Fair500 → Sectors → Health Care
The sector splits cleanly. Drug developers employ scientists and post the narrowest ratios; insurers and hospital operators employ hundreds of thousands of administrative and clinical staff and post the widest.
Health Care's median ratio of 213:1 sits just above the index median of 196:1, and its median worker pay of $80,380 is close to the middle. Those averages combine two business models with very different workforces.
The narrowest ratios in the sector all belong to drug developers. Regeneron at 43:1 on a median of $174,138. Vertex at 80:1 on $264,487. Biogen at 83:1 on $208,335. Moderna at 84:1 on $225,053. Bristol Myers Squibb at 98:1 on $167,191. Incyte's median of $295,914 is the highest in the sector and among the highest in the index.
These companies employ research scientists, clinicians and regulatory specialists almost exclusively. There is no manufacturing floor or call centre to pull the midpoint down, and the ratios are correspondingly compressed. As with utilities, the narrow gap is mostly a fact about who the industry hires rather than a statement about pay policy.
UnitedHealth Group is the sector's most consequential entry: 748:1 across 390,000 employees, on a median of $81,474 and three-year average CEO compensation of $60.9 million. The median here is not low, since this is a well-paid workforce by index standards, so the compositional explanation that covers most extreme ratios is unavailable. The numerator is what puts it near the top.
HCA Healthcare at 379:1 across 320,000 employees works differently. Its median of $62,955 reflects a hospital workforce including large numbers of support and ancillary staff, and its CEO compensation of $23.9 million is comparatively modest. The gap comes more from the denominator.
Align Technology posts the sector's widest ratio at 800:1, and it is a manufacturing story: a median of $31,454 across 20,290 employees, reflecting production operations outside the United States, against an unremarkable $25.2 million package. This is the same pattern that dominates the technology hardware companies.
Thermo Fisher at 604:1 sits between the two: a $71,333 median across 125,000 employees and a $43.1 million three-year average.
Becton Dickinson's 376:1 on a $45,831 median and Baxter's 412:1 on $72,402 reflect global manufacturing footprints. Solventum, the 3M health-care spinoff, enters at 366:1.
Veeva Systems deserves a note: 411:1 on a median of $140,473, which is a very well-paid workforce of 7,928 software staff. Its three-year average CEO compensation of $57.8 million is inflated by a single $172.4 million grant, one of the largest one-year figures in the index, and a clear illustration of why we average over three years. On the peak year alone the ratio would exceed 1,200:1.
The sector median is $56,500, but the spread is wide. Zoetis leads at $641,026 per head across 3,900 employees, followed by Vertex at $367,188, Gilead at $287,059, Regeneron at $278,391 and Eli Lilly at $243,200.
The pattern is consistent: patent-protected drug developers generate very high profit per worker, and they also pay very well. On Fair500's second measure, worker pay against profit per employee, these companies do reasonably rather than exceptionally, because both numbers are large.
The hospital operators and insurers sit at the other end. HCA's profit per employee across 320,000 staff is a fraction of Vertex's, and UnitedHealth's $16.3 billion profit spread across 390,000 employees produces a figure near the index median despite being the sector's second-largest absolute profit.
Three companies in the sector averaged a loss over the three-year window and appear in the map's loss band: Centene, Moderna and Viatris. Moderna is the notable case: a company with a $225,053 median and an 84:1 ratio whose post-pandemic revenue decline pushed its three-year average negative.
| Company | Pay ratio | Median worker pay | CEO pay (3-yr avg) | Profit (3-yr avg) | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Align TechnologyALGN | 800:1 | $31,454 | $25.2M | $0.4B | 20,290 |
| UnitedHealth GroupUNH | 748:1 | $81,474 | $60.9M | $16.3B | 390,000 |
| Thermo Fisher ScientificTMO | 604:1 | $71,333 | $43.1M | $6.3B | 125,000 |
| Baxter InternationalBAX | 412:1 | $72,402 | $29.8M | $0.3B | 37,500 |
| Veeva SystemsVEEV | 411:1 | $140,473 | $57.8M | $0.7B | 7,928 |
| HCA HealthcareHCA | 379:1 | $62,955 | $23.9M | $5.9B | 320,000 |
| Becton DickinsonBDX | 376:1 | $45,831 | $17.3M | $1.6B | 72,000 |
| SolventumSOLV | 366:1 | $82,152 | $30.0M | $1.1B | 20,000 |
| ViatrisVTRS | 328:1 | $46,729 | $15.3M | −$1.4B | 30,000 |
| Danaher CorporationDHR | 321:1 | $69,440 | $22.3M | $4.1B | 60,000 |
| Boston ScientificBSX | 314:1 | $67,539 | $21.2M | $2.1B | 59,000 |
| Johnson & JohnsonJNJ | 313:1 | $91,000 | $28.5M | $25.3B | 138,200 |
| McKesson CorporationMCK | 312:1 | $67,803 | $21.1M | $3.7B | 43,000 |
| Cooper CompaniesCOO | 309:1 | $48,540 | $15.0M | $0.3B | 15,000 |
| CVS HealthCVS | 308:1 | $63,262 | $19.5M | $4.9B | 300,000 |
| CignaCI | 304:1 | $73,674 | $22.4M | $4.8B | 67,700 |
| Cardinal HealthCAH | 291:1 | $72,657 | $21.1M | $0.9B | 57,700 |
| LabcorpLH | 284:1 | $62,929 | $17.9M | $0.7B | 71,000 |
| MedtronicMDT | 275:1 | $68,770 | $18.9M | $4.4B | 95,000 |
| Elevance HealthELV | 274:1 | $79,007 | $21.6M | $5.9B | 97,100 |
| IQVIAIQV | 273:1 | $102,424 | $28.0M | $1.4B | 93,000 |
| GE HealthCareGEHC | 271:1 | $76,951 | $20.9M | $1.9B | 54,000 |
| Universal Health ServicesUHS | 266:1 | $57,048 | $15.2M | $1.1B | 101,500 |
| Stryker CorporationSYK | 264:1 | $81,018 | $21.4M | $3.1B | 56,000 |
| Quest DiagnosticsDGX | 252:1 | $56,427 | $14.2M | $0.9B | 57,000 |
| PfizerPFE | 247:1 | $99,631 | $24.6M | $6.0B | 75,000 |
| Lilly (Eli)LLY | 246:1 | $125,100 | $30.8M | $12.2B | 50,000 |
| Charles River LaboratoriesCRL | 233:1 | $61,430 | $14.3M | $0.1B | 19,700 |
| DaVitaDVA | 217:1 | $71,839 | $15.6M | $0.8B | 78,000 |
| ZoetisZTS | 213:1 | $80,592 | $17.2M | $2.5B | 3,900 |
| HumanaHUM | 207:1 | $82,935 | $17.2M | $1.6B | 67,060 |
| Centene CorporationCNC | 206:1 | $94,800 | $19.6M | −$0.2B | 61,100 |
| RevvityRVTY | 201:1 | $57,745 | $11.6M | $0.4B | 11,000 |
| Insulet CorporationPODD | 199:1 | $94,703 | $18.9M | $0.3B | 5,400 |
| Merck & Co.MRK | 197:1 | $108,614 | $21.4M | $11.9B | 75,000 |
| Idexx LaboratoriesIDXX | 195:1 | $66,956 | $13.0M | $0.9B | 11,000 |
| ResMedRMD | 182:1 | $78,354 | $14.2M | $1.1B | 10,600 |
| Zimmer BiometZBH | 171:1 | $80,380 | $13.8M | $0.9B | 17,000 |
| Edwards LifesciencesEW | 167:1 | $89,827 | $15.0M | $2.2B | 16,000 |
| Abbott LaboratoriesABT | 161:1 | $145,528 | $23.4M | $8.6B | 115,000 |
| AmgenAMGN | 155:1 | $154,123 | $23.9M | $6.2B | n/a |
| SterisSTE | 144:1 | $73,280 | $10.6M | $0.6B | 18,000 |
| Henry ScheinHSIC | 142:1 | $78,954 | $11.2M | $0.4B | 25,000 |
| Mettler ToledoMTD | 130:1 | $56,972 | $7.4M | $0.8B | 9,300 |
| AbbVieABBV | 129:1 | $169,019 | $21.8M | $4.5B | 57,000 |
| West Pharmaceutical ServicesWST | 129:1 | $64,635 | $8.3M | $0.5B | 10,800 |
| CencoraCOR | 127:1 | $92,438 | $11.7M | $1.6B | 51,000 |
| Intuitive SurgicalISRG | 127:1 | $124,131 | $15.8M | $2.3B | 17,021 |
| Waters CorporationWAT | 122:1 | $92,793 | $11.3M | $0.6B | 7,900 |
| IncyteINCY | 108:1 | $295,914 | $32.1M | $0.6B | 2,844 |
| DexcomDXCM | 107:1 | $58,663 | $6.3M | $0.7B | 11,100 |
| Gilead SciencesGILD | 104:1 | $238,979 | $24.9M | $4.9B | 17,000 |
| Agilent TechnologiesA | 101:1 | $82,873 | $8.4M | $1.3B | 18,100 |
| Bristol Myers SquibbBMY | 98:1 | $167,191 | $16.4M | $2.0B | 32,500 |
| ModernaMRNA | 84:1 | $225,053 | $19.0M | −$3.7B | 4,700 |
| BiogenBIIB | 83:1 | $208,335 | $17.3M | $1.4B | 7,500 |
| Vertex PharmaceuticalsVRTX | 80:1 | $264,487 | $21.1M | $2.4B | 6,400 |
| Bio-TechneTECH | 64:1 | $91,707 | $5.9M | $0.2B | 3,100 |
| Regeneron PharmaceuticalsREGN | 43:1 | $174,138 | $7.4M | $4.3B | 15,410 |