Chronicle List

Colleges With the Highest Average Pay for Instructors, 2017-18

By Chronicle Staff

November 10, 2019

The median pay for full-time instructors in 2017-18 was only slightly higher at public doctoral institutions than it was at public associate and baccalaureate/associate institutions. Even in the same metropolitan area, average salaries at doctoral institutions could vary widely. Northeastern University, in Boston, for instance, paid instructors an average salary of $82,568 that year, while nearby Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology paid only about $65,000. See The Chronicle’s database of faculty salaries for data on more colleges.

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Public institutions

Doctoral

Rank	Institution	Average salary	Number of instructors
1.	Ohio State U.	$142,330	7
2.	U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	$134,917	5
3.	New Jersey Institute of Technology	$84,223	5
4.	Purdue U. at West Lafayette	$83,193	5
5.	Colorado School of Mines	$80,943	65
6.	U. of Illinois at Chicago	$78,437	100
7.	U. of Massachusetts at Amherst	$76,011	8
8.	U. of Connecticut	$75,875	49
9.	U. of Wyoming	$72,376	16
10.	U. of Delaware	$72,328	95
11.	U. of North Texas	$70,119	23
12.	Delaware State U.	$69,698	9
13.	Wayne State U.	$69,505	34
14.	Stony Brook U.	$68,354	10
15.	Oakland U.	$68,347	58
16.	U. of Vermont	$67,364	12
17.	Cleveland State U.	$67,318	11
18.	U. of Alaska at Fairbanks	$66,935	29
19.	U. of Wisconsin at Madison	$66,743	33
20.	Montclair State U.	$66,634	4
	Median for 171 institutions	$52,909	53

Master’s

Rank	Institution	Average salary	Number of instructors
1.	U. of North Texas at Dallas	$74,504	10
2.	U. of Northern Iowa	$70,662	77
3.	College of New Jersey	$68,405	5
4.	Bowie State U.	$67,622	9
5.	William Paterson U. of New Jersey	$64,739	13
6.	Longwood U.	$64,257	9
7.	Salem State U.	$64,177	8
8.	Salisbury U.	$63,749	8
9.	Pennsylvania State U.-Harrisburg	$63,520	27
10.	The Citadel	$62,590	15
	Median for 185 institutions	$49,988	20

Baccalaureate

Rank	Institution	Average salary	Number of instructors
1.	Pennsylvania State U.-Fayette	$70,793	9
2.	U. of Hawaii-West Oahu	$66,374	12
3.	Pennsylvania State U.-Worthington-Scranton	$64,900	6
4.	Pennsylvania State U. at Abington	$64,015	5
5.	U. of Minnesota at Crookston	$63,882	4
	Median for 70 institutions	$49,062	9

Associate and baccalaureate/associate

Rank	Institution	Average salary	Number of instructors
1.	Evergreen Valley College	$114,040	112
2.	MiraCosta Community College District	$112,564	195
3.	San Jose City College	$106,266	114
4.	Ohlone College	$99,617	130
5.	College of Lake County	$98,030	198
	Median for 669 colleges	$52,294	35

•••

Private nonprofit institutions

Doctoral

Rank	Institution	Average salary	Number of instructors
1.	Southern Methodist U.	$114,008	15
2.	Fordham U.	$101,088	96
3.	Princeton U.	$86,789	22
4.	Washington U. in St. Louis	$86,512	51
5.	Hofstra U.	$83,959	4
6.	U. of San Francisco	$83,396	16
7.	Northeastern U.	$82,568	365
8.	U. of St. Thomas (Minn.)	$75,701	4
9.	Belmont U.	$74,917	31
10.	Yeshiva U.	$74,645	98
11.	American U.	$73,742	307
12.	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	$73,570	143
13.	Quinnipiac U.	$73,297	14
14.	Boston College	$72,992	53
15.	DePaul U.	$72,959	177
16.	Tufts U.	$72,766	19
17.	Texas Christian U.	$71,768	91
18.	Drexel U.	$71,593	505
19.	Pace U.	$71,511	4
20.	Adelphi U.	$69,974	6
	Median for 148 institutions	$55,800	15

Master’s

Rank	Institution	Average salary	Number of instructors
1.	Stetson U.	$85,708	8
2.	Mercy College	$82,135	12
3.	Molloy College	$77,942	11
4.	Presidio Graduate School	$76,875	4
5.	Fairfield U.	$72,172	17
6.	Milwaukee School of Engineering	$71,635	8
7.	Suffolk U.	$71,470	57
8.	Johnson & Wales U. (R.I.)	$70,750	24
9.	Providence College	$70,137	18
10.	Fairleigh Dickinson U.	$69,905	4
	Median for 276 institutions	$48,421	6

Baccalaureate

Rank	Institution	Average salary	Number of instructors
1.	Williams College	$92,413	6
2.	U. of Puget Sound	$75,374	23
3.	Barnard College	$69,411	39
4.	Colgate U.	$67,779	36
5.	Lafayette College	$67,589	10
	Median for 282 institutions	$45,745	5

Associate and baccalaureate/associate

Rank	Institution	Average salary	Number of instructors
1.	Commonwealth Technical Institute	$54,048	22
2.	Dunwoody College of Technology	$50,784	46
3.	New England Institute of Technology	$50,758	21
4.	Johnson College	$49,919	19
5.	Hesston College	$46,978	30
	Median for 38 institutions	$43,223	10

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 and who are ranked as instructors. Salaries are adjusted to a standard nine-month work year. Institutions with at least one but fewer than four instructors were excluded from the rankings but were included in the calculations of the median average salaries and number of instructors. “Instructor” is an academic rank designated by the institution. It generally falls just below the rank of assistant professor. At associate institutions, the academic rank with the largest share of full-time instructional staff members tends to be “instructor.” At doctoral, master’s, and baccalaureate institutions, the number of full-time instructors tends to be lower than the numbers of professors, associate professors, and assistant professors. Questions or comments on the Chronicle List should be sent to Ruth Hammond.

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