Cooperative Employee 

Compensation

USDA Rural Development

Business and Cooperative 

Services

Research Report 228
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Research Report 228 i

ABSTRACT

A 2011 survey of 2,285 U.S. farmer, rancher, and fishery cooperatives was used to update employee compensation studies conducted in 1993 and 1999. There were 553 respondents to the survey, or a 24- percent response rate. Five job categories were used in the survey, with questions on: number of employees; 

average salary; bonuses; benefits; perks; retirement; performance; and directors. Responses were further 

divided into nine sales sizes, seven employee sizes, and by State(s). 

Keywords: cooperatives, compensation, benefits, bonus, retirement, performance, directors

 

COOPERATIVE EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION

E. Eldon Eversull

Rural Development

U.S. Department of Agriculture

STOP 3256

1400 Independence Ave., S.W.

Washington, DC 20250 3256

www.rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_Coop_LibraryOfPubs.htm — for a complete listing of our publications.

Research Report 228

April 2013
ii Cooperative Employee Compensation

PREFACE

This report updates 1993 and 1999 studies conducted by Rotan. Information from the 1999 study was compared and contrasted with this study. Employee compensation and benefits information are often requested 

by cooperatives, researchers, and human resources departments. All respondents were given a summary of 

the results in this report a month after survey analysis was completed.

With 553 respondents representing various cooperative sizes, types, and locations, a wide range of information on employee compensation and benefits was captured in this study. USDA depends on the response 

to its annual survey to develop a detailed and comprehensive set of statistics on cooperatives. The time and 

effort taken to provide information and the timeliness with which it is furnished are greatly appreciated.
Research Report 228 iii

CONTENTS

 Page

ABSTRACT i

PREFACE ii

HIGHLIGHTS iv

SURVEY RESULTS 1

SURVEY RESULTS BY SIZE, EMPLOYEES, TYPE, AND LOCATION 11

BIBLIOGRAPHY 17

APPENDIX TABLES 18
iv Cooperative Employee Compensation

HIGHLIGHTS

Over 550 cooperatives provided information on compensation and benefits representing more than 37,000 

employees in a 2011 survey of marketing, supply, and service cooperatives by USDA Rural Development’s 

Cooperative Programs. The survey found that most often management positions are filled from within the 

cooperative, while lower positions are filled by ads or recommendations. Performance of chief executive 

officers is measured by the board of directors, while net income or profits most often measures the performance of other workers. The survey found that: 

n Average chief executive pay was $105,576, with a median pay of $90,000.

n Job responsibilities are the leading factor for determining compensation for managers, while job 

performance weighs heavily on lower level employees.

n The same perks or benefits were offered in 2011 as in 1999, but the cost of many of these benefits 

were now more often shared between the employee and cooperative. For instance, retirement benefits 

were a shared expense for around 80 percent of the respondents in 2011, compared to 66 percent in 

1999.

n Many cooperatives still offer a defined benefit retirement. But the trend is a defined contribution 

or Individual Retirement Account (IRA)-based plans where the cooperative and employee share in 

funding the retirement plan. 

n Average board of director’s size was eight people with a median of seven. Board compensation averaged $15,962, while median compensation was $4,574.
Research Report 228 1

Cooperative Employee Compensation

E. Eldon Eversull

INTRODUCTION

As a whole, the agricultural economy did not undergo the general overall downturn that the U.S. economy experienced over the last several years. Employment has remained strong, with cooperatives adding 

7,000 employees (growth of 5.7 percent) between 

2009 and 2010, and almost 2,000 employees between 2010 and 2011 (growth of 1.5 percent). Even 

with U.S. unemployment rates around 8 percent, 

cooperatives need to offer competitive salaries to 

keep their workforce and attract new workers. The 

compensation they offer must be commensurate 

with employees’ skills and experience if they expect 

to attract and keep skilled employees. 

Employee compensation is the largest expense 

item for most cooperatives. When expressed as a 

percent of total sales, employee compensation averages 4 percent of total sales, and is almost half of 

all expenses for the average cooperative where total 

expenses are 8.6 percent of total sales. Higher-thanaverage employee expenses will have a great impact 

on profitability and thus are a constant management 

concern.

Compensation in this study mainly refers to salaries and benefits but can also include hourly wages 

and benefits. Salaries and wages are a direct form of 

compensation, while indirect compensation refers 

to benefits. Cooperatives and all employers need to 

offer a compensation package that is a proper mix 

of both direct (e.g., salaries) and indirect (benefits). 

Cooperatives are competing with other agricultural 

firms in their market area and employers in unrelated fields to maintain and grow a competent work 

force. 

There are also internal and external factors that 

need to be considered by cooperative employers. 

Internal factors that may influence salary and benefit packages offered are directly under the cooperative’s control and include, among other items, the 

number of employees, job descriptions/responsibilities, educational/occupational training, and flexible 

work hours. External factors that influence salary 

and benefit packages are largely out of the cooperatives control and include Federal and State government policies and regulations, the overall economy/

unemployment rate, and competition for employees 

from other firms. 

SURVEY RESULTS

Information for this report was obtained through 

the annual Rural Development survey of cooperatives [See Ali, et al.]. The 2011 survey counted 

2,285 farmer, rancher, and fishery cooperatives that 

employed 130,900 full-time employees. The annual 

survey included employee compensation questions 

similar to those used by Rotan in 1999. 

There were 553 usable employee compensation 

surveys returned by respondents. This represents 

about 45 percent of respondents to the annual 

survey. The vast majority of employee compensation respondents (76 percent) were farm supply 

and grain and oilseed cooperatives (Figure 1). 

Compared with the 1999 study, there are 15 percent 

more farm supply cooperatives, 5 percent fewer 

grain and oilseed, 10 percent fewer fruit and vegetable, 1 percent fewer dairy, and about 6 percent 

fewer “other “ cooperatives. 

Nine sales size categories are used in this study, 

and they are: >$500 million in sales, $200 million 

to ≤ $500 million, $100 million to ≤ $200 million, 

$50 million to ≤ $100 million, $25 million to ≤ $50 

million, $15 million to ≤ $25 million, $10 million to 

≤ $15 million, $5 million to ≤ $10 million, and <$5 

million (Figure 2). The sales size categories differ 

from 1999, where there were only four sales sizes: 

> $20 million in sales, $10 million to ≤ $20 million, 

$5 million to ≤ $10 million, and <$5 million. There 

were fewer respondents from small cooperatives in 

2011 than in 1999 and many more respondents from 

large cooperatives. The comparative break down 

between 2011 and 1999 shows about 9 percent 

fewer respondents in 2011 with <$5 million in sales, 

16 percent fewer with $5 million to ≤ $10 million, 2 

percent more with $10 million to ≤ $20 million, and 
2 Cooperative Employee Compensation

22 percent more respondents with over $20 million 

in sales. 

The survey information was also analyzed by 

number of cooperative full-time employees using 

seven employee ranges. The number of full-time 

employee ranges are: more than 200 employees, 

100 employees to 200 employees, 50 employees 

to 100 employees, 25 employees to 50 employees, 

10 employees to 25 employees, 5 employees to 10 

employees, and fewer than 5 employees (Figure 3). 

No employee ranges were used in the 1999 study. 

There were five broad job categories used in this 

study:

1. Chief executive officer (CEO)/president/general manager;

2. Controller/assistant manager/division manager;

3. Accountant/branch manager/supervisor/consultant;

4. Office manager/sales representative/applicator/field representative; and

5. Bookkeeper/counter sales/warehouse/delivery 

driver.

The first two job categories, chief executive 

and controller, are similar to the 1999 study, while 

categories 3-5 were expanded from division manager, field representative, or sales representative. 

(Throughout the rest of this report, rather than 

listing the full job category, the five will generally 

be referred to by the first job classification in each 

category. So, category #1 will be CEO, #2 will be 

controller, and so on.) It was thought that by broadening the categories, the study would encompass 

more employees found at a typical cooperative. The 

survey was pretested on three cooperatives and further refined. In retrospect, broadening the categories 

may have made the information less comparable 

between cooperatives except for the first two categories, chief executive and controller, because the 

broadened categories may contain a pay band that is 

too wide.

In addition, by broadening the job categories, 

non-salaried employees or hourly workers could be 

in some of the positions surveyed. This was noted 

on a number of surveys and probably explains the 

difference in number of employees between the annual survey and the employee compensation survey, as only 54 percent were accounted for in this 

study (19,964/37,323). As in the 1999 survey, not 

all respondents answered for all jobs, and it appears 

that some salaries are for hourly and part-time and 

seasonal employees.

Source of Employees

Most often, cooperative positions, except at nonmanagement levels, are promotions from within the 

Table 1—How employees in each category were found

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager	 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Percent of respondents

All respondents	

Already in co-op	 40.91 35.13 32.52 22.90 15.02

Word of mouth	 17.53 16.77 15.03 21.45 23.40

Ad	 13.42 13.92 18.18 21.74 25.12

Reference	 15.15 14.24 11.19 13.04 10.34

Ad/Word of mouth	 0.43 1.58 1.75 2.61 5.91

Placement firm	 5.63 2.85 2.10 0.74

Ad/Already in co-op	 3.16 3.85 2.32 1.97

Media	 1.52 1.90 2.10 1.74 2.96

Other (combination)	 5.41 10.44 13.29 14.20 14.53

 

No. of respondents	 462 316 286 345 406

 
Research Report 228 3

cooperative (Table 1). The chief executive, controller, and accountant are twice as likely to come from 

within the cooperative as from any other source. 

The office manager or bookkeeper is about as likely 

to be promoted from within, be recommended by 

someone within the cooperative (word of mouth), or 

come from a job advertisement.

Education

Both the chief executive and controller had a college education about 63 

percent of the time (Table 2). The frequency of a college degree for the chief 

executive was about 14 points higher 

than the 1999 response of 51 percent. 

At about 44 percent, both the accountant and office manager had some 

college education. The bookkeeper 

was more likely to have a high school 

education (61 percent).

Compensation

Employee compensation includes salary and benefits and averaged just over 

$105,000 for cooperative chief executives (Table 3). The middle or median 

chief executive salary was $90,000, with 

a maximum of $511,000 and $12,000 

minimum. Controllers averaged just over 

$70,000, while accountants averaged about 

$54,000. Office managers had an average 

compensation of just over $45,000, while 

the median compensation was just under 

$45,000. Bookkeepers also had almost 

equal average and median compensation of 

$33,000.

Twelve years separate the 2011 and 

1999 compensation surveys, so one would 

expect an increase in average compensation. Also, analysis of Figure 2 shows the 

2011 survey had a 12-point higher response from larger cooperatives in terms 

of sales. Compensation in 2011 was found 

to be more than double for the first two job 

categories that are more comparable to the 

prior surveys, but only $8,000 larger for 

the second two job categories.

Ranking Factors for Compensation

Respondents were asked to rate six different factors 

for determining annual compensation from 1 to 5, 

with 1 representing the most important factor (Table 

4). Job responsibilities were found to be the most 

important factor determining annual compensation 

for the chief executive, controller, and accountant. 

Figure 1—Distribution of Respondents by Type of Cooperative

1 	 Other includes cotton, livestock, nut, poultry, tobacco, wool, dry bean and pea, sugar, fish, other

marketing, service, artificial insemination, storage,

transportation, and rice drier cooperatives.

Figure 2—Distribution of Respondents by Total Business Volume
4 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Bonus or Commission

A bonus or commission is offered at least 

some of the time to 66 percent of the chief 

executives (Table 5). Most often for all 

job categories, a bonus is a percent of net 

income. Forty-six percent of respondents 

can offer bonuses to controllers, and 41 

percent can offer bonuses to accountants. 

The possibility for a bonus increases to 

49 percent of the respondents for office 

managers. Sales representatives or applicators are included in this job category, 

and commissions on sales or on acres applied is available to about 3 percent of the 

respondents.

The highest incidence of bonuses other 

than chief executives occurs for the last 

job category, bookkeepers, where 53 

percent of the respondents offer a bonus 

when funding is available. This category 

also has the highest incidence of no bonus offered, 

at 19 percent.

Benefits/Perks 

Benefits/perks refers to retirement benefits, health/

life/disability insurance, educational assistance, and 

long-term care insurance in this study. Respondents 

were asked whether (a) the cooperative paid for the 

benefit/perk, (b) the expense was shared between 

Performance was the most important factor in determining annual compensation for office managers 

and bookkeepers. 

Matching competitor salaries was found to be the 

lowest ranking factor for determining annual compensation in 1999 and is the lowest for the first two 

job categories in 2011. It is ranked fifth for office 

managers by 0.09 points and fifth for bookkeepers 

by 0.32 points.

Figure 3—Distribution of Respondents by Number of Full-Time 

Employees

Table 2—Number of full-time cooperative employees and highest education attained for each of the job categories

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager	 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

All respondents 

Full-time employees	 524	 1,104	 3,015	 4,700	 10,582

 Percent of respondents

Education	

High school	 15.36	 13.62	 16.35	 25.13	 61.11

Some college	 11.90	 17.97	 43.40	 44.10	 31.84

College	 65.45	 62.90	 38.36	 30.26	 7.05

Masters	 7.29	 5.51	 1.89	 0.51	

 

No. of respondents	 521	 345	 318	 390	 468

 
Research Report 228 5

Table 3—Average annual compensation for each of the job categories

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars

All respondents 

Average	 105,576	 70,347	 54,263	 45,397	 33,679

Median	 90,000	 62,000	 50,000	 44,841	 33,218

 

Maximum	 511,000	 324,405	 160,000	 105,415	 85,000

Minimum	 12,000	 3,500	 19,000	 4,000	 300

 

No. of respondents	 474	 315	 292	 361	 433

 

1The overall high and low average salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table from 553 to 551.

Table 4— Ranking of factors that determine annual compensation for each of the job categories with 1 as the 

highest rank or most important and 5 as the lowest rank or least important

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager	 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

 Ranking

All respondents 

Experience	 2.03	 2.06	 2.09	 2.16	 2.32

No. of respondents	 451	 308	 286	 353	 405	 	

Job responsibilities	 1.86	 1.87	 1.92	 1.97	 2.10

No. of respondents	 449	 308	 287	 348	 404	 	

Performance	 1.93	 2.00	 1.97	 1.96	 2.06

No. of respondents	 447	 303	 281	 343	 397

Decision-making

capabilities	 2.06	 2.26	 2.38	 2.50	 2.82

No. of respondents	 442	 303	 277	 338	 391

Education	 3.17	 3.14	 3.41	 3.31	 3.60

No. of respondents	 427	 296	 272	 330	 377

Matching competitor

salaries	 3.26	 3.15	 3.15	 3.22	 3.28

No. of respondents	 413	 281	 256	 317	 364

Other factors written

in by respondents Number of Respondents

Board/budget	 8	 1	 1	 2	 3

Management evaluation/

compensation surveys	 6	 5	 6	 7	 7

Collective bargaining

agreement	 2	 1	 1	 2	 2

Net income/sales	 2	 1	 0	 1	 0

No raises in 4 years	 1	 1	 1	 1	 1

Seniority	 1	 0	 1	 1	 1
6 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Table 5— How bonus or commission is determined for each of the job categories

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager	 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Percent of respondents

All respondents 

Percent of net income	 36.10 33.79 34.87 28.34 29.17

No bonus offered	 12.83 13.10 13.79 13.38 18.61

Percent of local savings	 11.88 11.38 11.11 9.24 9.72

Performance	 4.75 5.17 4.60 4.46 3.89

Profit sharing	 4.51 5.86 6.13 5.41 5.56

Yes1 4.04 4.14 3.83 3.82 3.61

Board of director’s

discretion	 3.80 0.69 0.77 0.32 1.11

Per bale	 3.56 0.69 1.15 1.27 1.94

Percent of annual salary	 2.85 4.83 5.36 4.46 6.67

Co-op’s performance	 2.61 3.45 2.68 2.87 1.94

Percent of sales	 2.61 2.07 3.07 5.10 2.78

Cash bonus	 1.90 2.07 1.53 3.50 3.06

Return-invested capital	 1.90 2.07 1.15 1.27 0.56

Other	 1.66 4.48 3.07 3.82 5.00

Management contract	 1.43 1.72 0.38 0.32 0.56

Christmas bonus	 1.43 1.38 0.38 0.32 1.39

Job performance	 0.95 1.03 0.38 1.27 0.28

Volume	 0.71 - 0.38 0.64 1.94

General manager’s

discretion	 0.48 1.03 2.68 4.14 0.56

Percent of division

local net savings	 - 1.03 0.77 - -

Percent of branch

local net savings	 - - 1.53 0.32 0.83

Commission on sales	 - - 0.38 2.87 0.83

Acres applied	 - - - 2.87 -

Total	 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Percent of respondents

offering bonus or

commission	 66.37 45.57 40.69 49.19 52.98

No. of respondents	 421 290 261 314 360

1 Bonus or commission offered, but the response was Yes instead of how the bonus or commission was determined.

the cooperative and the employee, or (c) the employee paid (Table 6).

Retirement benefits were most often a shared 

expense between the cooperative and employees. 

CEOs shared retirement expenses with the cooperative by 77 percent of the respondents. For the 

other four job categories, retirement benefits were 

shared with employees for around 80 percent of 

the cooperatives. Compared with the 1999 study, it 

appears that there has been an increase in sharing 

the expense of retirement. Retirement benefits were 

shared about two-thirds of the time across job categories in 1999, while sharing between the cooperative and employees was almost 80 percent in 2011.

Health insurance was most often a shared expense, but less so than retirement. The expense 

was paid for by cooperatives at least 23 percent of 

the time, and almost a third of the time coopera-
Research Report 228

7

Table 6—How benefits or perks are paid for each of the job categories

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager	 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Percent of respondents

All respondentsBenefit/perk Paid byRetirement	

Cooperative	 18.01	 15.43	 15.53	 16.67	 17.50Shared	 76.81	 81.90	 82.61	 80.38	 78.86Employee	 5.18	 2.67	 1.86	 2.96	 3.64

N=	 483	 337	 322	 372	 440

Health insurance	

Cooperative	 32.67	 25.00	 22.63	 26.39	 28.04Shared	 64.34	 74.14	 76.76	 72.56	 69.98Employee	 2.99	 0.86	 0.61	 1.06	 1.99

N=	 502	 348	 327	 379	 453

Life insurance	

Cooperative	 65.43	 64.35	 63.26	 65.17	 65.79Shared	 22.98	 24.77	 26.84	 25.84	 25.12Employee	 11.60	 10.88	 9.90	 8.99	 9.09N=	 457	 331	 313	 356	 418

Disability insurance/workmen’s compensation	

Cooperative	 82.11	 82.53	 81.59	 83.20	 83.41Shared	 9.68	 10.54	 10.79	 10.19	 9.58Employee	 8.21	 6.93	 7.62	 6.61	 7.01

N=	 475	 332	 315	 363	 428

Educational assistance	

Cooperative	 55.02	 56.28	 54.22	 55.51	 54.18Shared	 21.04	 24.68	 25.78	 26.12	 23.64Employee	 23.95	 19.05	 20.00	 18.37	 22.18N=	 309	 231	 225	 245	 275

Long-term care insurance	

Cooperative	 28.14	 31.43	 27.16	 28.88	 26.70Shared	 13.85	 15.43	 14.81	 16.58	 15.05Employee	 58.01	 53.14	 58.02	 54.55	 58.25N=	 231	 175	 162	 187	 206

N= Number of respondents
8 Cooperative Employee Compensation Table 7— Benefits/perks offered for each of the job categories Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/ Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/ Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/ General Manager	 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver Percent of respondents All respondents Paid vacation/holidays	 Yes	 96.96 99.15 99.08 98.47 98.31 No	 3.04 0.85 0.92 1.53 1.69 N=	 527 353 326 393 472 Paid sick leave	 Yes	 88.12 90.06 90.12 89.00 89.29 No	 11.88 9.94 9.88 11.00 10.71 =	 522 352 324 391 467 Use of cooperative car 	 Yes	 59.42 35.26 40.19 34.46 13.82 or truck	 No	 40.58 64.74 59.81 65.54 86.18 N=	 515 346 321 383 456 Expense account	 Yes	 42.83 29.53 25.87 23.82 9.87 No	 57.17 70.47 74.13 76.18 90.13 N=	 509 342 317 382 456 Paid training	 Yes	 77.00 83.43 85.35 79.95 72.19 No	 23.00 16.57 14.65 20.05 27.81 N=	 500 338 314 379 453 Mileage in private car	 Yes	 63.40 70.18 69.72 65.96 59.29 No	 36.60 29.82 30.28 34.04 40.71 N=	 500 342 317 379 452 Flexible work hours	 Yes	 47.79 41.67 31.39 34.76 28.48 No	 52.21 58.33 68.61 65.24 71.52 N=	 498 336 309 374 446 Work away from main 	 Yes	 20.00 15.71 11.07 13.35 5.02 office (telework)	 No	 80.00 84.29 88.93 86.65 94.98 N=	 490 331 307 367 438 N= Number of respondents
Research Report 228 9

tives paid for CEOs’ health insurance. In 1999, the 

cooperative paid for this expense between 41 and 50 

percent of the time across job categories, about 20 

points higher than in 2011.

Life insurance is paid by the cooperative for almost all of the job categories about two-thirds of the 

time. Across job categories, only about 10 percent 

of the time is the cost of life insurance shouldered 

exclusively by employees. The payment of this 

benefit is very similar to the prior study, with the 

cooperative paying about two-thirds of the time and 

the employee paying a little under 10 percent of the 

time in 1999.

Disability insurance/workmen’s compensation 

should not have been combined as a benefit/perk. 

Disability insurance is a benefit, but workmen’s 

compensation is generally required and as such 

should be considered as a cost of doing business. 

Since the survey question incorrectly paired disability insurance and workmen’s compensation, no 

further analysis of responses can be made.

Educational assistance was paid by the cooperative at least 54 percent of the time over all job 

categories. There was just over a 2-point range in 

this response by cooperatives, from 54 percent to 

56 percent paid over all job categories. Educational 

assistance was paid by the cooperative about twothirds of the time in 1999, about 10 points higher 

than this study found.

Long-term care insurance is a relatively new benefit, so there is no comparison to the 1999 survey. 

The cooperative pays for this benefit between 27 

Table 8—Retirement/pension plans offered

	 	 	 	 	 	 Defined benefit	 	 Defined contribution or IRA-based plans	

	 	 Cooperative	 Cooperative

	 	 contribution contribution

	 	 on salary	 on salary

Retirement/pension plans	 Number	 Percent	 Number	 Percent

All respondents 

Defined benefit plans	 	 	 	 	

	 Cooperative contributions	 58	 8.09	

 

Defined benefit and defined contribution or IRA-based plans	 	 	 	

Cooperative only contributions 47	 5.38	 47	 2.83

Cooperative and employee contributions	 85	 8.70	 85	 3.27

 

Defined contribution or IRA-based plans	 	

Cooperative only contributions 5	 5.88

Cooperative and employee contributions	 	 242	 4.65

percent and 31 percent of the time across job categories. Over half the time the employee pays for 

this benefit.

Other benefits or perks were also included in the 

survey, and they included paid vacation/holidays, 

paid sick leave, use of cooperative car or truck, expense account, paid training, mileage in private car, 

flexible work hours, and work away from main office (telework). The cooperatives were asked if they 

offered these benefits or perks. Flexible work hours 

and telework questions were new to this study.

Almost all of the cooperatives offered paid 

vacation/holidays in both 2011 and 1999 (Table 7). 

Around 90 percent of the cooperatives offered paid 

sick leave across all job categories in 2011, a couple 

of points lower than offered in 1999. Several cooperatives responding to this study stated that they 

offered personal time off in lieu of paid sick leave. 

Use of car or truck was offered by cooperatives 

59 percent of the time to CEOs, exactly the same 

response as in 1999. The other job categories were 

offered this benefit 40 percent or less of the time.

An expense account was offered by cooperatives 

to CEOs by about 43 percent of the respondents. 

Other job categories were offered an expense account by less than 30 percent of the cooperatives.

Paid training was offered to CEOs by 77 percent 

of the respondents in 2011 and 78 percent of the 

cooperatives in 1999. The other job categories were 

offered paid training by at least 72 percent of the 

respondents.

Private car mileage compensation was offered to 
10 Cooperative Employee Compensation

CEOs by 63 percent of the cooperatives, 10 points 

lower than in 1999. The other job categories were 

offered mileage in a private car by 59 percent to 70 

percent of the respondents, similar to the 1999 findings. 

About half of the cooperatives offered flexible 

work hours to CEOs. In other job categories, 42 

percent of the cooperatives offered flexible work 

hours for controllers, with a low of 28 percent offering them to bookkeepers. Telework was not offered 

by many cooperatives: between 80 percent and 95 

percent of the cooperatives did not offer telework 

across job categories.

Retirement/Pension Plans

Some form of retirement/pension plan was offered 

by 79 percent of the respondents to the survey. A 

defined benefit plan in which the cooperative alone 

contributed to the plan was offered by 58 cooperatives (Table 8). The average contribution on employee salaries was a little over 8 percent by these 

Table 9— Performance measures used for determining annual salaries, by job categories

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager	 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Percent of respondents

All respondents 

Board Of Directors

Evaluation	 50.43	 5.00	 2.26	 1.55	 3.51

Net Income	 25.79	 23.75	 19.00	 14.73	 17.89

Annual Review By

General Manager	 0.00	 30.42	 23.08	 17.44	 15.79

Annual Review By

Department Manager	 0.00	 1.25	 12.22	 13.18	 13.33

Annual Review By

Branch Manager	 0.00	 0.00	 0.00	 1.55	 2.11

Sales	 8.31	 9.58	 9.50	 16.67	 6.32

Local Savings	 4.87	 4.58	 3.62	 3.49	 3.16

Department Net Income	 0.00	 3.75	 3.17	 0.39	 2.11

Per Bale	 1.15	 0.00	 0.00	 0.39	 0.35

Return On Invested

Capital	 2.29	 1.67	 0.90	 0.00	 0.00

Accurate Work	 1.72	 9.17	 14.03	 20.54	 22.81

Other	 5.44	 10.83	 12.22	 10.08	 12.63

Total	 100.00	 100.00	 100.00	 100.00	 100.00

 

N=		 349	 240	 221	 258	 285	

N=: Number of respondents

cooperatives.

There were also combinations of defined benefit and defined contribution plans provided by 47 

cooperatives in which the cooperative funded the 

plans. Another 85 cooperatives had combinations 

of defined benefit and defined contribution plans in 

which the cooperative and employees both contributed to the plans.

Defined contribution or IRA-based plans were offered by 247 cooperatives. Five cooperatives funded 

these plans alone, while 242 contributed almost 5 

percent of employee salaries alongside employee 

contributions.

Performance Measures

Respondents were asked what performance measures were used in determining annual salaries. 

This was an open-ended question when respondents 

provided their own examples, but the responses 

were combined into 12 broad areas in Table 9. For 

CEOs, performance was determined by evaluation 
Research Report 228 11

by the board of directors in over 50 percent of the 

responses. Net income (profit) was the next highest 

performance determinant at 26 percent.

For the other job categories, net income and an 

annual review by the CEO were important performance measures. For office managers and bookkeepers, accurate work was the highest ranked 

performance measure.

Director Compensation and Board Size

The board of directors receives compensation from 

85 percent of the respondent cooperatives (Table 

10). The average board size is eight people, while 

the median or middle board size is seven. Average 

board compensation is almost $16,000, or $2,000 

for each director. Median compensation is about 

$4,600, or about $650 per director. Dividing yearly 

median director compensation by 12 meetings per 

year (one a month), means directors receive about 

$55 a meeting if they are compensated on a per 

meeting basis.

Respondents indicated at least six forms of director compensation, with paid travel and per diem 

expenses provided by at least 50 percent of the 

cooperatives. About one-third of the cooperatives 

paid directors on the basis of meetings attended. 

Meals were provided by about 30 percent of the 

respondents, while liability insurance was given by 

22 percent of the cooperatives.

Table 10—Board of director’s size and types of director compensation

 

All respondents Number 

Director compensation

Yes	 464	

No		 82	

 

Average board size	 8	

Average board compensation	 $15,962	

Median board compensation	 $4,574	

 

Types of compensation	

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 253	 54.53

Liability insurance	 103	 22.20

Per diem	 232	 50.00

Dinners	 146	 31.47

Per meeting	 169	 36.42

Other	 19	 4.09	

Salary and Benefit Changes

The last survey question asked 

if there had been salary and 

benefit changes over the last 

5 years. Seventy respondents 

gave information on salary and 

benefit changes, and this information was in three general 

themes that could be attributed 

to health insurance, pay, and 

retirement (Table 11).

About half of the health 

insurance responses could be 

summarized as “health insurance costs have been passed on 

to employees,” “a cap added 

on what the cooperative will 

pay for health insurance,” and 

“a Health Savings Account added for employees.”

About a third of the comments in the pay area 

were that the only changes to pay had been cost of 

living adjustments (COLAs). Also receiving comments were salaries had been lowered to equal 

salaries offered by competitors.

About 40 percent of the retirement comments 

were “existing defined benefit plan no longer offered to new employees, new employees receive a 

defined contribution 401K.”

SURVEY RESULTS BY SIZE, EMPLOYEES, 

TYPE, AND LOCATION

Many of the survey results have similar responses 

across cooperative sizes, types, number of employees, or location, but much of this additional information is available on our data Web page (www.

rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_Coop_DirectoryAndData.

html) in the dataset, “employee compensation.” 

Salary information and director compensation will 

be discussed further in this section by different sizes 

and types and cooperative location, with additional 

data presented in Appendix Tables 1 through 8.

Annual Salary by Cooperative Size

Average annual salaries for CEOs by cooperative 

size, employees, type, and location are presented in 

Tables 12 and 13, with additional information on 

other job categories available in Appendix Tables 
12 Cooperative Employee Compensation

1-4. Average, median, maximum, and minimum 

salary information is given along with the number 

of respondents. As expected, larger cooperatives, 

whether by sales or number of employees, have 

higher salaries. There are a few outliers though. 

Maximum salaries for the sales size $5 million to 

≤ $10 million were $186,780, and for the size of 

less than $5 million that were $205,000. Both of 

those maximum salaries go against the tendency of 

smaller cooperatives offering lower salaries (Table 

Table 11—Comments1 on changes to health insurance, pay, and retirement over last 5 years

Number		 	 	 	 Comments	 	 	 	

Health insurance

	 30	 	 Health insurance increased costs have been passed on to employees/added cap on what co-op will pay/added 		

	 Health Savings Account (HSA)

	 17	 	 Health insurance costs up/benefits shrinking/provider changed/started wellness program/started HSA

	 8	 	 Health insurance coverage improved/still entirely paid for by cooperative

	 5	 	 Added dental coverage, paid entirely by Cooperative

	 5	 	 Added short-term or long-term or both disability plans

	 2	 	 Health insurance costs up, raised cooperative’s share of health care insurance costs

	 1	 	 Health insurance added in 2011

	 1	 	 Health insurance plan dropped

	 1	 	 Health insurance cost to cooperative has fallen

	 70	

Pay

	 36	 	 Colas are only pay increases given

	 22	 	 Salaries lowered to equal salaries offered by competitors

	 14	 	 Pay cuts due to hard times/losses forced pay freeze/no pay increases

	 7	 	 Leave changed from a vacation/sick leave policy to personal time off (PTO)

	 7	 	 Bonus package implemented/bonus package linked to performance review

	 2	 	 Developed an official employee handbook

	 2	 	 Reduced overtime pay/comp time

	 90	

Retirement

	 11	 	 Existing defined benefit retirement plan no longer offered to new employees, new employees receive a defined 	 	

	 contribution retirement plan

	 4	 	 401K now requires a higher employee contribution to get Cooperative match

	 2	 	 Added a defined contribution 401K

	 2	 	 Added safe harbor 401K

	 2	 	 Changed from a defined contribution 401K to a profit share 401K retirement plan

	 2	 	 Cooperative no longer contributes match to 401K due to rising expenses

	 1	 	 Added Roth IRA to 401K plan

	 1	 	 Changed 401K management company

	 1	 	 Suspension of profit sharing/401K contributions due to losses

	 1	 	 Retirement plan dropped

	 27	 	 	 	 	 	

1 There were 70 comments in total. The comments were categorized into three general areas: health insurance, pay,

and retirement. Some of the comments fit into more than one category, hence 187 comments were derived from

the 70 original comments.

12). 

The median salary of $242,000 for cooperatives 

with $200 million to ≤ $500 million in sales is also 

unexpected, as the average salary of $234,045 is 

smaller than the median. Appendix Table 1 has salaries for additional job categories.

Annual Salary by Number of Employees

Annual salary for the CEO shows little unexpected 

variation across cooperative sizes (Table 12). 
Research Report 228 13

Table 12— Annual salary for the Chief Executive Officer/President/General Manager for different sizes, and types 

of cooperatives

 

	 	 Average	 Median	 Maximum	 Minimum	

	 	 salary 1	 salary	 salary	 salary	 Respondents

Dollars Number

Sales of: 

More than $500 million	 288,444	 210,000	 511,000	 175,000	 9

$200 million to ≤ $500 million	 234,045	 242,000	 400,000	 100,000	 25

$100 million to ≤ $200	 167,541	 160,000	 312,918	 30,000	 33

$50 million to ≤ $100 million	 137,729	 130,000	 250,000	 75,000	 55

$25 million to ≤ $50 million	 100,266	 100,000	 210,000	 40,000	 93

$15 million to ≤ $25 million	 89,603	 85,000	 154,200	 40,000	 70

$10 million to ≤ $15 million 79,179	 75,000	 147,000	 38,000	 42

$5 million to ≤ $10 million	 70,944	 66,600	 186,780	 39,150	 63

Less than $5 million	 59,021	 52,000	 205,000	 10,000	 83

 

Employees of: 

More than 200 325,783	 267,000	 511,000	 160,000	 20

100 to ≤ 200	 173,199	 168,000	 300,000	 95,000	 29

50 to ≤ 100 155,754	 140,000	 390,000	 80,000	 48

25 to ≤ 50 113,093	 104,625	 300,000	 30,000	 88

10 to ≤ 25 87,982	 80,250	 210,000	 31,200	 138

5 to ≤ 10 70,105	 65,000	 175,000	 30,000	 91

Less than 5	 57,066	 46,500	 154,200	 10,000	 60

 

Types: 

Fruit and vegetable	 113,569	 100,000	 250,000	 10,000	 25

Dairy 95,545	 75,344	 195,000	 30,000	 17

Cotton ginning	 81,063	 79,580	 150,000	 41,000	 25

 

Grain and oilseed with sales of: 

$200 million to ≤ $500 million	 228,728	 244,450	 400,000	 100,000	 19

$100 million to ≤ $200 million	 171,872	 160,000	 300,000	 102,000	 27

$50 million to ≤ $100 million	 121,629	 120,000	 170,000	 75,000	 33

$25 million to ≤ $50 million	 95,750	 100,000	 155,000	 40,000	 57

$15 million to ≤ $25 million	 79,897	 81,000	 110,000	 54,000	 27

$10 million to ≤ $15 million 68,300	 70,000	 90,000	 38,000	 20

$5 million to ≤ $10 million	 56,693	 52,000	 92,400	 40,000	 15

Less than $5 million	 48,100	 35,000	 130,000	 12,000	 10

 

Supply with sales of: 

$50 million to ≤ $100 million	 155,750	 142,000	 240,000	 100,000	 12

$25 million to ≤ $50 million	 105,429	 100,000	 200,000	 70,000	 28

$15 million to ≤ $25 million	 96,154	 90,000	 150,000	 62,000	 31

$10 million to ≤ $15 million 81,893	 76,500	 125,000	 50,000	 14

$5 million to ≤ $10 million	 69,439	 67,500	 140,000	 39,150	 33

Less than $5 million	 49,198	 47,750	 100,000	 18,000	 38

1 	 The overall high and low average salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table from 553 to

551.

Generally, average and median salaries decline in 

cooperatives as the number of employees declines. 

The maximum salary of $390,000 for cooperatives 

with 50 to ≤ 100 employees is greater than the next 

higher cooperative employee size. The 10 to ≤ 25 

employee group has a minimum salary of $31,200 

which is a little larger than that for the next higher 

cooperative employee size. Appendix Table 2 has 

salaries for other job categories by employee numbers.

Annual Salary by Cooperative Type

Information on five types of cooperatives is also 

available in Table 12. Dairy cooperatives were 

some of the larger respondents by sales size, with 

one-third having sales of $100 million or more. 

By employee numbers, 17 percent of dairy respondents had more than 200 employees. Salaries are 

lower for dairy cooperatives in table 12 because 30 

percent of the dairy respondents had less than $5 

million in sales, and smaller cooperatives generally 
14 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Annual Salary by State(s) 

Location or State salary information is presented 

in Table 13. Most State information was combined 

due to the lack of respondents, but there was a sufficient number of respondents in seven States to 

allow that information to be presented alone. From 

an article in USDA’s November/December 2012 

Rural Cooperatives magazine, Iowa, Minnesota, and 

Nebraska each had at least 14 of the top 100 agricultural cooperatives. Having larger cooperatives in 

these States does not mean that they all responded 

to this study, but Iowa and Nebraska have the highest maximum reported CEO salaries. It also appears 

that there were larger respondents from the West 

Coast and Midwest. Appendix Table 4 has additional salary information by State(s).

Board of Directors by Cooperative Size

Information on cooperative boards by cooperative 

size and type is presented in Table 14 and Appendix 

Tables 5-7. Larger cooperatives have larger boards; 

this could be due to having operations over a broadhave smaller average salaries. 

Fruit and vegetable cooperatives had 31 percent 

of their respondents with sales between $25 million 

and $100 million, while 42 percent had sales of less 

than $5 million. About 39 percent of the fruit and 

vegetable respondents had less than five employees.

Ninety-six percent of the cotton-ginning cooperatives had less than $25 million in sales. All of the 

cotton-ginning respondents had less than 25 employees.

As stated in an earlier section, the vast majority of respondents were grain and oilseed or supply 

cooperatives, so their salary information can be further split by sales size in Table 12. Again, there is a 

fairly orderly drop in salaries as the cooperative size 

decreases, except in some unexpected maximum 

and minimum salaries. By type, there were more 

larger grain and oilseed respondents than supply 

respondents and more larger cooperatives of both of 

these types than the other three listed in this table. 

Appendix Table 3 has more salary information by 

cooperative type.

Table 13— Annual salary for the Chief Executive Officer/President/General Manager for cooperatives in different 

States

 

	 	 Average	 Median	 Maximum	 Minimum	

	 	 salary 1	 salary	 salary	 salary	 Respondents

Dollars Number

States: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida,

Louisiana, Mississippi	 98,739	 73,000	 312,918	 35,000	 22

Arizona, California, Hawaii	 131,052	 117,000	 250,000	 69,225	 23

Colorado, Idaho, Montana,

Utah, Wyoming	 79,787	 85,000	 150,000	 26,000	 24

Connecticut, Massachusetts,

Maine, New Hampshire,

New Jersey, New York,

Maryland, Pennsylvania 72,835	 65,000	 175,000	 10,000	 17

Iowa	 136,307	 106,000	 511,000	 24,000	 35

 

Illinois, Indiana	 121,866	 100,000	 385,000	 39,150	 43

Kansas	 113,887	 106,000	 250,000	 52,000	 33

Kentucky, North Carolina,

Tennessee, Virginia,

West Virginia 88,224	 82,500	 155,000	 45,000	 16

Michigan, Minnesota	 109,810	 80,000	 390,000	 18,000	 55

Missouri	 65,606	 61,200	 100,000	 27,000	 18

 

North Dakota	 99,495	 90,000	 375,300	 28,000	 37

Nebraska	 142,622	 107,500	 450,000	 40,000	 18

Ohio	 102,333	 82,000	 235,000	 15,300	 15

Oklahoma	 90,146	 78,500	 130,000	 60,000	 12

Oregon, Washington	 114,961	 107,500	 225,000	 44,451	 22

1 	 The overall high and low average salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table from 553 to

551.
Research Report 228 15

er market area, and it could be due to prior business combinations (mergers and acquisitions) with 

other cooperatives that expanded board size. Board 

compensation is a yearly total, and can be on a per 

meeting basis or from other types of compensation, 

such as paid travel, per diem, meals, liability insurance, and other forms of remuneration. The number 

of respondents in Table 14 refers to the number of 

cooperatives that compensate their boards, since a 

number of cooperatives provide no remuneration; 

the number of respondents listed is generally lower 

than the number of cooperatives that provided information on board size.

The largest board size is 16 people, in cooperatives with sales of more than $500 million. Board 

size falls to seven as sales decrease, then increases 

to eight for cooperatives with sales of $10 million to 

≤ $15 before decreasing to six for cooperatives with 

$5 million to ≤ $10 million in sales. The smallest 

cooperatives with less than $5 million in sales, have 

an average board size of seven. 

 With the exception of an average board compenTable 14— Board of director’s size and compensation by size and type of cooperative

 

	 	 Average	 Average	 Median

	 	 board	 board	 board	

	 	 size	 compensation 	 compensation	 Respondents 

Number Dollars Number

Sales of: More than $500 million	 16	 202,805	 86,588	 14

$200 million to ≤ $500 million	 11	 54,021	 32,500	 32

$100 million to ≤ $200	 9	 22,562	 22,900	 35

$50 million to ≤ $100 million	 9	 14,066	 10,482	 63

$25 million to ≤ $50 million	 7	 7,319	 5,929	 89

$15 million to ≤ $25 million	 7	 5,577	 4,125	 74

$10 million to ≤ $15 million 8	 6,164	 3,360	 42

$5 million to ≤ $10 million	 6	 3,271	 2,700	 57

Less than $5 million	 7	 2,745	 990	 58

Employees of:	

More than 200 13	 142,941	 76,370	 25

100 to ≤ 200	 10	 38,103	 21,600	 35

50 to ≤ 100 9	 14,066	 10,482	 53

25 to ≤ 50 8	 12,058	 9,000	 94

10 to ≤ 25 7	 5,019	 4,000	 135

5 to ≤ 10 7	 4,085	 2,100	 75

Less than 5	 7	 1,834	 980	 47

Types:	

Fruit and vegetable	 9	 10,317	 5,400	 19

Dairy 9	 25,978	 3,000	 21

Cotton ginning	 6	 2,525	 1,050	 18

 

Grain and oilseed with sales of:	

$200 million to ≤ $500 million	 10	 31,627	 28,000	 25

$100 million to ≤ $200	 9	 22,224	 23,000	 30

$50 million to ≤ $100 million	 8	 11,374	 10,801	 37

$25 million to ≤ $50 million	 7	 6,086	 5,450	 55

$15 million to ≤ $25 million	 6	 4,358	 3,600	 30

$10 million to ≤ $15 million 7	 3,061	 2,000	 17

$5 million to ≤ $10 million	 7	 2,523	 1,862	 14

Less than $5 million	 6	 2,234	 1,300	 7

 

Supply with sales of:	

$50 million to ≤ $100 million	 9	 14,345	 10,482	 16

$25 million to ≤ $50 million	 7	 9,065	 6,800	 26

$15 million to ≤ $25 million	 7	 7,226	 5,300	 33

$10 million to ≤ $15 million 8	 9,160	 4,750	 16

$5 million to ≤ $10 million	 6	 3,464	 2,952	 30

Less than $5 million	 7	 2,073	 1,575	 35
16 Cooperative Employee Compensation

sation of $6,164 for cooperatives with sales of $10 

million to ≤ $15 million, both average and median 

board compensation declines as cooperative sales 

decrease. Appendix Table 5 has additional information on board compensation by cooperative size.

Board of Directors by Number of Employees

Board of director size and compensation by number 

of cooperative employees is presented in Table 14 

and Appendix Table 6. Cooperatives with more than 

200 employees have an average board size of 13, 

and the number of board members steadily declines 

to cooperatives with less than 5 employees, which 

have 7 on their boards. Average and median board 

compensation also is the highest for cooperatives 

with over 200 employees, and steadily declines as 

cooperatives have fewer employees.

Board of Directors by Cooperative Size

Fruit and vegetable and especially dairy respondent 

cooperatives appear to be larger in size compared to 

cotton ginning cooperatives when looking at average board size and compensation (Table 14 and 

Appendix Table 7).

Larger grain and oilseed cooperatives have larger 

boards and higher compensation for their boards 

than smaller such cooperatives. This also holds true 

for supply cooperatives: their board compensation 

falls from an average of $14,345 for the largest 

cooperatives to $2,073 for the smallest, with the exception of $10 million to ≤ $15 million respondents 

that have compensation of $9,160.

Board of Directors by State(s)

Board size and compensation by State(s) is presented in Table 15 and Appendix Table 8. Overall average board size is eight people with a median size 

of seven, so the three State groupings of Kentucky, 

North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West 

Virginia; Michigan and Minnesota; and Oregon and 

Washington, are all average with an average board 

size of eight.

Board compensation is highest in the State grouping of Michigan and Minnesota, where several of 

the largest cooperatives are headquartered. Median 

board compensation, at $540, is by far the lowest 

for the State grouping of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New 

Table 15— Board of director’s size and compensation by State(s)

 

	 	 Average	 Average	 Median

	 	 board	 board	 board	

	 	 size	 compensation 	 compensation	 Respondents

Number Dollars Number

States: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida,

Louisiana, Mississippi	 11	 9,619	 3,200	 16

Arizona, California, Hawaii	 9	 13,108	 5,500	 17

Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah,

Wyoming	 7	 7,508	 3,900	 24

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine,

New Hampshire, New Jersey,

New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania 	 9	 3,462	 540	 12

Iowa	 9	 17,470	 8,800	 39

 

Illinois, Indiana	 9	 23,836	 5,275	 45

Kansas	 7	 13,151	 8,400	 35

Kentucky, North Carolina,

Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia 	 8	 27,959	 2,060	 14

Michigan, Minnesota	 8	 37,245	 4,000	 57

Missouri	 7	 6,996	 3,360	 20

 

North Dakota	 6	 8,199	 3,000	 40

Nebraska	 9	 18,031	 5,360	 20

Ohio	 9	 16,787	 7,860	 15

Oklahoma	 6	 3,529	 1,800	 10

Oregon, Washington	 8	 10,550	 8,000	 23
Research Report 228 17

York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. There were 

only 12 respondents in this grouping that includes 8 

States, but if board compensation is considered on a 

per meeting basis, those board members would only 

receive $5 per meeting ($540/9 members/12 meetings per year). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ali, Sarah, Jacqueline E. Penn, and E. Eldon Eversull, Cooperative Statistics, 2011, U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Rural Development, Service Report 

72, October 2012

.

Rotan, Beverly L., Cooperative Employee Compensation, 1999, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Rural Business-Cooperative Service, RBS Research 

Report 189, October 2001. 
18 Cooperative Employee Compensation

APPENDIX TABLES

Appendix Table 1—Annual salary by cooperative size for each of the job categories

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars 

Cooperatives with more than $500 million in sales	

Average	 366,600	 139,700	 66,679	 57,373	 39,630

Median	 255,000	 109,500	 70,000	 51,000	 35,660

 

Maximum	 511,000	 324,405	 85,673	 85,000	 85,000

Minimum	 175,000	 90,000	 42,800	 44,500	 26,000

 

N=		 10	 12	 11	 12	 12

 

Cooperatives with more than $200 million to ≤ $500 million in sales 

Average	 234,045	 115,298	 70,591	 58,912	 37,334

Median	 242,000	 112,500	 64,200	 55,000	 37,000

 

Maximum	 400,000	 228,000	 160,000	 105,415	 60,000

Minimum	 100,000	 50,000	 46,683	 40,000	 25,000

 

N=		 25	 26	 26	 25	 25

 

Cooperatives with more than $100 million to ≤ $200 million in sales 

Average	 167,541	 83,420	 59,700	 51,080	 36,627

Median	 160,000	 80,000	 57,850	 49,400	 38,000

 

Maximum	 312,918	 135,000	 125,000	 100,000	 54,000

Minimum	 30,000	 55,200	 40,000	 30,000	 4,100

 

N=		 33	 29	 32	 29	 33

 

Cooperatives with more than $50 million to ≤ $100 million in sales 

Average	 137,729	 81,747	 57,110	 49,855	 35,346

Median	 130,000	 77,000	 55,000	 48,000	 35,000

 

Maximum	 250,000	 175,000	 100,000	 100,000	 49,660

Minimum	 75,000	 45,000	 31,000	 32,500	 25,000

 

N=		 55	 50	 52	 49	 49

1 	 The overall high and low average CEO salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table from

553 to 551.

N=: Number of respondents.
Research Report 228 19

Appendix Table 1—Annual salary by cooperative size for each of the job categories (continued)

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars 

Cooperatives with more than $25 million to ≤ $50 million in sales 

Average	 100,266	 62,079	 52,527	 45,751	 36,056

Median	 100,000	 60,000	 50,000	 43,000	 35,000

 

Maximum	 210,000	 105,000	 100,000	 90,000	 60,000

Minimum	 40,000	 3,500	 26,000	 26,000	 15,000

 

N=		 93	 66	 68	 84	 88

 

Cooperatives with more than $15 million to ≤ $25 million in sales 

Average	 89,603	 56,088	 48,651	 44,227	 33,862

Median	 85,000	 50,000	 45,000	 44,500	 33,000

 

Maximum	 154,200	 129,800	 115,000	 73,000	 55,000

Minimum	 40,000	 30,000	 29,000	 25,000	 18,000

 

N=		 70	 50	 43	 54	 68

 

Cooperatives with more than $10 million to ≤ $15 million in sales 

Average	 79,179	 54,820	 46,754	 42,782	 33,890

Median	 75,000	 50,000	 45,000	 39,000	 33,000

 

Maximum	 147,000	 111,028	 80,000	 90,000	 55,000

Minimum	 38,000	 30,000	 20,000	 20,000	 13,000

 

N=		 42	 25	 20	 26	 39

 

Cooperatives with more than $5 million to ≤ $10 million in sales 

Average	 70,944	 45,504	 47,059	 35,627	 29,549

Median	 66,600	 43,150	 45,000	 35,500	 30,000

 

Maximum	 186,780	 87,972	 90,000	 62,000	 52,000

Minimum	 39,150	 23,000	 19,000	 14,203	 15,433

 

N=		 63	 32	 27	 42	 57

 

Cooperatives with less than $5 million in sales 

Average	 59,021	 50,013	 40,488	 36,570	 28,255

Median	 52,000	 45,000	 38,000	 34,300	 27,484

 

Maximum	 205,000	 110,000	 65,000	 65,000	 56,193

Minimum	 10,000	 20,000	 25,000	 4,000	 300

 

N=		 83	 25	 13	 40	 62	

1 	 The overall high and low average CEO salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table from

553 to 551.

N=: Number of respondents.
20 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 2—Average annual salary by number of full-time employees for each of the job categories

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars 

Cooperatives with more than 200 employees 

Average	 325,783	 132,491	 67,183	 60,422	 36,388

Median	 267,000	 113,000	 61,700	 53,500	 34,660

 

Maximum	 511,000	 324,405	 110,000	 105,415	 60,000

Minimum	 160,000	 85,000	 42,800	 40,000	 26,000

 

N=		 20	 22	 22	 22	 22

 

Cooperatives with more than 100 employees to ≤ 200 employees 

Average	 173,199	 94,249	 60,893	 54,152	 34,645

Median	 168,000	 84,160	 58,500	 50,000	 33,500

 

Maximum	 300,000	 175,000	 160,000	 100,000	 45,000

Minimum	 95,000	 50,000	 33,000	 30,000	 23,190

 

N=		 29	 26	 29	 25	 26

 

Cooperatives with more than 50 employees to ≤ 100 employees 

Average	 155,754	 86,648	 60,047	 48,506	 32,115

Median	 140,000	 80,000	 57,000	 49,200	 33,500

 

Maximum	 390,000	 228,000	 115,000	 80,000	 45,000

Minimum	 80,000	 45,000	 30,000	 30,000	 4,100

 

N=		 48	 45	 47	 46	 46

 

Cooperatives with more than 25 employees to ≤ 50 employees 

Average	 113,093	 67,270	 53,586	 46,118	 34,632

Median	 104,625	 65,000	 50,698	 45,000	 34,000

 

Maximum	 300,000	 125,000	 125,000	 100,000	 85,000

Minimum	 30,000	 28,000	 19,000	 17,000	 19,000

 

N=		 88	 77	 78	 82	 85	

1 	 The overall high and low average CEO salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table from

553 to 551.

N=: Number of respondents.
Research Report 228 21

Appendix Table 2—Average annual salary by number of full-time employees for each of the job categories (cont.)

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars 

Cooperatives with more than 10 employees to ≤ 25 employees 

Average	 87,982	 54,851	 49,295	 43,493	 34,648

Median	 80,250	 53,400	 50,000	 42,160	 34,000

 

Maximum	 210,000	 111,028	 85,000	 90,000	 60,000

Minimum	 31,200	 3,500	 26,000	 14,203	 15,000

 

N=		 138	 97	 89	 114	 133

 

Cooperatives with more than 5 employees to ≤ 10 employees 

Average	 70,105	 51,294	 46,697	 41,101	 33,811

Median	 65,000	 50,000	 45,000	 40,000	 32,000

 

Maximum	 175,000	 110,000	 75,000	 90,000	 56,193

Minimum	 30,000	 20,000	 30,000	 18,000	 20,000

 

N=		 91	 35	 24	 51	 81

 

Cooperatives with less than 5 employees 

Average	 57,066	 46,083	 30,333	 30,378	 27,845

Median	 46,500	 35,000	 31,000	 30,000	 28,520

 

Maximum	 154,200	 129,800	 35,000	 62,000	 55,000

Minimum	 10,000	 23,000	 25,000	 4,000	 300

 

N=		 60	 13	 3	 21	 40	

1 	 The overall high and low average CEO salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table from

553 to 551.

N=: Number of respondents.
22 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 3— Annual salary by cooperative type for each of the job categories

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars 

Fruit & Vegetable Cooperatives 

Average	 113,569	 81,047	 53,568	 52,626	 32,121

Median	 100,000	 72,000	 48,600	 49,500	 28,000

 

Maximum	 250,000	 175,000	 80,000	 100,000	 55,000

Minimum	 10,000	 52,000	 33,000	 30,000	 23,190

 

N=		 25	 15	 12	 16	 14

 

Dairy Cooperatives 

Average	 95,545	 107,167	 63,155	 43,895	 33,529

Median	 75,344	 104,000	 58,000	 45,000	 33,229

 

Maximum	 195,000	 165,000	 110,000	 90,000	 60,000

Minimum	 30,000	 55,000	 42,392	 21,000	 20,000

 

N=		 17	 6	 9	 16	 16

 

Cotton Ginning Cooperatives 

Average	 81,063	 50,500	 54,019	 51,963	 37,193

Median	 79,580	 50,000	 51,000	 47,500	 35,083

 

Maximum	 150,000	 60,000	 75,000	 80,000	 55,000

Minimum	 41,000	 40,000	 45,000	 30,000	 12,500

 

N=		 25	 6	 8	 14	 24

Grain, oilseed and supply cooperatives with $200 to ≤ $500 million in sales 

Average	 228,728	 105,954	 66,403	 56,425	 36,439

Median	 244,450	 99,500	 61,000	 55,000	 37,360

 

Maximum	 400,000	 177,766	 160,000	 105,415	 45,000

Minimum	 100,000	 50,000	 46,683	 40,000	 25,000

 

N=		 19	 20	 20	 19	 19

1 	 The overall high and low average CEO salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table from

553 to 551.

N=: Number of respondents.
Research Report 228 23

Appendix Table 3— Annual salary by cooperative type for each of the job categories (continued)

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars 

Grain, oilseed and supply cooperatives with $100 to ≤ $200 million in sales

Average	 171,872	 82,841	 59,913	 50,105	 37,495

Median	 160,000	 80,000	 57,200	 49,200	 39,185

 

Maximum	 300,000	 135,000	 125,000	 100,000	 54,000

Minimum	 102,000	 62,000	 40,000	 30,000	 4,100

 

N=		 27	 25	 27	 24	 27

 

Grain, oilseed and supply cooperatives with $50 to ≤ $100 million in sales

Average	 121,629	 73,576	 56,082	 47,228	 36,097

Median	 120,000	 68,000	 55,000	 45,537	 35,000

 

Maximum	 170,000	 125,000	 83,000	 80,000	 48,000

Minimum	 75,000	 45,000	 40,000	 32,500	 26,000

 

N=		 33	 31	 33	 32	 33

 

Grain, oilseed and supply cooperatives with $25 to ≤ $50 million in sales

Average	 95,750	 60,889	 52,962	 46,806	 36,627

Median	 100,000	 60,000	 50,000	 42,963	 35,000

 

Maximum	 155,000	 100,000	 100,000	 90,000	 60,000

Minimum	 40,000	 3,500	 26,000	 28,000	 15,000

 

N=		 57	 40	 41	 50	 57	

Grain, oilseed and supply cooperatives with $15 to ≤ $25 million in sales

Average	 79,897	 47,740	 42,365	 40,155	 33,232

Median	 81,000	 48,000	 42,000	 38,000	 32,000

 

Maximum	 110,000	 80,000	 50,000	 59,500	 44,000

Minimum	 54,000	 30,000	 35,000	 25,000	 23,440

 

N=		 27	 18	 13	 18	 25

1 	 The overall high and low average CEO salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table from

553 to 551.

N=: Number of respondents. (continued next page)
24 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 3— Annual salary by cooperative type for each of the job categories (continued)

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars 

Grain, oilseed and supply cooperatives with $10 to ≤ $15 million in sales

Average	 68,300	 48,031	 40,571	 41,923	 33,379

Median	 70,000	 49,000	 40,000	 38,000	 32,968

 

Maximum	 90,000	 67,000	 58,000	 90,000	 55,000

Minimum	 38,000	 30,000	 27,000	 20,000	 20,000

 

N=		 20	 13	 7	 13	 18

 

Grain, oilseed and supply cooperatives with $5 to ≤ $10 million in sales

Average	 56,693	 48,171	 42,635	 33,335	 28,424

Median	 52,000	 42,000	 39,500	 31,680	 28,000

 

Maximum	 92,400	 79,200	 58,080	 48,000	 35,000

Minimum	 40,000	 34,000	 31,000	 24,000	 20,000

 

N=		 15	 7	 8	 11	 15

 

Grain, oilseed and supply cooperatives with <$5 million in sales

Average	 48,100	 49,667	 46,333	 25,200	 22,633

Median	 35,000	 36,000	 41,000	 30,000	 22,000

 

Maximum	 130,000	 80,000	 60,000	 32,000	 30,000

Minimum	 12,000	 33,000	 38,000	 4,000	 17,000

 

N=		 10	 3	 3	 5	 9

Supply cooperatives with $50 to ≤ $100 million in sales

Average	 155,750	 92,333	 57,082	 50,050	 34,060

Median	 142,000	 89,000	 50,000	 50,000	 32,000

 

Maximum	 240,000	 150,000	 100,000	 75,000	 49,660

Minimum	 100,000	 55,000	 31,000	 35,000	 25,000

 

N=		 12	 12	 11	 10	 11

1 	 The overall high and low average CEO salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table from

553 to 551.

N=: Number of respondents.
Research Report 228 25

Appendix Table 3— Annual salary by cooperative type for each of the job categories (continued)

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars 

Supply cooperatives with $25 to ≤ $50 million in sales

Average	 105,429	 62,421	 52,230	 42,999	 35,574

Median	 100,000	 61,711	 50,000	 43,000	 35,000

 

Maximum	 200,000	 100,000	 72,000	 55,000	 53,000

Minimum	 70,000	 34,000	 30,000	 26,000	 21,000

 

N=		 28	 20	 23	 27	 27

 

Supply cooperatives with $15 to ≤ $25 million in sales

Average	 96,154	 59,290	 51,471	 43,915	 33,674

Median	 90,000	 55,000	 50,000	 44,500	 33,500

 

Maximum	 150,000	 125,000	 115,000	 66,000	 48,000

Minimum	 62,000	 38,000	 29,000	 25,000	 18,000

 

N=		 31	 25	 26	 28	 32

 

Supply cooperatives with $10 to ≤ $15 million in sales

Average	 81,893	 54,896	 43,144	 43,232	 32,010

Median	 76,500	 57,500	 45,000	 38,000	 30,000

 

Maximum	 125,000	 74,000	 55,000	 79,000	 47,500

Minimum	 50,000	 35,000	 20,000	 25,000	 20,000

 

N=		 14	 9	 10	 10	 14

Supply cooperatives with $5 to ≤ $10 million in sales

Average	 69,439	 42,332	 45,489	 34,390	 27,772

Median	 67,500	 40,000	 42,951	 33,000	 29,250

 

Maximum	 140,000	 64,000	 90,000	 62,000	 39,580

Minimum	 39,150	 23,000	 19,000	 14,203	 15,433

 

N=		 33	 21	 13	 21	 28

1 	 The overall high and low average CEO salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table from

553 to 551.

N=: Number of respondents. (continued next page)
26 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 3— Annual salary by cooperative type for each of the job categories (continued)

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars 

Supply cooperatives with <$5 million in sales

Average	 49,198	 41,795	 33,070	 36,179	 27,976

Median	 47,750	 40,000	 35,000	 34,300	 26,902

 

Maximum	 100,000	 58,000	 39,350	 62,000	 45,000

Minimum	 18,000	 20,000	 25,000	 18,000	 17,750

 

N=		 38	 13	 5	 14	 32	

1 	 The overall high and low average CEO salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table from

553 to 551.

N=: Number of respondents.
Research Report 228 27

Appendix Table 4— Annual salary by State(s) for each of the job categories

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars 

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, 

Louisiana, Mississippi cooperatives 

Average	 98,739	 57,319	 50,785	 43,672	 28,793

Median	 73,000	 51,176	 45,000	 42,750	 25,500

 

Maximum	 312,918	 90,000	 90,000	 82,860	 55,000

Minimum	 35,000	 20,000	 37,000	 14,203	 15,433

 

N=		 22	 13	 9	 12	 16

 

Arizona, California, Hawaii cooperatives	 	

Average	 131,052	 96,488	 61,043	 61,390	 35,737

Median	 117,000	 84,986	 60,000	 54,509	 31,900

 

Maximum	 250,000	 228,000	 104,500	 100,000	 50,000

Minimum	 69,225	 45,000	 30,000	 26,000	 23,190

 

N=		 23	 16	 13	 18	 16

 

Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah,

Wyoming cooperatives 

Average	 79,787	 55,175	 46,977	 44,867	 27,774

Median	 85,000	 50,000	 50,000	 40,000	 30,000

 

Maximum	 150,000	 94,000	 75,000	 80,000	 40,000

Minimum	 26,000	 23,000	 30,000	 20,000	 300

 

N=		 24	 16	 13	 15	 23

 

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine,New Hampshire, 

New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania cooperatives 

Average	 72,835	 60,333	 51,500	 37,704	 31,459

Median	 65,000	 52,500	 45,500	 38,000	 30,000

 

Maximum	 175,000	 100,000	 80,000	 68,200	 45,000

Minimum	 10,000	 34,000	 35,000	 12,000	 22,000

 

N=		 17	 6	 4	 15	 13

Iowa cooperatives 

Average	 136,307	 80,897	 59,753	 48,357	 36,901

Median	 106,000	 71,500	 60,000	 48,000	 35,000

 

Maximum	 511,000	 190,000	 85,000	 70,000	 54,000

Minimum	 24,000	 30,000	 30,000	 32,500	 28,000

 

N=		 35	 31	 30	 31	 34 1 	 The overall high and low average CEO salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table

	 from 553 to 551.

N=: Number of respondents. (continued next page)
28 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 4— Annual salary by State(s) for each of the job categories (continued)

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars 

Illinois, Indiana cooperatives 

Average	 121,866	 80,392	 63,988	 49,142	 37,840

Median	 100,000	 75,000	 58,000	 50,000	 40,000

 

Maximum	 385,000	 150,000	 160,000	 80,000	 55,000

Minimum	 39,150	 40,000	 26,000	 30,000	 25,000

 

N=		 43	 31	 24	 29	 37

 

Kansas cooperatives 

Average	 113,887	 65,835	 51,964	 41,593	 31,763

Median	 106,000	 65,000	 50,000	 40,000	 32,000

 

Maximum	 250,000	 110,887	 75,000	 65,000	 60,000

Minimum	 52,000	 35,000	 33,644	 20,000	 4,100

 

N=		 33	 30	 30	 30	 33

 

Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee,

Virginia, West Virginia cooperatives 

Average	 88,224	 52,556	 52,053	 40,939	 26,523

Median	 82,500	 49,000	 50,000	 41,165	 25,500

 

Maximum	 155,000	 97,000	 90,000	 62,000	 35,000

Minimum	 45,000	 33,613	 30,000	 9,000	 2,000

 

N=		 16	 11	 13	 16	 15

 

Michigan, Minnesota cooperatives 

Average	 126,956	 78,942	 55,306	 47,636	 35,051

Median	 81,500	 64,000	 50,000	 45,000	 36,000

 

Maximum	 390,000	 324,405	 125,000	 105,415	 60,000

Minimum	 18,000	 28,000	 19,000	 17,000	 17,000

 

N=		 56	 39	 38	 43	 56

Missouri cooperatives 

Average	 65,606	 44,988	 45,444	 36,500	 30,100

Median	 61,200	 42,000	 45,000	 40,000	 30,000

 

Maximum	 100,000	 80,000	 75,000	 50,000	 42,000

Minimum	 27,000	 30,000	 20,000	 25,000	 17,700

 

N=		 18	 11	 9	 13	 17

1 	 The overall high and low average CEO salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table

	 from 553 to 551.

N=: Number of respondents.
Research Report 228 29

Appendix Table 4— Annual salary by State(s) for each of the job categories (continued)

 

Accountant/	 Office Manager/	 Bookkeeper/

Chief Executive 	 Controller/	 Branch Manager/	 Sales Representative/	 CounterSales/

Officer/President	 Assistant Manager/	 Supervisor/	 Applicator/	 Warehouse/

General Manager1 Division Manager	 Consultant	 Field Representative	 Delivery Driver

Dollars 

North Dakota cooperatives 

Average	 99,495	 57,429	 52,247	 42,117	 34,465

Median	 90,000	 55,000	 55,000	 40,000	 34,000

 

Maximum	 375,300	 115,000	 65,980	 81,640	 53,621

Minimum	 28,000	 25,000	 35,000	 25,000	 18,000

 

N=		 37	 21	 17	 25	 33

 

Nebraska cooperatives 

Average	 142,622	 74,034	 47,888	 47,696	 36,419

Median	 107,500	 74,000	 44,608	 44,921	 32,000

 

Maximum	 450,000	 160,000	 73,000	 85,000	 85,000

Minimum	 40,000	 37,709	 36,000	 30,000	 25,000

 

N=		 18	 15	 16	 16	 18

 

Ohio cooperatives 

Average	 102,333	 66,955	 57,273	 43,114	 33,737

Median	 82,000	 65,000	 55,000	 40,500	 34,660

 

Maximum	 235,000	 125,000	 115,000	 62,000	 40,000

Minimum	 15,300	 3,500	 40,000	 28,600	 20,000

 

N=		 15	 11	 11	 14	 14

Oklahoma cooperatives 

Average	 90,146	 56,709	 50,260	 48,324	 31,076

Median	 78,500	 58,000	 50,000	 44,500	 30,250

 

Maximum	 130,000	 91,496	 67,500	 80,000	 45,000

Minimum	 60,000	 32,000	 39,000	 34,617	 25,000

 

N=		 12	 7	 9	 10	 12

 

Oregon, Washington cooperatives 

Average	 114,961	 75,252	 55,917	 44,326	 32,740

Median	 107,500	 70,000	 57,250	 44,000	 30,000

 

Maximum	 225,000	 110,000	 72,000	 66,000	 55,000

Minimum	 44,451	 45,000	 33,000	 24,000	 18,000

 

N=		 22	 15	 12	 18	 18

1 	 The overall high and low average CEO salaries were deleted, so this lowered the number of responses in this table

	 from 553 to 551.

N=: Number of respondents.
30 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 5— Board of director’s size and director compensation by cooperative size

 

Cooperatives with more than $500 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 14	

No		 2	

 

Average board size	 16	

Average board compensation	 $202,805	

Median board compensation	 $85,775	

 

Types of compensationn

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 11	 78.57

Liability insurance	 3	 21.43

Per diem	 10	 71.43

Dinners	 8	 57.14

Per meeting	 5	 35.71

Other	 1	 7.14

Cooperatives with more than $200 million to ≤ $500 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 32	

No		 1	

 

Average board size	 11	

Average board compensation	 $54,021	

Median board compensation	 $30,000

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 23	 71.88

Liability insurance	 9	 28.13

Per diem	 19	 59.38

Dinners	 18	 56.25

Per meeting	 9	 28.13

Other	 5	 15.63

Cooperatives with more than $100 million to ≤ $200 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 35	

No		 1	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $22,562	

Median board compensation	 $22,800

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 25	 71.43

Liability insurance	 12	 34.29

Per diem	 25	 71.43

Dinners	 13	 37.14

Per meeting	 10	 28.57

Other	 2	 5.71
Research Report 228 31

Appendix Table 5— Board of director’s size and director compensation by cooperative size (continued)

 

Cooperatives with more than $50 million to ≤ $100 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 63	

No		 6	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $14,066	

Median board compensation	 $10,250	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 35	 55.56

Liability insurance	 14	 22.22

Per diem	 35	 55.56

Dinners	 22	 34.92

Per meeting	 19	 30.16

Other	 2	 3.17

Cooperatives with more than $25 million to ≤ $50 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 89	

No		 8	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $7,319	

Median board compensation	 $5,857	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 55	 61.80

Liability insurance	 18	 20.22

Per diem	 43	 48.31

Dinners	 28	 31.46

Per meeting	 33	 37.08

Other	 4	 4.49

Cooperatives with more than $15 million to ≤ $25 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 74	

No		 8	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $5,577	

Median board compensation	 $4,050

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 37	 50.00

Liability insurance	 17	 22.97

Per diem	 38	 51.35

Dinners	 19	 25.68

Per meeting	 33	 44.59

Other	 1	 1.35

(continued next page)
32 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 5— Board of director’s size and director compensation by cooperative size (continued)

 

Cooperatives with more than $10 million to ≤ $15 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 42	

No		 3	

 

Average board size	 8	

Average board compensation	 $6,164	

Median board compensation	 $3,158

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 20	 47.62

Liability insurance	 16	 38.10

Per diem	 21	 50.00

Dinners	 14	 33.33

Per meeting	 13	 30.95

Other	 2	 4.76

Cooperatives with more than $5 million to ≤ $10 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 57	

No		 10	

 

Average board size	 6	

Average board compensation	 $3,271	

Median board compensation	 $2,488	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 30	 52.63

Liability insurance	 11	 19.30

Per diem	 23	 40.35

Dinners	 12	 21.05

Per meeting	 24	 42.11

Other	 0	 0.00

Cooperatives with less than $5 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 58	

No		 43	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $2,745	

Median board compensation	 $980

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 17	 29.31

Liability insurance	 3	 5.17

Per diem	 18	 31.03

Dinners	 12	 20.69

Per meeting	 23	 39.66

Other	 2	 3.45
Research Report 228 33

Appendix Table 6— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by number of full-time employees

 

Cooperatives with more than 200 employees

Director compensation Number

Yes	 25	

No		 2	

 

Average board size	 13	

Average board compensation	 $142,941	

Median board compensation	 $75,600	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 19	 76.00

Liability insurance	 8	 32.00

Per diem	 17	 68.00

Dinners	 17	 68.00

Per meeting	 10	 40.00

Other	 1	 4.00

Cooperatives with more than 100 employees to ≤ 200 employees

Director compensation Number

Yes	 35	

No		 1	

 

Average board size	 10	

Average board compensation	 $38,103	

Median board compensation	 $20,800	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 22	 62.86

Liability insurance	 9	 25.71

Per diem	 19	 54.29

Dinners	 12	 34.29

Per meeting	 13	 37.14

Other	 2	 5.71

Cooperatives with more than 50 employees to ≤ 100 employees

Director compensation Number

Yes	 53	

No		 4	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $14,066	

Median board compensation	 $10,250	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 41	 77.36

Liability insurance	 15	 28.30

Per diem	 30	 56.60

Dinners	 19	 35.85

Per meeting	 17	 32.08

Other	 6	 11.32

(continued next page)
34 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 6— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by number of full-time employees (cont.)

 

Cooperatives with more than 25 employees to ≤ 50 employees

Director compensation Number

Yes	 94	

No		 4	

 

Average board size	 8	

Average board compensation	 $12,058	

Median board compensation	 $8,800	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 59	 62.77

Liability insurance	 19	 20.21

Per diem	 51	 54.26

Dinners	 31	 32.98

Per meeting	 30	 31.91

Other	 5	 5.32

 

Cooperatives with more than 10 employees to ≤ 25 employees

Director compensation Number

Yes	 135	

No		 21	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $5,019	

Median board compensation	 $4,000

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 67	 49.63

Liability insurance	 31	 22.96

Per diem	 64	 47.41

Dinners	 35	 25.93

Per meeting	 55	 40.74

Other	 4	 2.96

 

Cooperatives with more than 5 employees to ≤ 10 employees

Director compensation Number

Yes	 75	

No		 19	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $4,085	

Median board compensation	 $2,070	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 32	 42.67

Liability insurance	 14	 18.67

Per diem	 30	 40.00

Dinners	 21	 28.00

Per meeting	 27	 36.00

Other	 0	 0.00
Research Report 228 35

Appendix Table 6— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by number of full-time employees (cont.)

 

Cooperatives with less than 5 employees 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 47	

No		 31	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $1,834	

Median board compensation	 $940

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 13	 27.66

Liability insurance	 7	 14.89

Per diem	 21	 44.68

Dinners	 11	 23.40

Per meeting	 17	 36.17

Other	 1	 2.13

 
36 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 7— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by cooperative type 

Fruit & vegetable cooperatives

Director compensation Number

Yes	 19	

No		 10	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $10,317	

Median board compensation	 $5,400	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 7	 36.84	

Liability insurance	 0	 0.00	

Per diem	 5	 26.32	

Dinners	 4	 21.05	

Per meeting	 10	 52.63	

Other	 1	 5.26	

 

Dairy cooperatives 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 21	

No		 3	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $25,978	

Median board compensation	 $3,000	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 10	 47.62	

Liability insurance	 4	 19.05	

Per diem	 15	 71.43	

Dinners	 6	 28.57	

Per meeting	 5	 23.81	

Other	 1	 4.76	

 

Cotton ginning cooperatives 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 18	

No		 10	

 

Average board size	 6	

Average board compensation	 $2,525	

Median board compensation	 $1,050	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 6	 33.33	

Liability insurance	 5	 27.78	

Per diem	 1	 5.56	

Dinners	 4	 22.22	

Per meeting	 8	 44.44	

Other	 0	 0.00	
Research Report 228 37

Appendix Table 7— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by cooperative type (continued) 

 

Grain, oilseed, and supply cooperatives with $200 to ≤ $500 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 25	

No		 1	

 

Average board size	 10	

Average board compensation	 $31,627	

Median board compensation	 $28,000	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 17	 68.00

Liability insurance	 7	 28.00

Per diem	 15	 60.00

Dinners	 13	 52.00

Per meeting	 6	 24.00

Other	 5	 20.00

 

Grain, oilseed, and supply cooperatives with $100 to ≤ $200 million in sales 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 30	

No		 0	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $22,224	

Median board compensation	 $23,000	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 22	 73.33

Liability insurance	 9	 30.00

Per diem	 22	 73.33

Dinners	 11	 36.67

Per meeting	 8	 26.67

Other	 2	 6.67

 

Grain, oilseed, and supply cooperatives with $50 to ≤ $100 million in sales 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 37	

No		 2	

 

Average board size	 8	

Average board compensation	 $11,374	

Median board compensation	 $10,801	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 22	 59.46

Liability insurance	 10	 27.03

Per diem	 24	 64.86

Dinners	 17	 45.95

Per meeting	 8	 21.62

Other	 2	 5.41

(continued next page)
38 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 7— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by cooperative type 

Grain, oilseed, and supply with $25 to ≤ $50 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 55	

No		 3	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $6,086	

Median board compensation	 $5,450	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 29	 52.73

Liability insurance	 11	 20.00

Per diem	 27	 49.09

Dinners	 17	 30.91

Per meeting	 20	 36.36

Other	 2	 3.64

 

Grain, oilseed, and supply cooperatives with $15 to ≤ $25 million in sales 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 30	

No		 1	

 

Average board size	 6	

Average board compensation	 $4,358	

Median board compensation	 $3,600	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 12	 40.00

Liability insurance	 7	 23.33

Per diem	 17	 56.67

Dinners	 6	 20.00

Per meeting	 14	 46.67

Other	 0	 0.00

 

Grain, oilseed, and supply cooperatives with $10 to ≤ $15 million in sales 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 17	

No		 3	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $3,061	

Median board compensation	 $2,000	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 5	 29.41

Liability insurance	 7	 41.18

Per diem	 6	 35.29

Dinners	 6	 35.29

Per meeting	 7	 41.18

Other	 0	 0.00
Research Report 228 39

Appendix Table 7— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by cooperative type (continued) 

 

Grain, oilseed, and supply cooperatives with $5 to ≤ $10 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 14	

No		 2	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $2,523	

Median board compensation	 $1,862	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 5	 35.71

Liability insurance	 0	 0.00

Per diem	 6	 42.86

Dinners	 3	 21.43

Per meeting	 7	 50.00

Other	 0	 0.00

 

Grain, oilseed, and supply cooperatives with <$5 million in sales 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 7	

No		 4	

 

Average board size	 6	

Average board compensation	 $2,234	

Median board compensation	 $1,300	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 3	 42.86

Liability insurance	 0	 0.00

Per diem	 2	 28.57

Dinners	 1	 14.29

Per meeting	 4	 57.14

Other	 1	 14.29

(continued next page)
40 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 7— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by cooperative type (continued) 

 

Supply cooperatives with $50 to ≤ $100 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 16	

No		 0	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $14,345	

Median board compensation	 $10,482	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 9	 56.25

Liability insurance	 4	 25.00

Per diem	 7	 43.75

Dinners	 2	 12.50

Per meeting	 6	 37.50

Other	 0	 0.00

 

Supply cooperatives with $25 to ≤ $50 million in sales 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 26	

No		 4	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $9,065	

Median board compensation	 $6,800	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 21	 80.77

Liability insurance	 5	 19.23

Per diem	 14	 53.85

Dinners	 9	 34.62

Per meeting	 8	 30.77

Other	 2	 7.69

 

Supply cooperatives with $15 to ≤ $25 million in sales 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 33	

No		 5	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $7,226	

Median board compensation	 $5,300	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 20	 60.61

Liability insurance	 8	 24.24

Per diem	 17	 51.52

Dinners	 10	 30.30

Per meeting	 14	 42.42

Other	 1	 3.03
Research Report 228 41

Appendix Table 7— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by cooperative type (continued) 

 

Supply cooperatives with $10 to ≤ $15 million in sales

Director compensation Number

Yes	 16	

No		 0	

 

Average board size	 8	

Average board compensation	 $9,160	

Median board compensation	 $4,750	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 11	 68.75

Liability insurance	 7	 43.75

Per diem	 10	 62.50

Dinners	 4	 25.00

Per meeting	 4	 25.00

Other	 2	 12.50

 

Supply cooperatives with $5 to ≤ $10 million in sales 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 30	

No		 5	

 

Average board size	 6	

Average board compensation	 $3,464	

Median board compensation	 $2,952	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 18	 60.00

Liability insurance	 6	 20.00

Per diem	 15	 50.00

Dinners	 7	 23.33

Per meeting	 12	 40.00

Other	 0	 0.00

 

Supply cooperatives with <$5 million in sales 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 35	

No		 9	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $2,073	

Median board compensation	 $1,575	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 7	 20.00

Liability insurance	 2	 5.71

Per diem	 11	 31.43

Dinners	 7	 20.00

Per meeting	 14	 40.00

Other	 0	 0.00
42 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 8— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by State(s) 

 

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, 

Louisiana, Mississippi cooperatives 

Director compensation Number 

Yes	 16	

No		 11	

 

Average board size	 11	

Average board compensation	 $9,619	

Median board compensation	 $3,200	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 8	 50.00

Liability insurance	 1	 6.25

Per diem	 5	 31.25

Dinners	 3	 18.75

Per meeting	 6	 37.50

Other	 0	 0.00

 

Arizona, California, Hawaii cooperatives 

Director compensation Number 

Yes	17	

No	8	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $13,108	

Median board compensation	 $5,500	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 10	 58.82

Liability insurance	 1	 5.88

Per diem	 8	 47.06

Dinners	 6	 35.29

Per meeting	 5	 29.41

Other	 1	 5.88

 

Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah,

Wyoming cooperatives 

Director compensation Number 

Yes	24	

No	7	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $7,508	

Median board compensation	 $3,900	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 15	 62.50

Liability insurance	 7	 29.17

Per diem	 12	 50.00

Dinners	 9	 37.50

Per meeting	 6	 25.00

Other	 2	 8.33
Research Report 228 43

Appendix Table 8— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by State(s) (continued) 

 

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, 

New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania cooperatives 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 12	

No		 11	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $3,462	

Median board compensation	 $540	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 7	 58.33

Liability insurance	 1	 8.33

Per diem	 8	 66.67

Dinners	 4	 33.33

Per meeting	 4	 33.33

Other	 0	 0.00

 

Iowa cooperatives

Director compensation Number

Yes	 39	

No		 1	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $17,470	

Median board compensation	 $8,800	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 20	 51.28

Liability insurance	 6	 15.38

Per diem	 23	 58.97

Dinners	 18	 46.15

Per meeting	 15	 38.46

Other	 0	 0.00

 

Illinois, Indiana cooperatives

Director compensation Number

Yes	 45	

No		 5	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $23,836	

Median board compensation	 $5,275	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 24	 53.33

Liability insurance	 10	 22.22

Per diem	 36	 80.00

Dinners	 12	 26.67

Per meeting	 8	 17.78

Other	 0	 0.00

(continued next page)
44 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 8— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by State(s) (continued) 

Kansas cooperatives

Director compensation Number

Yes	 35	

No		 2	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $13,151	

Median board compensation	 $8,400	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 21	 60.00

Liability insurance	 14	 40.00

Per diem	 22	 62.86

Dinners	 15	 42.86

Per meeting	 13	 37.14

Other	 4	 11.43

 

Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee,

Virginia, West Virginia cooperatives 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 14	

No		 6	

 

Average board size	 8	

Average board compensation	 $27,959	

Median board compensation	 $2,060	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 8	 57.14

Liability insurance	 1	 7.14

Per diem	 6	 42.86

Dinners	 7	 50.00

Per meeting	 4	 28.57

Other	 0	 0.00

 

Michigan, Minnesota cooperatives 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 57	

No		 4	

 

Average board size	 8	

Average board compensation	 $37,245	

Median board compensation	 $4,000	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 28	 49.12

Liability insurance	 17	 29.82

Per diem	 26	 45.61

Dinners	 13	 22.81

Per meeting	 24	 42.11

Other	 4	 7.02
Research Report 228 45

Appendix Table 8— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by State(s) (continued) 

 

Missouri cooperatives

Director compensation Number

Yes	 20	

No		 2	

 

Average board size	 7	

Average board compensation	 $6,996	

Median board compensation	 $3,360	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 8	 40.00

Liability insurance	 4	 20.00

Per diem	 10	 50.00

Dinners	 6	 30.00

Per meeting	 7	 35.00

Other	 0	 0.00

 

North Dakota cooperatives 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 40	

No		 2	

 

Average board size	 6	

Average board compensation	 $8,199	

Median board compensation	 $3,000	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 25	 62.50

Liability insurance	 7	 17.50

Per diem	 13	 32.50

Dinners	 8	 20.00

Per meeting	 14	 35.00

Other	 1	 2.50

 

Nebraska cooperatives 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 20	

No		 0	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $18,031	

Median board compensation	 $5,360	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 11	 55.00

Liability insurance	 2	 10.00

Per diem	 12	 60.00

Dinners	 5	 25.00

Per meeting	 6	 30.00

Other	 0	 0.00

(continued next page)
46 Cooperative Employee Compensation

Appendix Table 8— Board of director’s size and director compensation, by State(s) (continued) 

Ohio cooperatives

Director compensation Number

Yes	 15	

No		 0	

 

Average board size	 9	

Average board compensation	 $16,787	

Median board compensation	 $7,860	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 7	 46.67

Liability insurance	 4	 26.67

Per diem	 4	 26.67

Dinners	 3	 20.00

Per meeting	 8	 53.33

Other	 0	 0.00

 

Oklahoma cooperatives 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 10	

No		 4	

 

Average board size	 6	

Average board compensation	 $3,529	

Median board compensation	 $1,800	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 3	 30.00

Liability insurance	 1	 10.00

Per diem	 5	 50.00

Dinners	 2	 20.00

Per meeting	 4	 40.00

Other	 1	 10.00

 

Oregon, Washington cooperatives 

Director compensation Number

Yes	 23	

No		 2	

 

Average board size	 8	

Average board compensation	 $10,550	

Median board compensation	 $8,000	

 

Types of compensation 

Number Percent of respondents

Paid travel	 16	 69.57

Liability insurance	 4	 17.39

Per diem	 5	 21.74

Dinners	 8	 34.78

Per meeting	 15	 65.22

Other	 1	 4.35
Research Report 228 47
48 Cooperative Employee Compensation