Walmart chief earns typical US annual salary in less than 20 hours

Walmart chief earns typical US annual salary in less than 20 hours

• Walmart CEO Doug McMillon earned $27.5 million in total compensation for 2025
• He made the average US worker's annual salary in less than 20 hours
• McMillon's pay was mainly from stock and performance incentives, not base salary.

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Walmart chief executive Doug McMillon earned about $27.5 million in total compensation for the year 2025. At that pace, he made what the average US worker earns in a full year in less than 20 hours.

The figure comes from Walmart’s regulatory filings and recent reporting on executive pay. McMillon’s package included salary, stock awards and performance-linked incentives, a structure common at large US companies. He has spent most of his career at Walmart and worked his way up from an entry-level role, but the size of his current pay remains striking.

Government data helps put the numbers in context. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American worker earned roughly $62,000 in 2025. Based on that figure, McMillon earned the equivalent of an average annual salary before finishing his first full day of work.

Only a small portion of his compensation came from salary. His base pay was about $1.5 million, while most of the rest came from stock and incentive awards tied to company performance. Supporters say these rewards are meant to link executive pay to long-term results. Critics argue they inflate compensation far beyond what most workers can realistically relate to.

The gap is especially visible at Walmart, one of the largest private employers in the world. Millions of its workers are in hourly roles, often in stores and warehouses. While the company has raised wages and expanded benefits in recent years, the distance between executive pay and shop-floor earnings remains vast.

Labour groups frequently point to Walmart when discussing pay ratios. Data from the AFL-CIO shows McMillon’s compensation has been hundreds of times higher than the median pay of a Walmart worker in recent years, making the company a recurring example in debates over inequality.

Critics say figures like these reflect a system that rewards those at the top disproportionately, even in businesses built on low-margin, labour-intensive work. Defenders counter that leading a global retailer of Walmart’s size and complexity requires experience and carries heavy responsibility.

For most retail workers, however, the argument plays out against a simpler reality. Wages remain modest, costs are rising, and even incremental pay increases often struggle to keep up with everyday expenses.

The comparison between McMillon’s earnings and the average worker’s salary has become familiar in the US. It is less about one individual and more about a broader pattern, one in which executive pay continues to pull further away from the wages of the people who make up the bulk of the workforce.