The source: IRS Form 990 e-file data
Every pay figure comes from a Form 990 that the organization itself filed with the IRS. The IRS publishes these returns as machine-readable e-file data, and we read that data directly. We do not use estimates, salary surveys, news reports or figures from other websites. Each figure links to a readable copy of the return it came from, so you can check it.
Which lines we use
- Part VII, Section A lists officers, directors, trustees, key employees and the five highest-paid other employees, with average weekly hours and three pay columns: (D) reportable pay from the organization, (E) reportable pay from related organizations, and (F) an estimate of other compensation, such as retirement contributions and health benefits.
- Schedule J, Part II breaks pay down for anyone above $150,000: base pay (salary), bonus and incentive pay, other reportable pay (such as severance or taxable perks), retirement and other deferred pay (employer contributions set aside for later) and nontaxable benefits (health coverage and similar), each from the organization and from related organizations.
- Part I, line 12 gives total revenue for the year, which we use for pay as a share of revenue.
What "total" means
The total we show for a person is columns D, E and F of Part VII added together, for that one return. The three amounts are shown on the organization's page as filed, so the sum can be checked. Where a line was left blank we show a dash, not a zero, and negative amounts are shown as filed.
We add up the rows ourselves and never display the filed summary line (Part VII, line 1d), because some returns' summary lines do not match their own rows. Schedule J has its own total, which counts retirement and benefits differently; where we show it, we show it as filed and label it separately.
Pay as a share of revenue is also our calculation: the person's total divided by total revenue from the same return. Every calculated figure uses amounts from one filing only.
Each organization page also compares that share with other organizations on this site. Each organization's share comes from its own latest full-year return: the CEO's total (or the highest-paid person's, where no one has a chief executive title) divided by that return's total revenue. It is compared with organizations in the same sector once a sector has at least 20 on the site; otherwise with those in the same revenue band: under $50 million, $50 million to $500 million, $500 million to $5 billion, or over $5 billion. If the band has fewer than 20 organizations, the comparison uses every organization on the site, and with fewer than 20 in all, no comparison is shown. The figure is the share of the other organizations in that group whose pay share is strictly lower, rounded down to a whole percent. A related return that reports the same executives as another organization's return (see pay from related organizations, below) is left out of every group, as it is left out of the rankings. A hospital system ranked on a parent return whose total revenue is under a quarter of its largest affiliate's shows no share of revenue or comparison and is left out of every group, because most of the system's revenue is on another return.
Two sectors have their own lists and rankings. Hospital systems are nonprofit hospital and health-system filers whose largest single return reports at least $1 billion in revenue, one row per system: the return that reports the system CEO's pay, showing that return's own revenue even when a larger return in the same system is filed separately. Universities are private colleges and universities whose latest full-year return reports at least $500 million in revenue; public universities file no Form 990 and are not included. At a university the lead person is the president or chancellor by filed title, not the highest-paid person, and titles for another entity, such as the president of an investment company, do not count. Where a return gives titles in Schedule O (or names the CEO only in another schedule) instead of Part VII, we use that title and label it with the schedule it came from.
Who counts as CEO
Titles on Form 990 are free text typed by the filer, so we identify the chief executive from the title as filed:
- A title counts if it says CEO or chief executive, including combinations such as "President and CEO" or "Interim CEO".
- "Executive director" counts when it is the person's whole role, not the head of one department or region.
- "President" on its own does not count, because at many organizations it is a board or regional role.
- Former, retired and emeritus officers, deputies and assistants, and affiliate CEOs do not count.
- If more than one person on a return has a chief executive title, for example after a mid-year handover, we lead with the higher-paid one and name the other.
- If nobody on the return has a chief executive title, we show the highest-paid person instead and say so.
Which return we use
- Latest full year. Pages lead with the most recent return that covers a full year, chosen by the date the fiscal year ended.
- Short-year returns. When an organization changes its fiscal year it files a return covering only a few months. We keep it on record but never use it as the latest year, because a few months of pay is not comparable with a full year.
- Amended returns. If an organization amends a return, we use the amended version for that fiscal year.
- One year at a time. A figure never mixes amounts from different returns or different years.
Why the latest year is a year or more old
A Form 990 is due four and a half months after the fiscal year ends, and organizations can extend that by six months. The IRS then processes and publishes the return. In practice a year's pay reaches public data about 12 to 18 months after the year ends, and organizations with different fiscal years appear at different times.
What we publish, and what we keep out of search
We publish pages for organizations that file a full Form 990. Organizations with no paid officers on their latest return, or with revenue under $5 million, are kept out of search results, because there is too little on the page to be useful. Organizations that do not file a Form 990 at all, such as churches, have no filed figure; where people search for one, we explain why, as on the Salvation Army page.
Why there are no pages for individuals
People appear only on the page of the organization that reported their pay. We do not make pages about individuals, do not combine a person's pay across organizations, and do not comment on anyone's pay. The figures describe what an organization reported, not a judgment of the person.
How the site is made
Software downloads the IRS data, reads the pay lines from each return and builds the pages, so every figure is copied from the return rather than typed in. Before any pages were published, the stored figures for five organizations were checked one by one against the IRS's PDF copies of their returns, and all of them matched. Explanatory text is drafted with the help of AI tools and reviewed by a person before it is published; figures are never written by AI.
Corrections
If a figure here does not match the filed return, or you think we have the wrong organization or the wrong person as CEO, email corrections@ceopaycheck.com with the page address and what looks wrong. We check it against the return and fix our mistakes. If the return itself is wrong, the organization can file an amended return with the IRS, and we will pick it up when the IRS publishes it.