Tenure-Track Faculty Salary Increases Trailed Inflation For 8th Year In a Row; Median Salary Is 9.7% Lower Than Five Years Ago

College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), Higher Education Pay Increases in 2023 Exceeded Inflation for the First Time Since the Pandemic:

New research from CUPA-HR has found that median pay increases for most higher education employees in 2023-24 continued the upward trend seen last year (and exceeded the inflation rate for the first time since 2019-20). However, the findings also show that most higher ed employees are still being paid less than they were in 2019-20 in inflation-adjusted dollars.

• Non-tenure-track teaching faculty received their highest raise in the past eight years.
• Staff (generally non-exempt employees) received the highest increase in pay in comparison to other employee types. This was true last year as well.
• Tenure-track faculty continued to receive the lowest pay increases (and were the only group of employees whose raise did not surpass inflation).

Tenure-track faculty are the group with the largest gap between median salaries in 2019-20 adjusted to 2023-24 dollars and actual median salaries in 2023-24, earning 9.7% less.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Law Professor Pay Plummeted 30% This Decade While College President Pay Rose 20% (Oct. 18, 2023)