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News

Median Salaries of Full-Time Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty Members in 5 Broad Disciplines, by Sector, 2016-17

Almanac 2017 August 13, 2017

Public institutions paid professors in the health professions — and especially full professors — more, on average, than private nonprofit institutions did in 2016-17. In contrast, private nonprofit institutions paid professors and instructors in the social sciences more than public institutions did.

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Public institutions paid professors in the health professions — and especially full professors — more, on average, than private nonprofit institutions did in 2016-17. In contrast, private nonprofit institutions paid professors and instructors in the social sciences more than public institutions did.


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Business, management, marketing, and related support services

RankAll institutionsPublicPrivate nonprofit
Professor $133,686 $131,291 $139,499
Associate professor $117,080 $116,867 $117,361
Assistant professor $114,062 $115,000 $111,633
New assistant professor $115,000 $118,004 $107,000
Instructor $70,874 $71,687 $67,469

Education

RankAll institutionsPublicPrivate nonprofit
Professor $92,799 $93,399 $90,563
Associate professor $72,627 $72,548 $72,914
Assistant professor $61,828 $61,944 $61,564
New assistant professor $61,500 $61,000 $62,000
Instructor $56,182 $55,088 $58,490

Health professions and related clinical services

RankAll institutionsPublicPrivate nonprofit
Professor $126,293 $129,432 $115,478
Associate professor $88,694 $89,430 $87,445
Assistant professor $74,575 $74,701 $74,378
New assistant professor $70,500 $71,198 $70,000
Instructor $58,988 $56,656 $59,122

Liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities

RankAll institutionsPublicPrivate nonprofit
Professor $88,990 $88,394 $89,747
Associate professor $72,303 $71,825 $72,932
Assistant professor $60,533 $60,736 $60,379
New assistant professor $73,500 $72,000 $85,000
Instructor $66,605 $52,627 $69,049

Social sciences

RankAll institutionsPublicPrivate nonprofit
Professor $103,390 $101,743 $107,856
Associate professor $77,951 $76,989 $79,847
Assistant professor $65,808 $65,044 $68,003
New assistant professor $65,000 $64,000 $68,000
Instructor $54,080 $53,982 $55,000

Note: The table is derived from data on 237,231 full-time faculty positions that were collected in late 2016 and early 2017 from 687 baccalaureate, master’s, doctoral, and specialty colleges and universities — both public and private nonprofit. Because five systems were among the survey respondents, a total of 708 institutions are represented. Of the positions, 164,736 were tenured or tenure-track. The five disciplines shown are the ones in which students earned the most degrees in 2015-16.

Source: Bichsel, Jacqueline; McChesney, Jasper; and Calcagno, Maria. “Faculty in Higher Education Salary Report: Key Findings, Trends, and Comprehensive Tables for Tenure Track, Non-Tenure Track Teaching, and Non-Tenure Track Research Faculty; Academic Department Heads; and Adjunct Faculty at Four-Year Institutions for the 2016-17 Academic Year.” College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), March 2017. Research report. Available from www.cupahr.org/surveys/fhe4.aspx.

A version of this article appeared in the August 18, 2017, issue.
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