Preliminary 2023-24 Faculty Compensation Survey Results

Data collection for the AAUP’s 2023–24 Faculty Compensation Survey concluded in March, with nearly 870 US colleges and universities providing employment data for more than 375,000 full-time and 92,000 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 250 doctoral universities, 300 regional universities, 200 liberal arts colleges, 100 community colleges, and 180 minority-serving institutions. This year, real average salaries increased at over 40 percent of colleges and universities, while the CPI-U increased 3.4 percent.

Key Preliminary Findings on Full-Time Faculty Salary Data

• Average salaries for full-time faculty members (all ranks combined) increased 3.8 percent, following a 4.1 percent increase the prior year.
• Average salaries for full-time faculty members increased 3.4 percent among public institutions, 4.3 percent among private-independent institutions, and 4.9 percent among religiously affiliated institutions.
• Real average salaries for full-time faculty members increased 0.4 percent—the first time in four years that wage growth has exceeded inflation—but are nowhere close to the levels before the COVID-19 pandemic. (The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Customer increased 3.4 percent in 2023, 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 2022 and remaining employed in 2023) increased 4.0 percent in nominal terms, and increased 0.6 percent in real terms, after adjusting for inflation.

Data Components Now Available

The following preliminary data components are now available:

• AAUP chapter leaders, AAUP state conference officers, and AFT local or state federation presidents 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.
• You can 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.)
• You can 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 (2022–23) [Survey Report Table 15]
  • Part-time faculty benefits (2022–23) [Survey Report Table 16]

Complete analyses of this year’s results will be presented in the forthcoming Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession 2023–24, 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 examined whether economic conditions in the academy had returned to “normal” after three years of a global pandemic, in a year when the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 6.5 percent, and following a 7 percent increase the previous year, which was the largest percentage increase since 1981. Last year, the answer was a resounding “no,” with real average salaries decreasing at 88 percent of colleges and universities participating in the survey.

This year’s 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. Additional information will be provided on institutional finances, compensation benchmarking, and the makeup of the academic workforce.

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: (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.