For its annual analysis of CEO pa y, The Associated Press used data provided by Equilar, an executive data firm.
Equilar examined regulatory filings detailing the pay packages of 337 executives. Equilar looked at companies in the S&P 500 index that filed proxy statements with federal regulators between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2026. To avoid the distortions caused by sign-on bonuses, the sample includes only CEOs in the job for at least two years.
To calculate CEO pay, Equilar adds salary, bonus, perks, stock awards, stock option awards and other pay components.