
FCFS | $12.1M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $11,597.
- Lifetimes
- 26.0
- Pay ratio
- 1,041:1
- Median pay
- $11,597
MCD | $18.2M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $17,492.
- Lifetimes
- 25.4
- Pay ratio
- 1,014:1
- Median pay
- $17,492
AAPL | $74.6M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $114,738.
- Lifetimes
- 16.3
- Pay ratio
- 650:1
- Median pay
- $114,738
HLT | $28.0M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $48,448.
- Lifetimes
- 14.4
- Pay ratio
- 577:1
- Median pay
- $48,448
NXST | $35.9M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $69,406.
- Lifetimes
- 12.9
- Pay ratio
- 517:1
- Median pay
- $69,406
MAR | $21.9M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $46,211.
- Lifetimes
- 11.9
- Pay ratio
- 475:1
- Median pay
- $46,211
MU | $30.1M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $64,042.
- Lifetimes
- 11.7
- Pay ratio
- 469:1
- Median pay
- $64,042
ADI | $22.4M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $49,925.
- Lifetimes
- 11.2
- Pay ratio
- 449:1
- Median pay
- $49,925
GLW | $21.7M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $48,747.
- Lifetimes
- 11.1
- Pay ratio
- 445:1
- Median pay
- $48,747
NXPI | $20.7M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $46,891.
- Lifetimes
- 11.0
- Pay ratio
- 441:1
- Median pay
- $46,891
LIN | $20.7M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $52,889.
- Lifetimes
- 9.8
- Pay ratio
- 391:1
- Median pay
- $52,889
CTSH | $16.8M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $44,497.
- Lifetimes
- 9.4
- Pay ratio
- 378:1
- Median pay
- $44,497
MMM | $27.5M CEO pay
The company disclosed median employee pay of $74,417.
- Lifetimes
- 9.2
- Pay ratio
- 369:1
- Median pay
- $74,417
What the top rows have in common
The biggest lifetime counts usually come from two forces at once: a high CEO package and a low disclosed median employee pay figure. Mattel is the clearest case, with $37.8 million of CEO pay and a disclosed median employee at $9,384. MercadoLibre and FirstCash show the same structure, with median employee pay under $12,000.
Apple is the useful counterexample. Its disclosed median employee pay was $114,738, the highest in this top 15. The company still ranks fifth because the CEO pay number was $74.6 million. The ratio is not just a low-wage-workforce screen. A very large top-line pay package can do the same work.
Why the lifetime frame is sharper
A 650:1 ratio at Apple means 650 worker-years, or 16.3 working lifetimes. A 1,014:1 ratio at McDonald's means 25.4 lifetimes. The conversion does not add a new claim; it simply translates the company's own ratio into a unit people can feel.
That matters because pay ratios are easy to skim past. Lifetimes make the scale harder to miss. At the bottom of this ranking, 3M's 369:1 ratio still means more than nine careers. The top row is not a career comparison at all. It is more than a century of careers stacked together.
What the ratio cannot tell you
The pay ratio is a useful signal, not a full verdict. Company workforce mix matters. A retailer, restaurant chain, manufacturer, software company, and marketplace can have very different employee populations. Geography, part-time work, seasonal labor, and outsourcing can all change the median employee number.
The ratio also does not explain whether the CEO package was earned, poorly designed, or mostly tied to future stock performance. It points to scale. The next question is what created that scale: salary, bonus, stock, options, one-time awards, or the shape of the workforce below the C-suite.
Method note
This analysis uses FY2024 CEO-to-median-employee pay ratios disclosed in SEC proxy filings. Worker lifetimes are calculated as pay ratio / 40. The model uses 2026 as the current-year reference for adjacent start-year framing, but this article reports lifetimes because the largest rows stretch beyond ordinary calendar comparisons.
This article expands our published Voronoi chart. For the plain-English version of the underlying disclosure, read CEO Pay Ratios Explained. To compare pay timing for any company, use Time to CEO Pay. Current company pages include Mattel, Apple, and McDonald's.