How much do CEOs of large US nonprofits earn compared with S&P 500 CEO median pay in 2023?
Executive summary
S&P 500 CEOs’ median total pay in 2023 was $16.3 million, up 12.6% from 2022 according to Equilar/AP data (reported by Fortune and Harvard’s Forum) [1] [2]. Available sources show large U.S. nonprofit CEOs generally earn far less on average—many nonprofit chief executives have median/average pay in the low six-figures—but a small subset of hospital and university CEOs earn in the millions; Statista and journalistic reporting identify nonprofit CEOs with multi-million packages in 2023 [3] [4].
1. S&P 500 CEOs: the clear headline — median $16.3M in 2023
The dominant metric for public-company executive pay in 2023 is the Equilar/Associated Press analysis showing the median total compensation for S&P 500 chief executives rose 12.6% to $16.3 million for fiscal-year 2023 [1] [2]. That figure reflects pay mixes that include salary, bonus and especially long‑term equity grants and payouts, and it highlights the rebound in pay as markets and incentive outcomes normalized after pandemic disruptions [5] [1].
2. Nonprofit CEO pay: averages are modest but outliers push headlines
Sector-wide averages for nonprofit CEOs are far lower than for S&P 500 leaders. Salary‑survey providers place typical nonprofit CEO pay in the low six‑figures—PayScale reports an average around $121,279 for nonprofit CEOs (2025 datapoint shown) as a baseline comparison to corporate levels [6]. Yet this masks important variation: hospitals, large health systems and some private academic institutions reported nonprofit CEOs paid multiple millions in 2023 (for example, Memorial Sloan Kettering’s CEO at over $5.7M and past Statista lists of high‑paid nonprofit CEOs) [4] [3].
3. The middle matters: most nonprofits aren’t multi‑million dollar employers
Most nonprofits are small and pay accordingly. PayScale’s cited average demonstrates that the median nonprofit CEO experience is hundreds of thousands to low‑hundreds of thousands, not the tens of millions found in S&P 500 median measures [6]. The multi‑million nonprofit packages are concentrated at large hospital systems and flagship institutions whose budgets and competitive labor markets for clinical and research leaders more closely resemble corporate pay pressures [3] [4].
4. Apples-to‑oranges pay components and reporting conventions
Comparing nonprofit CEO pay to S&P 500 CEO pay requires caution because methodologies differ. Corporate median figures rely heavily on equity grant valuation and realized stock payouts; nonprofit reporting (Form 990s, surveys) and private hospital disclosures may report salary and bonuses but handle long‑term incentives differently, making direct median‑to‑median comparisons imperfect [1] [6]. The Harvard Forum notes that S&P 500 measures reflect both granted and realized equity and trends across 2020–2023, underlining differences in how compensation totals change year to year [5].
5. Outlier examples skew perceptions; headlines focus on extremes
High‑profile examples — Broadcom’s Hock Tan at roughly $162M, and nonprofit CEOs like Memorial Sloan Kettering’s leader at $5.7M — drive public debate even though they are exceptional [1] [4]. Statista’s lists of “highest‑paid nonprofit CEOs” and journalistic reporting highlight institutions where market forces push pay upward, but those are outliers relative to the majority of nonprofit employers [3] [4].
6. Wider context and structural drivers of divergence
Analysts link corporate CEO pay increases to equity‑based incentives, strong market performance in 2023, and long‑term incentive design; Equilar/AP and corporate governance analyses attribute the 2023 rebound in median S&P 500 CEO pay to normalization of LTI awards and incentive payouts [1] [5]. Nonprofits face different incentives: donor scrutiny, board governance norms, and regulatory review of “reasonable compensation” limit widespread escalation, though competing labor markets for clinical/academic talent can override those constraints at large institutions [3] [4].
7. What reporting misses and limitations to note
Available sources do not provide a single apples‑to‑apples dataset comparing a full nonprofit‑sector median to the S&P 500 median for 2023; most nonprofit pay data are survey‑based or limited to spotlight institutions (available sources do not mention a comprehensive nonprofit median for 2023 comparable to Equilar/AP) [1] [6]. That gap means headline comparisons must be qualified: S&P 500 median = $16.3M is firm in the sources, while nonprofit compensation is highly heterogeneous and centered much lower, with notable multi‑million outliers [1] [6] [3].
8. Bottom line for readers
For 2023, S&P 500 CEOs had a median total pay of $16.3 million [1] [2]. Most nonprofit CEOs earn in the low six‑figures on average, though a small number of large hospitals and academic nonprofits pay multi‑million packages that attract attention [6] [3] [4]. Any direct comparison requires careful attention to which pay components and which subset of nonprofits are being measured [1] [6].