Four public doctoral institutions and one public master’s institution paid their assistant professors an average adjusted nine-month salary of more than $100,000 a year in 2017-18. Salaries over $100,000 were more common at private nonprofit doctoral institutions, with all 20 of the highest-paying colleges in that category providing average salaries in the six figures. Among all public institutions that were ranked highest for their average salaries for assistant professors, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign employed the most professors at that rank, with each having more than 600. Of the highest-ranked private nonprofit institutions, Cornell University and Boston University employed the most assistant professors, with each having more than 300. See The Chronicle’s database of faculty salaries to see what faculty members of varying ranks are paid at other institutions.
Public institutions
Doctoral
| Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of assistant professors |
| 1. | U. of Texas at Dallas | $111,599 | 136 |
| 2. | U. of California at Berkeley | $107,639 | 263 |
| 3. | U. of California at Los Angeles | $103,811 | 314 |
| 4. | U. of Texas at Austin | $101,404 | 320 |
| 5. | U. of Washington | $99,898 | 360 |
| 6. | U. of California at San Diego | $97,232 | 251 |
| 7. | Rutgers U. at Newark | $96,581 | 165 |
| 8. | U. of California at Irvine | $96,111 | 177 |
| 9. | U. of California at Santa Cruz | $95,296 | 126 |
| 10. | U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | $94,388 | 263 |
| 11. | Georgia Institute of Technology | $94,081 | 166 |
| 12. | U. of Maryland at College Park | $93,998 | 326 |
| 13. | U. of Michigan at Ann Arbor | $93,799 | 634 |
| 14. | U. of California at Davis | $93,574 | 321 |
| 15. | U. of California at Santa Barbara | $92,939 | 163 |
| 16. | U. of Houston | $92,456 | 254 |
| 17. | U. of California at Merced | $92,426 | 108 |
| 18. | U. of Massachusetts at Lowell | $92,393 | 139 |
| 19. | U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | $92,354 | 601 |
| 20. | Colorado School of Mines | $91,377 | 61 |
| | Median for 212 institutions | $74,598 | 185 |
Master’s
| Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of assistant professors |
| 1. | City U. of New York Bernard M. Baruch College | $109,597 | 112 |
| 2. | U. of Washington at Bothell | $96,686 | 65 |
| 3. | Pennsylvania State U.-Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies | $96,257 | 14 |
| 4. | City U. of New York Hunter College | $87,226 | 87 |
| 5. | California State U. at Fullerton | $86,806 | 234 |
| 6. | City U. of New York Brooklyn College | $86,668 | 111 |
| 7. | San Francisco State U. | $86,107 | 171 |
| 8. | U. of Washington at Tacoma | $85,654 | 55 |
| 9. | San Jose State U. | $85,195 | 217 |
| 10. | City U. of New York Herbert H. Lehman College | $84,947 | 97 |
| 11. | California State U. at Los Angeles | $84,433 | 151 |
| 12. | California State U.-Channel Islands | $84,090 | 67 |
| 13. | City U. of New York John Jay College of Criminal Justice | $84,041 | 87 |
| 14. | City U. of New York Queens College | $83,665 | 89 |
| 15. | City U. of New York College of Staten Island | $83,579 | 90 |
| | Median for 247 institutions | $63,835 | 73 |
Baccalaureate
| Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of assistant professors |
| 1. | City U. of New York, York College | $81,308 | 43 |
| 2. | U.S. Merchant Marine Academy | $78,858 | 19 |
| 3. | U. of New Hampshire at Manchester | $77,941 | 12 |
| 4. | California State U. Maritime Academy | $77,913 | 18 |
| 5. | Pennsylvania State U. at Abington | $77,035 | 40 |
| | Median for 86 institutions | $59,054 | 29 |
Associate and baccalaureate/associate
| Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of assistant professors |
| 1. | Pennsylvania College of Technology | $92,587 | 87 |
| 2. | City U. of New York Medgar Evers College | $82,910 | 48 |
| 3. | City U. of New York, New York City College of Technology | $82,597 | 178 |
| 4. | Antelope Valley College | $78,654 | 6 |
| 5. | Ohio State U. at Newark | $76,801 | 11 |
| | Median for 398 institutions | $54,524 | 21 |
•••
Private nonprofit institutions
Doctoral
| Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of assistant professors |
| 1. | U. of Pennsylvania | $130,466 | 246 |
| 2. | Stanford U. | $129,641 | 221 |
| 3. | California Institute of Technology | $128,314 | 44 |
| 4. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | $123,897 | 164 |
| 5. | Harvard U. | $121,950 | 208 |
| 6. | Columbia U. | $118,637 | 224 |
| 7. | Georgetown U. | $115,225 | 96 |
| 8. | U. of Chicago | $115,056 | 281 |
| 9. | Northwestern U. | $114,013 | 250 |
| 10. | Northeastern U. | $112,211 | 181 |
| 11. | Cornell U. | $112,164 | 341 |
| 12. | Washington U. in St. Louis | $110,180 | 171 |
| 13. | Yale U. | $109,530 | 202 |
| 14. | Boston College | $109,323 | 195 |
| 15. | Rice U. | $107,036 | 105 |
| 16. | U. of Notre Dame | $107,025 | 192 |
| 17. | Claremont Graduate U. | $106,117 | 10 |
| 18. | Boston U. | $103,964 | 321 |
| 19. | Princeton U. | $103,703 | 195 |
| 20. | Southern Methodist U. | $103,662 | 97 |
| | Median for 177 institutions | $72,923 | 99 |
Master’s
| Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of assistant professors |
| 1. | Bentley U. | $117,620 | 42 |
| 2. | Suffolk U. | $107,554 | 60 |
| 3. | New York Institute of Technology | $91,356 | 71 |
| 4. | Keck Graduate Institute | $90,626 | 20 |
| 5. | Saint Mary’s College of California | $88,669 | 63 |
| 6. | Bryant U. | $87,979 | 13 |
| 7. | Saint Joseph’s U. (Pa.) | $87,078 | 80 |
| 8. | Rider U. | $85,399 | 43 |
| 9. | Molloy College | $85,005 | 70 |
| 10. | Fairfield U. | $84,675 | 84 |
| | Median for 339 institutions | $57,958 | 34 |
Baccalaureate
| Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of assistant professors |
| 1. | Pomona College | $93,674 | 31 |
| 2. | U. of Richmond | $90,999 | 85 |
| 3. | Wesleyan U. (Conn.) | $89,916 | 74 |
| 4. | Barnard College | $89,599 | 38 |
| 5. | Claremont McKenna College | $88,002 | 51 |
| 6. | Wellesley College | $87,731 | 50 |
| 7. | Colgate U. | $86,483 | 75 |
| 8. | Williams College | $85,184 | 69 |
| 9. | Vassar College | $85,040 | 39 |
| 10. | Harvey Mudd College | $84,538 | 30 |
| | Median for 352 institutions | $54,630 | 25 |
Associate and baccalaureate/associate
| Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of assistant professors |
| 1. | Johnson & Wales U. at Charlotte (N.C.) | $74,884 | 21 |
| 2. | New England Institute of Technology | $56,443 | 57 |
| 3. | Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology | $56,280 | 12 |
| 4. | Dunwoody College of Technology | $54,830 | 40 |
| 5. | Dean College | $53,880 | 15 |
| | Median for 24 institutions | $48,793 | 15 |
Note: Figures are based on data from degree-granting public or private nonprofit institutions in the United States that are eligible to participate in federal Title IV financial-aid programs and that fall into the following 2018 Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education: baccalaureate, master’s, or doctoral for four-year institutions, and associate or baccalaureate/associate for two- and four-year institutions combined. The data, which are current as of November 1, 2017, cover full-time, nonmedical staff members who are engaged primarily in instruction. Salaries are adjusted to a standard nine-month work year. Institutions with fewer than four assistant professors and for-profit institutions are excluded. Questions or comments on the Chronicle List should be sent to Ruth Hammond.
Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data
