After writing this recent editorial for the Huffington Post, which looked at the inflated compensation received by politicians in Canada, I thought it might be useful to make a comprehensive reference chart of salaries recieved by North Americans of various rank.
INCOME OF NORTH AMERICANS
$131 million- yearly pay of John H. Hammergreen, CEO of the McKesson health care corporation, America’s highest paid chief executive.
$49.1 million – total annual compensation of Hunter Harrison, CEO of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., Canada’s top paid CEO.
$4.17 million – total annual compensation of Tim Cook, CEO of Apple.
$1.7 million – yearly salary of Tom Mitchell, president of Ontario Power Generation, Ontario’s highest paid public employee.
$1.06 million – yearly salary of Dr. Antonio Alfonso, head of surgery at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, New York State’s highest paid public employee.
$800,363 – yearly salary of the senior psychiatrist of correctional and rehabilitative services, at the Mental Health Department of California, California’s highest paid public employee.
$400,000 – annual salary of the President of the United States.
$350,000 – annual salary of Dr. Electron Kebebew, medical officer at the National Institute of health, and the highest paid employee of the United States federal government.
$320,400 – annual salary of the Prime Minister of Canada.
$270,602 – annual salary of the Governor General of Canada.
$230,540 – average annual pay of a surgeon in the United States, according to Forbes magazine.
$174,000 – annual salary of a member of the United States Congress (House or Senate) who holds no additional offices.
$172,200 - annual salary of Denis McDonough, the White House Chief of Staff.
$166,204 – annual salary of a two-star general in the United States Army with over 30 years experience.
$160,200 – annual salary of a member of the Canadian Parliament who holds no additional offices.
$136,438 – annual salary of the prime minister of Prince Edward Island.
$114,000 – average annual income of the average federal public servant in Canada, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officier.
$105,000 – annual salary of the Governor of Wyoming.
$79,997 – median yearly income of a Canadian lawyer.
$78,467 - wage of the average federal public servant in the United States, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
$65,500 - median yearly income for Canadian family of two or more people, according to Statistics Canada.
$62,273 – median yearly income for an American family, according to the US Census Bureau.
$26,000 – median yearly income of an unmarried Canadian, according to Statistics Canada.
$23,050/year – poverty threshold for an American family of four, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
$19,760 – annual income of a 40-hour-a-week, minimum wage worker in Manitoba.
$18,194 – annual income of the lowest rank of private in the United States Army.
$17,160 – annual income of a 40-hour-a-week, minimum-wage worker in Illinois.
$11,170/year – poverty threshold for a single American, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
note: Canada does not have a law disclosing the salaries of its top paid federal employees. Canada also does not have an official poverty threshold.