New Report Analyzes America’s 20 Largest Low-Wage Employers and the Affordability Crisis 

On March 4, the Institute for Policy Studies released a timely new report, “America’s 20 Largest Low-Wage Employers and the Affordability Crisis.” 

This report analyzes a group of companies that IPS has dubbed the “Low-Wage 20.” These are the 20 S&P 500 corporations with primarily U.S.-based workforces that have reported the lowest median wages. 

The report provides detailed data on each of these firms, showing how they are enriching their CEOs while paying their workers so little that a significant share have to rely on SNAP and Medicaid for food and health care and struggle to afford other basic necessities.  

Key report findings include: 

• The Low-Wage 20 are using public assistance as corporate welfare.
  • 15 of the Low-Wage 20 reported median pay in 2024 below the $35,631 income threshold for a family of three to be eligible for Medicaid in most states.
  • 13 of these 20 firms reported median pay below the $33,576 threshold for a family of three to be eligible for SNAP food aid.
  • In Nevada, a state with Medicaid enrollment and median income levels on par with national averages, Walmart had 4,574 employees (29.3 percent of all their employees in Nevada) enrolled in Medicaid in 2024.
  • Extrapolating Nevada data to the national level, the country’s largest private sector employer likely has around 468,800 employees on Medicaid.
  • Amazon, the second-largest U.S. private sector employer, had 8,951 employees on Medicaid in Nevada in 2024 (48.4 percent of employees Nevada). If Nevada represents their national pay practices, roughly 577,000 Amazon employees are likely on Medicaid.
    
• The Low-Wage 20 are contributing to the affordability crisis.
  • Half of Low-Wage 20 firms reported a decline in their median pay between 2019 and 2024, after adjusting for inflation. Average median pay for the firms dropped 4.6 percent, from $30,474 (in 2024 dollars) to $29,087. 
  • All 20 of these firms reported 2024 median pay below $59,600, the income level needed to afford the U.S. average rent for a two-bedroom apartment.
  • 7 out of the 20 firms have median pay below $25,533, the current average price of a used car. 
  • 16 out of the 20 have median pay below the $44,961 average annual cost for tuition and fees at a private college and 7 have median income lower than the $25,415 average cost of attending a public university as an out-of-state student. 

• The Low-Wage 20 are enriching CEOs while paying poverty wages.
  • Average CEO pay at these 20 low-wage firms hit $18.6 million in 2024, just shy of the $18.9 million average for S&P 500 CEOs as a whole. 
  • At least 16 U.S. billionaires owe their wealth to companies in the Low-Wage 20.
  • The Low-Wage 20 average CEO-median worker pay ratio stood at a staggering 899 to 1, compared to the S&P 500 average of 285 to 1.  
  • The Low-Wage 20 combined spent $260 billion on stock buybacks between 2019 and 2024. 

With the $32.5 billion these firms spent on buybacks in 2024 alone, they could’ve lifted more than 1 million workers making the Low-Wage 20’s average median wage of $29,087 up to the $59,600 income level needed to afford the U.S. average rent for a two-bedroom apartment. 

“When corporations can get away with shifting their employees’ basic living costs onto taxpayers, this is a form of corporate welfare,” notes report author Sarah Anderson, director of the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. “With the federal government slashing spending on anti-poverty programs, it’s even more important that major corporations in the world’s richest country pay their employees a living wage.” 

Read the full report: https://ips-dc.org/report-americas-20-largest-low-wage-employers-and-the-affordability-crisis

Press contacts:
Sarah Anderson, sarah@ips-dc.org
Olivia Alperstein, olivia@ips-dc.org

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