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Average Salaries of Full-Time Instructional Staff Members at 4-Year Public Institutions, by Gender, 2016-17

Almanac 2018
August 19, 2018

Women earned, on average, less than 90 percent of what men did in five of the eight Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education considered for this table. In all of those classifications, they made up more than 40 percent of the full-time instructional staff, and they came closest to equaling male representation at master’s colleges with medium-size programs. In terms of pay, they did best in comparison with men as full-time instructors at master’s institutions with medium or small programs.

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Women earned, on average, less than 90 percent of what men did in five of the eight Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education considered for this table. In all of those classifications, they made up more than 40 percent of the full-time instructional staff, and they came closest to equaling male representation at master’s colleges with medium-size programs. In terms of pay, they did best in comparison with men as full-time instructors at master’s institutions with medium or small programs.


Return to the Almanac home page, or go to the Profession, Students, Finance, or States section. To purchase a copy of the Almanac in print or as a downloadable interactive PDF, visit the Chronicle Store. Help guide us to give you the data you need by taking our 10-minute online Almanac survey.


Doctoral institutions

Highest research activity

Rank Number Percent
female
Salary,
all
Men’s
salary
Women’s
salary
Women’s salary
as a % of men’s
Professor 40,480 25.9% $137,991 $141,347 $128,390 90.8%
Associate professor 29,824 42.3% $93,711 $96,429 $90,026 93.4%
Assistant professor 27,259 47.1% $81,380 $85,217 $77,148 90.5%
Instructor 7,160 59.3% $53,053 $56,180 $50,941 90.7%
Lecturer 11,392 54.5% $59,793 $63,622 $56,590 88.9%
No academic rank 3,976 50.5% $57,447 $61,682 $53,186 86.2%
All instructional staff total 120,091 40.3% $98,806 $107,899 $85,444 79.2%

Higher research activity

Rank Number Percent
female
Salary,
all
Men’s
salary
Women’s
salary
Women’s salary
as a % of men’s
Professor 13,637 28.1% $110,888 $113,934 $103,129 90.5%
Associate professor 14,333 43.3% $83,586 $86,001 $80,454 93.6%
Assistant professor 12,751 49.8% $72,216 $75,598 $68,853 91.1%
Instructor 4,025 60.2% $51,523 $52,403 $50,950 97.2%
Lecturer 5,916 56.6% $53,434 $55,250 $52,037 94.2%
No academic rank 1,457 56.1% $56,565 $59,334 $54,357 91.6%
All instructional staff total 52,119 44.1% $81,374 $88,088 $72,905 82.8%

Moderate research activity

Rank Number Percent
female
Salary,
all
Men’s
salary
Women’s
salary
Women’s salary
as a % of men’s
Professor 5,179 33.7% $96,163 $98,285 $92,037 93.6%
Associate professor 5,176 47.6% $76,750 $77,841 $75,553 97.1%
Assistant professor 5,105 53.8% $66,108 $68,287 $64,251 94.1%
Instructor 1,521 59.1% $45,928 $46,083 $45,819 99.4%
Lecturer 2,810 56.0% $49,735 $50,603 $49,057 96.9%
No academic rank 387 57.6% $48,811 $49,259 $48,475 98.4%
All instructional staff total 20,178 47.8% $72,486 $76,911 $67,679 88.0%

•••

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Master’s institutions

Larger programs

Rank Number Percent
female
Salary,
all
Men’s
salary
Women’s
salary
Women’s salary
as a % of men’s
Professor 17,707 37.3% $94,454 $96,103 $91,687 95.4%
Associate professor 16,205 47.8% $75,953 $77,130 $74,671 96.8%
Assistant professor 16,542 53.6% $66,136 $67,406 $65,042 96.5%
Instructor 4,949 63.4% $47,906 $48,096 $47,796 99.4%
Lecturer 5,982 56.0% $52,771 $54,106 $51,731 95.6%
No academic rank 1,128 59.4% $50,133 $52,309 $48,634 93.0%
All instructional staff total 62,513 48.6% $73,736 $77,550 $69,709 89.9%

Medium programs

Rank Number Percent
female
Salary,
all
Men’s
salary
Women’s
salary
Women’s salary
as a % of men’s
Professor 3,901 36.6% $85,905 $87,170 $83,724 96.0%
Associate professor 3,735 47.3% $69,583 $70,753 $68,290 96.5%
Assistant professor 3,836 55.1% $60,389 $61,177 $59,750 97.7%
Instructor 1,102 62.3% $45,938 $45,369 $46,291 102.0%
Lecturer 1,260 61.3% $47,573 $48,315 $47,107 97.5%
No academic rank 408 57.4% $54,340 $56,113 $53,017 94.5%
All instructional staff total 14,242 49.1% $67,343 $70,716 $63,868 90.3%

Smaller programs

Rank Number Percent
female
Salary,
all
Men’s
salary
Women’s
salary
Women’s salary
as a % of men’s
Professor 1,684 37.2% $84,176 $85,021 $82,759 97.3%
Associate professor 1,866 42.5% $70,256 $71,284 $68,877 96.6%
Assistant professor 2,081 50.3% $61,048 $62,084 $60,038 96.7%
Instructor 545 60.4% $47,321 $46,795 $47,671 101.9%
Lecturer 700 48.7% $51,879 $53,413 $50,255 94.1%
No academic rank 38 42.1% $57,251 $61,982 $50,963 82.2%
All instructional staff total 6,914 45.6% $67,136 $69,442 $64,404 92.7%

•••

Baccalaureate institutions

Arts and sciences focus

Rank Number Percent
female
Salary,
all
Men’s
salary
Women’s
salary
Women’s salary
as a % of men’s
Professor 801 32.8% $93,239 $95,795 $87,907 91.8%
Associate professor 897 44.4% $74,521 $77,592 $70,537 90.9%
Assistant professor 896 46.2% $62,439 $64,474 $60,036 93.1%
Instructor 245 51.8% $52,260 $54,935 $49,649 90.4%
Lecturer 164 57.3% $51,986 $52,844 $51,354 97.2%
No academic rank 43 46.5% $48,547 $50,050 $46,911 93.7%
All instructional staff total 3,046 43.2% $72,611 $76,768 $67,009 87.3%

Diverse fields

Rank Number Percent
female
Salary,
all
Men’s
salary
Women’s
salary
Women’s salary
as a % of men’s
Professor 1,498 35.0% $83,481 $84,605 $81,374 96.2%
Associate professor 1,941 42.5% $69,388 $70,331 $68,112 96.8%
Assistant professor 2,596 51.0% $59,245 $61,136 $57,436 93.9%
Instructor 944 59.2% $49,328 $50,106 $48,795 97.4%
Lecturer 532 57.0% $55,539 $58,477 $53,346 91.2%
No academic rank 127 35.4% $47,555 $48,788 $45,083 92.4%
All instructional staff total 7,638 46.9% $64,918 $67,873 $61,561 90.7%

Note: Data cover full-time instructional staff members at degree-granting four-year public institutions in the United States that are eligible to participate in Title IV financial-aid programs. Summary data are given for average salaries within each relevant Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The salaries are adjusted to a standard nine-month work year, and averages are weighted. Medical-school instructional staff are excluded. Tribal colleges and special-focus institutions are also excluded from the above categories. More-detailed institutional and summary faculty-salary data can be viewed online at https://data.chronicle.com. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to the Almanac editor.

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Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data

A version of this article appeared in the August 24, 2018, issue.
Read other items in this The Profession: Almanac 2018 package.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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