The 2025 ESOP Executive and Director Compensation Survey

How Our Members Use the Survey

2025 Survey Details

The survey collected comprehensive data on both executive compensation and director compensation, along with board makeup, number of board members, and demographic questions.

The survey gathered compensation data for each of the following eight executive positions:

• CEO or president
• CFO or top financial executive
• COO
• Chief information officer
• Top divisional vice president
• Top human resources or personnel professional
• Top sales or marketing executive
• Vice president of services/region/geographic area

In addition, the survey report includes detailed compensation data for independent, affiliated, and inside directors, and data on board makeup.

A total of 559 ESOP companies (491 with 100% ESOPs) responded to our 2025 survey. Here is the industry breakdown. 

Contents of the Survey Report

The report includes:

• Descriptive demographic information about the respondents
• Tables of compensation at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles for each of eight executive positions, separated by base pay, cash incentives, stock-based compensation, and total pay
• Contributions to executives' individual retirement plan accounts, by percentile
• Total company ESOP contributions as a percentage of eligible payroll
• Makeup of the board and committees (inside, affiliated, and independent directors)
• Tables of dollar compensation at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles for directors, broken out by retainer, per-meeting fees, equity compensation, and total compensation

This information is presented for both the overall survey sample and as breakouts for each of the following company characteristics:

• Revenue
• Number of employees
• Percent ESOP ownership
• Industry:
  • Construction
  • Manufacturing
  • Professional, scientific, and technical services
  • Engineering or architecture

You'll receive an email with a download link and can also download the file immediately from the order confirmation screen. You can access the file anytime from the Orders screen in your NCEO account.

Terms of Use

By purchasing the NCEO's ESOP Compensation Survey report, you are agreeing to following terms of use:

• Companies may share the report with anyone at the company, including outside board members and consultants, but may not circulate it outside the company.
• Companies sharing the report with outside board members and consultants must specify that its use is limited to the company, and must acknowledge the NCEO as the source. 
• ESOP service providers and other service providers or consultants may use this report to advise clients, as long as they acknowledge the NCEO as the source and make clear that it should not be circulated outside the client's company.