Faculty Wages Decreased, Remain Below Prepandemic Level

Preliminary results from the AAUP's 2025-26 Faculty Compensation Survey reveal that real wages for full-time faculty fell between fall 2024 and fall 2025, ending two years of postpandemic recovery. While average nominal salaries rose 2.3 percent, a 2.7 percent spike in inflation resulted in a 0.4 percent decrease in actual purchasing power.

Key preliminary findings include:

• Average salaries for full-time faculty members (all ranks combined) increased 2.3 percent, following a 3.8 percent increase in each of the two prior years.
• Average salaries for full-time faculty members increased 2.4 percent among public institutions, 1.5 percent among private independent institutions, and 2.5 percent among religiously affiliated institutions.
• Average salaries for continuing full-time faculty members (those employed in fall 2024 and remaining employed in fall 2025) increased 3.4 percent in nominal terms, and increased 0.7 percent in real terms, after adjusting for inflation.
• Average rates of pay per course section for part-time faculty members varied widely between institution types in the prior academic year, 2024-25, ranging from a low of $3,200 in religiously affiliated master's institutions to a high of $6,320 in private independent baccalaureate institutions. Among 555 institutions reporting starting (minimum) pay, the median starting pay was $3,121 per course section. Only 32.7 percent of institutions reported contributing toward retirement plans for some or all of such faculty members and only 30.6 percent of institutions reported contributing to premiums for their medical insurance plans in the prior academic year, 2024-25.

Data collection on part-time faculty members was greatly expanded this year to enable better reporting on faculty members who are paid on a per-course-section basis; nearly 590 colleges and universities provided such data, an increase of over 50 percent from last year, greatly improving the accuracy of survey findings and offering a clearer picture of the economic realities facing part-time faculty across the higher education landscape. The AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey is the largest source of data on part-time faculty members who are paid per course section and draws attention to the appallingly low rates of pay and benefits offered to them at many institutions.

Preliminary FCS findings are now available on the AAUP's website here, along with institution-level appendixes to accompany the forthcoming Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2025-26, which will be published online in June and printed in August in the summer issue of Academe.

The AAUP's interactive data website can be explored here. The site includes institution-level data and tools for summarizing data by region, state, institution size, Carnegie Basic Classification, and other variables. Read more and access summary tables and appendixes with listings for individual institutions here.