Published June 2025.
This year's Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2024–25, presents findings from the AAUP’s annual Faculty Compensation Survey and other key economic trends related to US higher education. The report includes eighteen summary tables and three appendixes that list survey results by institution.
About the AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey
This is the sixty-sixth Annual Report since the AAUP began administering the Faculty Compensation Survey data annually in 1958. Data collection for the survey concluded in March, with over 800 US colleges and universities providing employment data for approximately 370,000 full-time and 90,000 part-time faculty members as well as senior administrators at more than 500 institutions.
The report and associated data can be found on the AAUP website at https://www.aaup.org/our-work/research/FCS. Supplemental data may be explored on the AAUP’s interactive data website, which includes drilldown capabilities and tools for summarizing data by region, state, institution size, Carnegie Classification, and other variables. Datasets are available for order now.
Full-Time Faculty Compensation
From fall 2023 to fall 2024, nominal average salaries for full-time faculty members increased 3.8 percent for all academic ranks combined, following a 3.8 percent increase the prior year. However, real average salaries have still not fully recovered from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and remain about 6.2 percent lower than they were in fall 2019. The Annual Report presents a wide range of data on full-time faculty compensation, including salaries and expenditures for fringe benefits.
Related Data Tools: Full-Time Faculty Salaries, Full-Time Faculty Retirement Benefits, Full-Time Faculty Medical Benefits, Full-Time Faculty Dependent Tuition Benefits, IPEDS Full-time Faculty Salaries
Part-Time Faculty Compensation
Economic conditions remain dire for part-time faculty members, who made up just under half (48.6 percent) of the academic workforce in fall 2023. In 2023–24, part-time faculty members earned an average of $4,093 per three-credit course section, about 3.9 percent lower than the prepandemic average of 2019–20. The Annual Report presents data on part-time faculty members who were paid on a per-course-section basis, including pay and fringe benefit coverage.
Related Data Tools: Part-Time Faculty Pay, Part-Time Faculty Fringe Benefits
Administrator Salaries
Growth in salaries for college and university presidents has outpaced the growth in full-time faculty salaries for years. Median salaries for college and university presidents in 2024–25 ranged from a low of about $268,000 at public associate’s institutions without ranking systems to a high of over $900,000 at private-independent doctoral universities. The Annual Report presents data on college and university presidents, chief academic officers, and chief financial officers.
Salary Equity
Average full-time faculty salaries for women were 83.2 percent of those for men in 2024–25, and full-time women faculty members earned less than men across all academic ranks. The Annual Report presents full-time faculty salary data by gender and academic rank.
Related Data Tools: Full-Time Faculty Salary-Equity Ratios
The Academic Labor Force: Tenure and Contingency
In fall 2023, 31.8 percent of faculty members in US higher education held full-time tenured or tenure-track appointments, compared with an estimated 53.1 percent in fall 1987. Approximately 23.1 percent of faculty members were on full-time tenured appointments, and just under half (48.6 percent) were employed part time. Overall, 68.2 percent of faculty members were employed part time or held full-time contingent appointments that were ineligible for tenure. The Annual Report summarizes patterns of faculty appointments and graduate student employment from fall 1987 through fall 2023.
Related Data Tools: IPEDS Academic Workforce, IPEDS Full-Time Faculty, IPEDS Postsecondary Teachers, IPEDS Full-Time Faculty New Hires
Institutional Finances
State funding for public higher education in fiscal year 2025 increased 4.3 percent, or 1.5 percent after adjusting for inflation. However, with student enrollment among public institutions increasing about 4.5 percent, total state appropriations per student decreased 2.9 percent, after adjusting for inflation.
Related Data Tools: State Fiscal Support for Higher Education