All companies · US · fiscal 2025

Starbucks

1,794times · chief executive pay ÷ median employee pay calculated

It would take Starbucks's median employee 1,794 years to earn what its chief executive earned in one. That is above the 312 to 1 average across the S&P 500 in 2025.

Median employeea part-time US barista

$17,279

A 20 to 1 capRebecca Ledger model

$345,580

Brian Niccolchief executive, fiscal 2025

$30,992,773

The prior year, counting a sign-on stock grant, the disclosed gap was 6,666 to 1 — the widest in the S&P 500. The median here is not annualized: Starbucks' workforce is heavily part-time, which lowers the denominator.

Show the evidence

Source: Starbucks, SEC Form DEF 14A, filed January 2026 — open this company's SEC filing list
Chief executive total compensation verified: $30,992,773 — Brian Niccol, as reported in the Summary Compensation Table
Median employee total compensation verified: $17,279 — a part-time US barista
Ratio calculated: $30,992,773 ÷ $17,279 = 1,794. The company did not state a ratio in the source we hold, so the Ledger divided the two verified figures.
Retrieved: 2026-09-07
Methodology caution: SEC rules let each company choose how it identifies its median employee — whether part-time and seasonal pay is annualized, which countries are included. Ratios are exact within a company and approximate between companies. Full methodology.

The numbers

$30,992,773

Chief executive verified

Brian Niccol, fiscal 2025 total compensation

$17,279

Median employee verified

a part-time US barista

1,794:1

Ratio calculated

S&P 500 average is 312:1

Pay Fairness score calculated

0–100, from the ratio alone. Formula

—

Employee ownership insufficient data

Not disclosed. No company on the ledger yet publishes what share of its stock is held by rank-and-file employees. That silence is itself the finding.

—

Buybacks & net income insufficient data

Not yet collected for this company. Want to add it? Take the Rebecca Challenge.

What 20 to 1 would look like proposal

This is a Rebecca Ledger model, not a prediction and not something the company has said or done. It caps chief-executive pay at twenty times this company's own median employee, and changes nothing else.

Chief executive today verified	$30,992,773
Under a 20× cap proposal	$345,580 (20 × $17,279)
Difference calculated	$30,647,193
What the difference equals calculated	about 1,774 more employees paid at this company's own median

The arithmetic is the whole model: one year of the difference, divided by one median salary. It assumes nothing about taxes, share price, or whether the company would do it. It is meant to make a large number legible, not to predict a decision.

Write to someone about it

Wrong about any of this? Send a correction — corrections are published, dated, and never quietly edited.