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News

Faculty Salaries Vary by Institution Type, Discipline

April 11, 2011


SALARY EXPLORER: See Faculty-Salary Data for More Than 1,300 Colleges
STORY: Experience Doesn’t Always Pay
DATABASE: Search the Results of the AAUP Survey


Where Professors Earn the Most
Average salaries, 2010-11
Highest-paid full professors, all private institutions
Harvard U. $193,800
Columbia U. $191,400
U. of Chicago $190,400
Stanford U. $188,400
Princeton U. $186,000
Highest-paid full professors, all public institutions
New Jersey Institute of Technology $158,700
U. of California at Los Angeles $153,700
U. of California at Berkeley $149,100
U. of Michigan at Ann Arbor $146,900
U. of Maryland at Baltimore $144,800
Note: The figures cover full-time members of the instructional staff except those in medical schools. The salaries are adjusted to a standard nine-month work year.
Source: American Association of University Professors

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SALARY EXPLORER: See Faculty-Salary Data for More Than 1,300 Colleges
STORY: Experience Doesn’t Always Pay
DATABASE: Search the Results of the AAUP Survey


Where Professors Earn the Most
Average salaries, 2010-11
Highest-paid full professors, all private institutions
Harvard U. $193,800
Columbia U. $191,400
U. of Chicago $190,400
Stanford U. $188,400
Princeton U. $186,000
Highest-paid full professors, all public institutions
New Jersey Institute of Technology $158,700
U. of California at Los Angeles $153,700
U. of California at Berkeley $149,100
U. of Michigan at Ann Arbor $146,900
U. of Maryland at Baltimore $144,800
Note: The figures cover full-time members of the instructional staff except those in medical schools. The salaries are adjusted to a standard nine-month work year.
Source: American Association of University Professors

Average Salaries of Full-Time Faculty Members, 2010-11
All institutions Public Private, independent Religious
Salary 1-year change Salary 1-year change Salary 1-year change Salary 1-year change
Doctoral institutions
Professor $127,296 1.8% $118,054 1.3% $157,282 2.4% $131,374 1.9%
Associate professor $84,686 1.4% $81,266 1.0% $99,404 2.8% $89,329 1.8%
Assistant professor $72,893 2.1% $69,777 1.6% $86,189 3.0% $75,488 2.6%
Instructor $48,812 1.4% $46,300 0.9% $59,419 3.8% $62,954 3.3%
Lecturer $55,520 -- $53,154 -- $63,960 -- $55,913 --
No rank $65,148 -- $56,767 -- $73,336 -- $70,651 --
All $92,468 1.7% $86,653 1.2% $114,661 2.5% $95,432 2.2%
Master’s institutions
Professor $91,998 0.9% $89,808 0.5% $101,290 1.8% $91,225 1.7%
Associate professor $72,469 1.1% $71,516 0.8% $76,311 1.5% $71,400 2.0%
Assistant professor $61,056 1.3% $60,612 1.2% $63,574 1.6% $59,692 1.6%
Instructor $45,336 0.4% $43,772 -0.2% $51,195 1.2% $49,025 2.8%
Lecturer $50,195 -- $49,309 -- $56,151 -- $52,468 --
No rank $56,470 -- $54,756 -- $63,549 -- $57,012 --
All $71,121 1.0% $69,620 0.8% $77,223 1.6% $70,793 1.7%
Baccalaureate institutions
Professor $87,835 1.1% $84,398 0.2% $99,976 1.4% $74,970 1.1%
Associate professor $68,042 1.3% $68,996 1.1% $73,804 1.5% $61,304 1.2%
Assistant professor $56,425 1.3% $57,544 0.8% $60,234 1.5% $51,875 1.4%
Instructor $46,475 1.1% $47,282 1.0% $48,636 0.4% $44,090 1.8%
Lecturer $52,118 -- $51,014 -- $58,146 -- $42,095 --
No rank $58,818 -- $48,755 -- $63,893 -- $49,213 --
All $68,047 1.3% $65,199 0.6% $76,487 1.5% $60,759 1.3%
Two-year institutions with academic ranks
Professor $73,869 0.1% $74,092 0.1% $57,200 -- -- --
Associate professor $61,391 0.5% $61,469 0.4% $57,744 -- -- --
Assistant professor $54,094 0.2% $54,307 0.3% $44,351 -- -- --
Instructor $46,905 -0.7% $47,072 -0.7% $35,400 -- -- --
Lecturer $52,931 -- $52,943 -- $43,187 -- -- --
No rank $40,687 -- $40,501 -- $27,255 -- -- --
All $60,353 0.1% $60,532 0.1% $50,142 -- -- --
Two-year institutions without academic ranks
All $57,517 0.3% $57,603 0.3% -- -- -- --
All institutions with academic ranks
Professor $110,488 1.4% $105,780 1.0% $131,589 2.2% $95,163 1.7%
Associate professor $77,365 1.2% $76,242 0.8% $84,648 2.2% $71,969 1.6%
Assistant professor $65,257 1.5% $64,711 1.3% $71,014 2.1% $59,183 1.8%
Instructor $47,143 0.9% $45,701 0.3% $53,585 2.4% $49,683 2.5%
Lecturer $53,556 -- $51,747 -- $61,890 -- $52,073 --
No rank $61,574 -- $54,886 -- $70,423 -- $64,428 --
All $81,009 1.4% $78,294 0.9% $94,619 2.1% $72,776 1.8%
Note: Dollar figures are based on data from 1,319 institutions; percentage changes are based on data from 1,191 institutions that reported comparable data for both years. As a result, the percentage changes refer to a different set of dollar figures than those shown. Percentages are not adjusted for inflation. Dollar figures do not reflect all pay reductions caused by unpaid furloughs attributed to the recession. The figures cover full-time members of the instructional staff, except those in medical schools. The salaries are adjusted to a standard nine-month work year. A dash indicates that no data were reported.
Source: American Association of University Professors

Presidential Pay Rose Faster Than Full-Time-Faculty Salaries
Presidential Salary Full-time-faculty salary
Average increase Average 2007-8 Average 2010-11 Average increase Average 2007-8 Average 2010-11
Public institutions
Doctoral 12.3% $353,207 $388,995 5.6% $75,938 $80,156
Master’s 12.7% $229,026 $256,477 5.7% $62,050 $65,685
Baccalaureate 9.5% $189,482 $207,787 6.5% $55,719 $59,222
Two-year 10.5% $172,696 $190,306 4.5% $55,151 $57,530
All Institutions 11.5% $234,150 $259,238 5.4% $62,183 $65,551
Private institutions
Doctoral 20.7% $457,934 $582,661 7.2% $85,924 $91,783
Master’s 21.9% $255,158 $308,960 6.6% $63,694 $67,902
Baccalaureate 10.3% $232,820 $255,893 4.9% $59,336 $62,240
Two-year -- -- -- -- -- --
All Institutions 14.4% $249,442 $286,897 5.7% $61,804 $65,310
Note: The table includes only those institutions providing all data in both years. Presidential salary includes base plus supplemental cash payments. Faculty salary includes all ranks. Private category includes both independent and religiously affiliated institutions. There were too few private associate institutions to generate valid separate statistics, but those institutions are included in the totals. The average increase is the mean of all increases in the category and is not based on the the average-salary figures here.
Source: American Association of University Professors

How Much More (or Less) Full Professors Earned, by Discipline, Than the Average Full Professor of English Language and Literature, 1980-81 to 2009-10
Discipline 1980-81 1985-86 1991-92 1996-97 2001-2 2005-6 2009-10
Fine arts: visual and performing -8.8% -9.6% -7.9% -9.7% -11.1% -12.2% -12.4%
Education -4.0% -8.0% -1.2% -0.8% -2.5% -3.8% -4.3%
Foreign language and literature 0.9% -1.8% -1.5% 0.5% -3.9% -4.5% -4.1%
Communications -3.3% -6.7% 2.6% 1.9% -2.9% -3.3% -3.2%
Philosophy 2.3% -4.8% 2.0% 1.1% -2.9% 0.0% 2.1%
Library science -1.5% -0.6% 9.9% 6.6% 3.5% -2.1% 3.6%
Mathematics 7.6% 4.4% 11.0% 11.5% 6.8% 6.8% 7.2%
Psychology 5.0% 1.6% 9.5% 9.7% 8.3% 9.0% 8.9%
Physical sciences 7.7% 8.0% 14.9% 14.5% 12.8% 12.1% 12.9%
All-discipline average (including medical) 4.8% 5.1% 13.3% 13.9% 12.2% 12.0% 13.4%
Social sciences 4.8% 3.2% 9.0% 8.7% 9.2% 14.1% 16.8%
Health professions and related sciences 20.3% 19.8% 34.3% 36.4% 31.3% 18.1% 18.9%
Engineering 8.1% 14.3% 29.0% 27.8% 24.0% 24.3% 25.2%
Computer and information sciences 13.4% 17.6% 32.2% 28.1% 28.7% 27.5% 28.4%
Economics 13.9% 11.3% 28.4% 25.7% 26.4% 32.4% 41.2%
Business administration and management 11.4% 15.2% 33.8% 38.7% 40.8% 46.5% 50.9%
Law and legal studies 33.2% 41.0% 54.2% 58.4% 53.5% 54.0% 59.5%
Source: “Faculty Salary Survey by Discipline,” Office of Institutional Research and Information Management, Oklahoma State University

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