Apple has hired thousands of people each year over the last decade or so as its businesses have continued to grow. From research and development to meeting customers at its retail stores, Apple’s employees are in demand.
Apple also rewards its employees well, and some are compensated with stock awards that can exceed their base salary. Here’s how much Apple pays and who gets paid the most.
Who are Apple’s highest-paid executives?
Apple rewards its top executives handsomely for meeting the company’s internal targets, in the form of both cash and stock awards.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO since 2011, is the company’s highest-paid executive. His annual base salary is $3 million, unchanged since 2016, but his total compensation is much higher. His 2025 target cash incentive plan — aimed to reward executives for delivering strong performance on annual financial goals — was set at 200% of his base salary, and that translated to $6 million. He had a target equity award value set at $50 million. Total compensation for the year was $74 million, according to Apple’s proxy statement.
Kevan Parekh, Apple’s CFO and a senior vice president, had a 2025 salary of $891,519, but his total compensation was $22 million. Other senior vice presidents, Kate Adams (general counsel and secretary), Sabih Khan (chief operating officer), and Deirdre O’Brien (head of retail and people), had salaries of $1 million but received $27 million in total compensation.
Related: How many employees does Apple have? A deeper look at the tech giant’s workforce
What is Apple’s median compensation & CEO pay ratio?
Apple uses a CEO pay ratio that compares its CEO’s compensation to that of the median among employees. In 2025, Cook’s total compensation was $74.29 million, compared to the median compensation of $139,483 for permanent full-time and part-time employees who didn’t work the full year. (Apple had more than 166,000 employees globally, according to its fiscal year 2025 annual report.) That put Apple’s CEO pay ratio at 533 to 1. By comparison, Nvidia’s ratio was smaller, at 166 to 1.
Still, Apple’s median compensation is above the U.S. average annual salary of $62,608, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
How much do Apple’s engineers make?
Apple’s engineers make up a significant portion of the company’s employees. Common positions include data engineer and software engineer, and many of these employees are based out of the company’s U.S. hubs in Austin, Texas, and Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.
Apple’s career page listed the base salary for an engineer with a few years’ experience at around $141,000 to $258,000.
Still, pay depends on skills, qualifications, experience, and location. And incentives, such as meeting internal targets, could boost compensation beyond base salary.
More on Apple:
- Where is Apple’s headquarters? A spaceship-like office with thousands of trees
- Does Apple pay dividends? A history of rewarding shareholders
- Apple’s stock split history: Everything you need to know
How much does an Apple retail employee earn?
Apple operates 275 stores across the U.S., and that requires employing hundreds, if not thousands, of employees. Their front-facing work involves greeting customers and providing technical assistance.
Apple doesn’t provide salary details for retail positions on its career website. Community specialists make about $64,000 to $116,000, while technical specialists are paid a bit more, at $56,000 to $123,000, according to jobs listing provider Glassdoor.
Does Apple promote from within?
If Apple’s executives are any guide, the company often promotes staff to higher positions, and that can lead to higher salaries and total compensation. Cook joined Apple in 1998 as executive vice president of worldwide sales and operations and received several promotions before becoming chief operating officer in 2005. After Steve Jobs’ death in 2011, Cook became CEO.
Sabih Khan joined Apple in 1995 and held various roles before becoming chief operating officer in July 2025.
Related: Who owns Apple? Institutional holdings & executives’ shares