Preliminary 2022–23 Faculty Compensation Survey Results

Data collection for the AAUP’s 2022–23 Faculty Compensation Survey concluded in March, with nearly 900 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. Participants reflected the wide range of institution types across the United States, including nearly 300 doctoral universities, 250 regional universities, 200 liberal arts colleges, 100 community colleges, and 180 minority-serving institutions.

Complete analyses of this year’s results will be presented in the forthcoming Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession 2022–23, scheduled to be published online in June and printed in August in the Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors (the summer issue of Academe). Final datasets, including corrected appendices and datasets, will be released in July.

Last year’s annual report documented a 5 percent decrease in average real wages (inflation-adjusted) for full-time faculty members, which is the greatest one-year decrease in real wages for full-time faculty since the AAUP began tracking the measure in 1972. This year’s annual report will document the economic status of faculty in a year when the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 6.5 percent from December 2021 to December 2022, following a 7 percent increase the previous year, which was the largest percentage increase since 1981. The report will document the economic status of both full-time and part-time faculty members, as well as the continued underrepresentation of women full-time faculty members in higher ranks and gender pay disparities.

Key Preliminary Findings on Full-Time Faculty Salary Data

• Average salaries for full-time faculty members (all ranks combined) increased 4.1 percent, the greatest one-year increase since 1990–91.
• Average salaries for full-time faculty members increased 4.5 percent among public institutions, 3.8 percent among private-independent institutions, and 2.7 percent among religiously affiliated institutions.
• Real average salaries for full-time faculty members decreased 2.4 percent, the third consecutive year that wage growth has fallen short of inflation. (The CPI-U increased 6.5 percent in 2022, 7 percent in 2021, and 1.4 percent in 2020.)
• Average salaries for continuing full-time faculty members (those employed in fall 2021 and remaining employed in 2022) increased 4.8 percent in nominal terms, but decreased 1.7 percent in real terms, after adjusting for inflation.

Data Components Now Available

The AAUP Research Department has released preliminary data from the 2022–23 Faculty Compensation Survey. The following components are now available:

• AAUP chapter leaders, AAUP state conference officers, and AFT local officers may order full datasets and research portal access free of charge, and institutions may purchase data products for a fee.
• Results may be explored on the AAUP’s interactive data website at https://data.aaup.org/, which includes institution-level data and tools for summarizing data by region, state, institution size, Carnegie Basic Classification, and other variables.
• Download appendices with detailed institutional-level data. (The appendices are designed to be viewed as two-page spreads. If your web browser doesn't offer an option to view as a spread, download the PDF and reopen it after saving.)
• Download summary tables and explanation of statistical data; including
  • Average percentage change in salaries for all full-time faculty [Survey Report Table A]
  • Average percentage change in salaries for continuing full-time faculty [Survey Report Table B]
  • Salary differences by institutional category, control, affiliation, and region [Survey Report Tables 1, 2, 4, and 5]
  • Gender differences [Survey Report Tables 3, 6, and 7]
  • Retirement benefits [Survey Report Table 8]
  • Medical benefits [Survey Report Table 9]
  • Dependent tuition benefits [Survey Report Table 10]
  • Administrator salaries [Survey Report Tables 11, 12, 13, and 14]
  • Part-time faculty pay (2020–21) [Survey Report Table 15]
  • Part-time faculty benefits (2020–21) [Survey Report Table 16]

The AAUP’s annual Faculty Compensation Survey complements the US Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Human Resources survey component and collects full-time faculty salary data by rank, gender, and contract length as well as four additional components, including (a) full-time faculty benefits, including retirement, medical, and dependent tuition benefits, (b) data on continuing full-time faculty, (c) salary data on key administrative positions, and (d) salary and benefits data for part-time adjunct faculty members who were paid per course section in the prior academic year. The AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey is the largest source of data on part-time adjunct faculty members and draws attention to the appallingly low rates of pay and benefits offered to them at many institutions. Information on part-time adjunct faculty is collected for the prior academic year to ensure that institutions can provide complete data for an entire academic year.