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Colleges With the Highest Average Pay for Full Professors, 2015-16

By  Chronicle Staff
May 7, 2017

Public institutions that paid their full professors the most in 2015-16 tended to be in states with high costs of living: California was the top location for high-paying doctoral institutions, and New York for master’s and associate institutions. Public baccalaureate institutions did not follow the same pattern. Half of the institutions on that top-20 list were in Pennsylvania, where the cost of living is in the middle range. In contrast to public institutions, the nonprofit and for-profit institutions that paid their full professors the highest average salaries were geographically scattered.

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Public institutions that paid their full professors the most in 2015-16 tended to be in states with high costs of living: California was the top location for high-paying doctoral institutions, and New York for master’s and associate institutions. Public baccalaureate institutions did not follow the same pattern. Half of the institutions on that top-20 list were in Pennsylvania, where the cost of living is in the middle range. In contrast to public institutions, the nonprofit and for-profit institutions that paid their full professors the highest average salaries were geographically scattered.

Public institutions

Doctoral

Rank
InstitutionSalary
Number of professors
1. U. of California at Los Angeles $184,509 1,038
2. U. of California at Berkeley $175,617 876
3. U. of Michigan at Ann Arbor $162,846 1,144
4. U. of California at Santa Barbara $160,830 511
5. U. of California at Irvine $159,678 546
6. U. of Virginia $159,066 564
7. U. of California at San Diego $156,672 593
8. New Jersey Institute of Technology $156,249 130
9. U. of Texas at Dallas $155,808 234
10. Rutgers U. at Newark $151,587 181
11. U. of Connecticut $150,318 491
12. U. of Maryland at College Park $149,328 691
13. U. of California at Merced $148,014 44
14. U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $147,816 503
15. Pennsylvania State U. at University Park
$146,466 812
16. U. of Texas at Austin $146,430 980
17. U. of California at Santa Cruz $145,017 290
18. U. of Delaware $144,972 384
19. U. of California at Riverside $144,963 316
20. U. of Massachusetts at Amherst $144,864 458

Master’s

Rank
InstitutionSalaryNumber of professors
1. Pennsylvania State U.-Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies
$141,399 7
2. U. of Baltimore $137,304 55
3. Rutgers U. at Camden $130,050 103
4. U. of South Florida-Sarasota/Manatee $127,719 5
5. U. of Washington at Bothell $125,415 25
6. City U. of New York Bernard M. Baruch College $121,698 203
7. City College of City U. of New York $121,563 242
8. U. of South Florida at St. Petersburg $121,095 29
9. Ramapo College of New Jersey $119,862 70
10. Arizona State U.-Polytechnic $118,728 30
11. Arizona State U.-West $118,404 31
12. Pennsylvania State U.-Harrisburg $117,279 34
13. Fashion Institute of Technology $117,153 53
14. State U. of New York Institute of Technology at Utica-Rome $116,874 31
15. U. of Washington at Tacoma $116,559 31
16. William Paterson U. of New Jersey $114,192 169
17. U. of Michigan at Flint $113,904 39
18. City U. of New York Hunter College $113,661 299
19. City U. of New York Herbert H. Lehman College $113,625 95
20. City U. of New York Queens College $112,995 212

Baccalaureate

Rank
InstitutionSalaryNumber of professors
1. Pennsylvania State U. at Erie $126,009 26
2. Pennsylvania State U.-Schuylkill $121,302 6
3. U.S. Merchant Marine Academy $117,045 30
4. U. of New Hampshire at Manchester $115,335 6
5. U.S. Naval Academy $114,219 159
6. U.S. Military Academy $113,571 42
7. City U. of New York Medgar Evers College $112,194 52
8. City U. of New York, New York City College of Technology
$108,450 63
9. Cheyney U. of Pennsylvania $106,776 17
10. Pennsylvania State U.-Brandywine $106,704 12
11. Pennsylvania State U.-Beaver $106,569 4
12. Nevada State College $105,786 4
13. Pennsylvania State U. at Altoona $105,408 24
14. Pennsylvania State U.-Worthington-Scranton $104,706 4
15. Pennsylvania State U. at York $104,697 7
16. Ohio State U. at Lima $103,806 11
17. City U. of New York York College $103,680 44
18. Pennsylvania State U. at Abington $102,717 14
19. Pennsylvania State U.-Berks $99,153 21
20. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts $98,523 38

Associate and baccalaureate/associate

Rank
InstitutionSalaryNumber of professors
1. College of DuPage $121,590 138
2. Suffolk County Community College Central Administration $115,857 119
3. Elgin Community College $115,317 56
4. Pennsylvania College of Technology $113,580 11
5. Nassau Community College $112,230 170
6. City Colleges of Chicago, Harry S. Truman College $110,403 4
7. Rockland Community College $109,152 39
8. Passaic County Community College $108,117 10
9. City U. of New York-Queensborough Community College $107,802 68
10. Harper College $107,496 57
11. Westchester Community College $106,101 56
12. City U. of New York Borough of Manhattan Community College
$105,570 107
13. Middlesex County College $105,309 37
14. City Colleges of Chicago, Richard J. Daley College $104,778 4
15. Hostos Community College-City U. of New York $104,463 37
16. Miami U. at Hamilton $103,752 12
17. City U. of New York La Guardia Community College $103,554 89
18. City U. of New York Bronx Community College $103,275 74
19. Oakton Community College $101,331 105
20. City U. of New York Kingsborough Community College $101,214 72

Private nonprofit institutions

Doctoral

Rank
InstitutionSalaryNumber of professors
1. Harvard U. $230,292 996
2. Stanford U. $227,259 689
3. U. of Chicago $225,729 595
4. Columbia U. $209,475 747
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
$204,138 643
6. U. of Pennsylvania $201,978 602
7. Princeton U. $200,403 478
8. Yale U. $198,369 586
9. New York U. $195,939 861
10. California Institute of Technology $193,941 237
11. Northwestern U. $192,897 604
12. Duke U. $187,731 632
13. Georgetown U. $186,750 309
14. Rice U. $185,247 305
15. Vanderbilt U. $179,172 383
16. Washington U. in St. Louis $175,734 369
17. Dartmouth College $175,239 242
18. Boston College $173,979 270
19. Teachers College, Columbia U. $172,746 79
20. U. of Notre Dame $171,135 421

Master’s

Rank
InstitutionSalaryNumber of professors
1. Bentley U. $158,364 85
2. Bryant U. $157,509 71
3. Santa Clara U. $155,511 153
4. Chapman U. $138,096 127
5. U. of New Haven $125,676 49
6. Loyola U. Maryland $125,388 85
7. New York Institute of Technology at Old Westbury
$125,352 68
8. Quinnipiac U. $124,587 116
9. Union Graduate College $124,245 4
10. Touro College (N.Y.) $123,588 44
11. Roger Williams U. $121,608 93
12. Fairfield U. $121,077 73
13. St. Mary’s U. $121,005 89
14. Emerson College $120,240 28
15. Stetson U. $120,222 115
16. Keck Graduate Institute $119,133 19
17. Trinity U. $118,368 84
18. Loyola Marymount U. $117,252 223
19. National U. $116,838 102
20. Seattle U. $116,064 90

Baccalaureate

Rank
InstitutionSalaryNumber of professors
1. Claremont McKenna College
$158,985 62
2. Barnard College $158,418 83
3. U. of Richmond $156,789 117
4. Washington and Lee U. $151,002 103
5. Pomona College $150,408 78
6. Wellesley College $149,940 108
7. Amherst College $149,760 93
8. Swarthmore College $146,601 92
9. Wesleyan U. (Conn.) $145,836 120
10. Harvey Mudd College $143,271 51
11. Colgate U. $141,219 105
12. Bowdoin College $139,032 65
13. Williams College $138,294 141
14. Colby College $137,187 69
15. Lafayette College $135,558 73
16. Smith College $134,811 160
17. Hamilton College (N.Y.) $134,271 88
18. Scripps College $133,407 33
19. Vassar College $133,083 94
20. Bryn Mawr College $132,669 57

Associate and baccalaureate/associate

Rank
InstitutionSalaryNumber of professors
1. Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology
$102,636 12
2. Johnson & Wales U. at Denver $99,126 4
3. Johnson & Wales U. at Charlotte (N.C.) $98,046 14
4. Mount Aloysius College $71,856 7
5. Landmark College $69,210 9
6. New England Institute of Technology $67,860 14
7. U. of Rio Grande $64,467 16
8. Cottey College $62,964 12
9. Florida College $62,937 34
10. Louisburg College $59,931 5
11. Baker College of Flint $56,727 4
12. U. of Northwestern Ohio $55,656 5
13. Delaware College of Art and Design $55,188 5
14. Harcum College $53,721 8
15. Boricua College $52,893 6
16. Manor College $50,724 14
17. Lackawanna College $50,202 10
18. Villa Maria College of Buffalo $38,286 6
19. Bacone College $37,683 4
20. Grace Bible College $37,665 7

For-profit institutions

Doctoral

Rank
InstitutionSalaryNumber of professors
1. Alliant International U. at San Diego
$97,254 58
2. Grand Canyon U. $75,474 8
3. Argosy U. at Chicago $71,037 5
4. Argosy U. at Atlanta $65,088 8

Master’s

Master’s
Rank
Institution Salary Number of professors
1. Post U. $91,521 4
2. South College (Tenn.) $86,652 10
3. DeVry U. of New Jersey $77,607 18
4. Herzing U. at Madison (Wis.)
$76,770 13
5. Ashford U. $74,781 10
6. DeVry U. of Ohio $72,009 15
7. DeVry U. of Arizona $69,588 17
8. DeVry U. of Texas $68,553 25
9. DeVry U. of Illinois $67,734 118
10. DeVry U. of Georgia $66,474 18
11. DeVry U. of Pennsylvania $65,646 4
12. DeVry U. of California $64,368 43
13. DeVry U. of Missouri $63,414 4
14. DeVry U. of Florida $62,865 15
15. American Public U. system $54,045 49
16. Sullivan U. $51,642 16
17. Full Sail U. $44,766 464
18. Bob Jones U. $42,534 64
19. Salem International U. $33,390 8

Baccalaureate

Rank
InstitutionSalaryNumber of professors
1. DigiPen Institute of Technology
$82,377 8
2. Herzing U. at Atlanta $80,550 5
3. Five Towns College $58,680 6
4. Waldorf College $54,729 8
5. Central Penn College $47,529 37

Associate and baccalaureate/associate

Rank
InstitutionSalaryNumber of professors
1. Akron Institute of Herzing U. $79,497 4
2. Herzing U. at Kenosha (Wis.) $63,882 10
3. ECPI College of Technology $62,910 20
4. College of Westchester (N.Y.) $59,166 6
5. Wade College Dallas Market Center $42,534 7
6. Long Island Business Institute $33,660 31
7. Madison Media Institute-Rockford Career College
$33,606 23
8. Eastwick College at Hackensack (N.J.) $29,583 4
9. Hohokus School-RETS Nutley $26,595 5
10. Taylor Business Institute (Ill.) $21,744 7

Note: Figures are based on data from all Title IV-participating, degree-granting institutions in the United States. The data cover full-time, nonmedical instructional staff (who are either engaged primarily in instruction or are engaged in instruction combined with research and/or public service) as of November 1, 2015. The salaries are adjusted to a standard nine-month work year. Institutions with fewer than four full professors are excluded. Categories are based on the 2015 Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education. For categories in which a limited number of institutions employ full-time professors, fewer than 20 institutions are listed. See The Chronicle’s complete database of faculty salaries at data.chronicle.com.

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

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A version of this article appeared in the May 12, 2017, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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