Jim Flores, CEO of Sable Offshore, topped the Houston Chronicle’s ranking of the region’s highest-paid executives for 2025, with reported compensation of $76 million. The total included $69 million in stock awards, a $3.9 million bonus and a $1.3 million salary. Those compensation figures are not the same thing as cash received or wages subject to Social Security tax: the tax treatment depends on how and when compensation is paid and reported.
What the Houston ranking says about Flores’s compensation
The Houston Chronicle’s Sept. 28, 2026 ranking put Flores first for 2025, based on S&P Capital IQ data as of Sept. 21, 2026, with the final list verified by Chronicle reporters. Its reported categories were:
| Compensation category | Reported amount |
|---|---|
| Total compensation | $76 million |
| Stock awards | $69 million |
| Bonus | $3.9 million |
| Salary | $1.3 million |
These are figures from the Chronicle ranking, not a payroll record. Its methodology describes executive packages as potentially including salary, restricted stock awards, non-equity incentives, options and certain benefits. The ranking’s stock-award figure is a reported compensation value; it does not establish that Flores received that amount in cash or that it was all Social Security-taxable wages in 2025. Houston Chronicle ranking; Chronicle methodology.
Do bonuses and stock awards count as Social Security wages?
They can, but the general rule does not make every reported compensation amount taxable wages in the year it appears in a ranking. The Social Security Administration says wages include cash bonuses and the cash value of compensation paid in noncash form, unless a specific exclusion applies. In its words: “Wages include cash bonuses and commissions as well as vacation and severance pay.”
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Federal regulation defines wages as remuneration paid to an employee for employment. Salaries and bonuses count when they are remuneration for employment, and wages may be paid in cash or another form. A noncash payment may be counted at fair value when paid. By contrast, the SSA distinguishes employment wages from investment income and capital gains, which it says are not wages. Social Security Administration, “More Info: What Are Wages?”; 20 CFR § 404.1041, “Wages”.
Why a stock-award number does not settle the tax question
A compensation ranking and a Social Security wage record answer different questions. The ranking reports compensation across categories; the wage rules concern remuneration for employment and how it is paid and reported. The Chronicle’s ranking does not provide Flores’s award terms, vesting or settlement details, wage-reporting dates, or individual payroll records. The available information therefore does not establish how much, if any, of the $69 million stock-award figure was reported as Social Security wages in 2025.
Salary and bonus still depend on the employment and reporting rules
A salary or cash bonus paid as remuneration for employment generally fits the wage definition. But the $1.3 million salary and $3.9 million bonus in the ranking do not, by themselves, specify the amounts or timing recorded as OASDI wages. A ranking is not a substitute for an individual’s payroll reporting.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which Social Security wage base applies: 2025 or 2026?
The applicable contribution and benefit base is tied to the year of earnings. For 2025, the Social Security Administration lists a base of $176,100; for 2026, it is $184,500. The 2026 base should not be applied to Flores’s 2025 compensation figures.
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|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $176,100 | not stated by SSA in the cited base source |
| 2026 | $184,500 | 6.2% on wages paid in 2026 |
For wages paid in 2026, the employee OASDI tax rate is 6.2%, and the employer pays the same rate. The base limits earnings subject to OASDI taxation and the earnings amount used in a benefit computation. These annual figures explain the general limits; they do not determine Flores’s individual wage record or the treatment of a particular stock award. Social Security Administration, Office of the Chief Actuary, “Contribution and Benefit Base”.
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