Despite mass layoffs rippling through the technology sector, with roughly 64,865 workers cut in 2023 alone per Layoffs.fyi, median pay at Silicon Valley’s biggest firms remained strikingly generous through 2022.
The paradox underscores a volatile moment for the industry. Companies have trimmed headcounts and preached austerity, yet compensation packages at the region’s largest employers still climbed to an average median of about $184,838, according to SEC filings compiled by analytics firm MyLogIQ.
Meta topped the list. Employees at the social media giant earned a median total compensation of $296,320, edging out its own 2021 figure by a few thousand dollars. Alphabet followed at $279,802, while Dropbox landed third at $274,599.
Several other companies cleared the $200,000 mark. Airbnb reported $236,240, Okta $233,825, Nvidia $228,078, and Netflix $218,400. Salesforce narrowly missed the threshold at $199,130. Meanwhile, Adobe and eBay came in at $170,679 and $136,754 respectively.
These figures include more than base salary. Stock vesting, 401(k) matches, and other benefits factor into the totals. CEO compensation is excluded to avoid skewing the data upward.
The picture shifts dramatically for companies with large workforces of contractors, retail staff, or factory employees. Intel, Apple, DoorDash, and Uber all reported median pay below $100,000. Uber sat at the bottom with $76,767. By contrast, Lyft, which excludes contracted workers from its calculations, posted a median of $161,348.
The gap between leadership and rank-and-file pay remains stark. Apple CEO Tim Cook earned $99 million in 2022, putting his compensation at 1,177 times the median Apple worker’s salary of $84,493. As tech leaders continue touting cost discipline in 2023, whether worker pay will finally bend remains an open question.
