The average age of newly appointed CEOs has increased sharply over the past few decades, according to an April 2026 research paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The cross-industry study used data from BoardEx, including 50,510 U.S. CEOs with available age data, alongside LinkedIn employment biographies. The paper does not break out findings by industry, including healthcare.
Six things to know:
1. Between 2000 and 2023, the average age of CEOs at U.S. companies at the time of their appointment rose to 55, up from 47 to 48.
2. The average age of sitting U.S. CEOs increased by more than 10 years to 61 over the same time period, approximately five times the aging of the college-educated U.S. labor force.
3. The trend is concentrated outside the largest listed firms. Smaller and unlisted companies account for most of the increase in CEO age at appointment, while the largest firms in the sample show a more muted rise.
4. Today’s CEOs accumulate roughly 10 more years of external experience before being appointed than their counterparts did in 2000, while internal experience at the appointing company has remained largely unchanged. Newer CEOs also tended to have held more positions, at more companies, across more industries — though for shorter stints than in the past.
5. The researchers ruled out several common explanations for the trend, including demographic shifts, longer educational paths, rising market concentration and CEO entrenchment. Shifts in the labor force age distribution accounted for only 1.9 years of the overall increase, and longer schooling added only about one year.
6. The authors attributed the trend to rising demand for generalist leadership skills as business environments have grown more uncertain and complex. Larger companies tend to develop generalists internally through diverse assignments, while smaller companies more often recruit externally, which helps explain why the aging trend is most pronounced among smaller firms, according to the paper.
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