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What Professors Actually Earn

The Chronicle analyzed how the cost of living affects faculty pay.

To better understand the economic realities of the professoriate, The Chronicle embarked on a project to examine faculty members’ pay, and how purchasing power is affected by the cost of living, according to a county-by-county index.

A Chronicle project explores how professors’ purchasing power is affected by the cost of living.
Seven faculty members describe what their economic lives look like.
Explore the faculty-pay transparency tool.

Previous Coverage of Faculty Pay

'There’s Some Kind of Mistake'
By Adrienne Lu May 21, 2024
Labor activism has graduate teaching assistants out-earning some faculty members in the University of California system.
A Heavy Burden
By Megan Zahneis October 24, 2024
Debt of all kinds, particularly from student loans, is affecting the day-to-day finances and retirement preparedness of academic employees, a new report shows.
Compensation
By Adrienne Lu April 24, 2024
Some financially strained colleges have told instructors their pay will be based on the number of students in their classes. For one adjunct professor, that amounted to a $101 paycheck.
The Review | Essay
By Kevin R. McClure March 21, 2024
Higher education has a compensation problem.
Pay Update
By Brian O’Leary April 5, 2024
See the latest federal data on compensation for all ranks of the profession at thousands of American colleges.
Finance
By Adrienne Lu April 24, 2024
Colleges will have a choice: They can either pay overtime to more employees or significantly raise those workers’ salaries. Either option will upend next year’s budgets.