Most institutions with the highest average pay for associate professors in 2017-18 were on the East Coast or the West Coast or in Illinois. Eight of the public doctoral institutions that paid their associate professors the most were University of California campuses. Of all the public institutions that were ranked highest for their average salaries for associate professors, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor employed the most professors at that rank, nearly 600. Of the highest-ranked private nonprofit institutions, Cornell University employed the most associate professors, nearly 400. See The Chronicle’s database of faculty salaries.
Public institutions
Doctoral
Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of associate professors |
1. | U. of California at Berkeley | $130,525 | 311 |
2. | U. of California at Los Angeles | $129,966 | 268 |
3. | U. of Texas at Dallas | $122,941 | 148 |
4. | New Jersey Institute of Technology | $118,683 | 91 |
5. | Rutgers U. at Newark | $117,086 | 149 |
6. | U. of Virginia | $116,397 | 380 |
7. | U. of California at Irvine | $114,893 | 244 |
8. | U. of California at San Diego | $112,792 | 221 |
9. | U. of Michigan at Ann Arbor | $112,360 | 597 |
10. | U. of Massachusetts at Lowell | $112,103 | 163 |
11. | City U. of New York Graduate Center | $110,230 | 43 |
12. | U. of California at Santa Cruz | $109,412 | 133 |
13. | U. of Massachusetts at Amherst | $109,018 | 326 |
14. | U. of Washington | $108,648 | 461 |
15. | U. of California at Davis | $108,433 | 308 |
16. | U. of California at Merced | $108,430 | 68 |
17. | U. of Massachusetts at Boston | $108,007 | 233 |
18. | U. of Maryland at College Park | $107,853 | 426 |
19. | U. of California at Santa Barbara | $107,368 | 146 |
20. | U. of Delaware | $107,227 | 363 |
| Median for 193 institutions | $87,448 | 232 |
Master’s
Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of associate professors |
1. | Pennsylvania State U.-Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies | $126,749 | 13 |
2. | City U. of New York Bernard M. Baruch College | $117,722 | 128 |
3. | U. of Washington at Bothell | $109,101 | 42 |
4. | U. of North Texas at Dallas | $103,127 | 8 |
5. | Pennsylvania State U.-Harrisburg | $102,395 | 64 |
6. | City U. of New York Hunter College | $102,362 | 206 |
7. | City College of City U. of New York | $102,324 | 155 |
8. | U. of Washington at Tacoma | $102,288 | 53 |
9. | City U. of New York John Jay College of Criminal Justice | $99,240 | 160 |
10. | City U. of New York Brooklyn College | $98,675 | 156 |
11. | U. of Baltimore | $98,565 | 59 |
12. | City U. of New York Herbert H. Lehman College | $98,088 | 117 |
13. | City U. of New York Queens College | $97,989 | 184 |
14. | California State U.-Dominguez Hills | $97,806 | 59 |
15. | City U. of New York College of Staten Island | $97,670 | 114 |
| Median for 266 institutions | $73,037 | 73 |
Baccalaureate
Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of associate professors |
1. | U.S. Merchant Marine Academy | $103,016 | 31 |
2. | City U. of New York, New York City College of Technology | $96,774 | 128 |
3. | City U. of New York Medgar Evers College | $95,923 | 39 |
4. | City U. of New York, York College | $95,636 | 78 |
5. | Pennsylvania State U. at Erie, The Behrend College | $94,022 | 58 |
| Median for 85 institutions | $67,846 | 24 |
Associate and baccalaureate/associate
Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of associate professors |
1. | Pennsylvania College of Technology | $108,750 | 55 |
2. | Stella and Charles Guttman Community College | $104,089 | 6 |
3. | Westchester Community College | $99,986 | 34 |
4. | Elgin Community College | $97,477 | 31 |
| City Colleges of Chicago Harry S. Truman College | $96,360 | 10 |
| Median for 405 institutions | $60,707 | 21 |
Private nonprofit institutions
Doctoral
Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of associate professors |
1. | Stanford U. | $157,690 | 195 |
2. | California Institute of Technology | $149,012 | 6 |
3. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | $147,358 | 216 |
4. | Columbia U. | $145,614 | 201 |
5. | U. of Pennsylvania | $140,052 | 223 |
6. | Northwestern U. | $134,788 | 312 |
7. | Yale U. | $134,454 | 126 |
8. | Harvard U. | $132,561 | 142 |
9. | Princeton U. | $129,463 | 95 |
10. | Georgetown U. | $129,416 | 229 |
11. | U. of Chicago | $125,780 | 221 |
12. | Duke U. | $125,415 | 265 |
13. | Cornell U. | $124,011 | 392 |
14. | Northeastern U. | $123,819 | 254 |
15. | Boston U. | $123,690 | 341 |
16. | Teachers College, Columbia U. | $122,436 | 54 |
17. | Dartmouth College | $122,100 | 151 |
18. | Washington U. in St. Louis | $121,226 | 174 |
19. | U. of Notre Dame | $119,155 | 276 |
20. | Boston College | $118,529 | 275 |
| Median for 115 institutions | $99,528 | 138 |
Master’s
Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of associate professors |
1. | Bentley U. | $120,643 | 68 |
2. | Santa Clara U. | $115,218 | 144 |
3. | Keck Graduate Institute | $105,313 | 12 |
4. | Bryant U. | $101,931 | 37 |
5. | Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey | $100,358 | 15 |
6. | Long Island U.-C.W. Post | $100,148 | 97 |
7. | Roger Williams U. | $99,920 | 71 |
8. | U. of New Haven | $99,621 | 67 |
9. | Fairfield U. | $99,434 | 90 |
10. | New York Institute of Technology | $98,889 | 102 |
| Median for 383 institutions | $66,770 | 33 |
Baccalaureate
Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of associate professors |
1. | Claremont McKenna College | $119,273 | 49 |
2. | Barnard College | $118,746 | 30 |
3. | Pomona College | $114,824 | 65 |
4. | Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art | $111,328 | 16 |
5. | Washington and Lee U. | $109,340 | 59 |
6. | Swarthmore College | $108,816 | 42 |
7. | Harvey Mudd College | $108,480 | 17 |
8. | U. of Richmond | $108,202 | 134 |
9. | Hamilton College (N.Y.) | $107,336 | 45 |
10. | Amherst College | $107,110 | 30 |
| Median for 357 institutions | $61,869 | 22 |
Associate and baccalaureate/associate
Rank | Institution | Salary | Number of associate professors |
1. | Oxford College of Emory U. | $83,546 | 21 |
2. | Johnson & Wales U. at Charlotte (N.C.) | $81,845 | 39 |
3. | Johnson & Wales U. at Denver | $80,617 | 23 |
4. | St. Augustine College (Ill.) | $65,694 | 5 |
5. | Mount Aloysius College | $65,430 | 16 |
| Median for 24 institutions | $57,613 | 9 |
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 full 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