The Highest-Earning Professors

With an average annual salary of $134,162, law professors are the highest-paid faculty for the 2010-2011 school year, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Business and computer science follow as the second-and third-most lucrative fields for professors. Rounding out the bottom of the list are visual and performing arts and theology and religious vocations -- professors in these fields earn an average of $79,768 and $74,267 per year, on average.

The Chronicle used data from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, which gathered salary information from 214,155 professors, associate professors, assistant professors, new assistant professors and instructors at 812 public and private four-year institutions.

Below, check out the ten fields with highest-earning professors. The , and see the Chronicle for more, including average salaries of associate and assistant professors and instructors.

Does this spread seem justified to you? Let us know in the comments section.

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Legal professions and studies: $134,162

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Comments

[wowbackwardiswow]

03:59 PM on 04/10/2011

The saddest thing is that these salaries trump by what, three-fold, the average k-12 teacher's salary? Ridiculous. Lets pay the University presidents a higher salary, give corporate tax cuts, and subsidize oil because, hey, they're hurting in this down-economy too.

[jdoubleum69]

11:16 AM on 03/31/2011

This is a good example of how messed up our country is. Things that actually matter, agriculture/health/natural resources, are put on the back burner for more profitable disciplines.

[BoxOfficeWeekend]

12:36 AM on 03/27/2011

Teaching is not a profitable career. You can make better income writing a book and running an education blog.

However, instructors who want to inspire students and to put forth a noble effort to provide quality education gain moral reward worth far more than their income. Teachers are honored when student attribute their success to their instruction.

http://CollegeDegreeDiploma.com

[AndyB62]

06:06 PM on 03/25/2011

I still make less than the lowest average pay and the college president wants our faculty union to give back from our raises because the new repub gov is cutting school funding accross the board. I'm waiting for the union busting legislation.

[go2goal]

08:23 AM on 03/25/2011

I thought College professors were smart......they could make a lot more money coaching athletic teams under the NCAA monopoly. Academics is so old school.....it's time to remove academics from Colleges and to be 100% athletics. I love the NCAA....don't you? I particularly its influence on our public school academic budgets.....and that big sucking sound for athletic teams so the ringers can chase those scholarships.

What a screwed up country.

[AndyB62]

06:08 PM on 03/25/2011

Highest paid employee at Penn State...Joe Paterno. He still won't release financial statements even though he is paid by a school funded with tax dollars.

[Rush Baby]

01:50 AM on 04/06/2011

"Joe Pa" makes the school millions in revenue. there is not a professor in the world that makes money for the university. and getting grants dont count... i am talking real cash that keeps pouring in.

[healthanalyst]

02:34 AM on 03/22/2011

This is pretty much a garbage study. First off, assistant profs make less than full professors. Depending on the field, there is a huge jump. Also, adjuncts, the wage slave crank turners get $5k per class if that. They may be driving around multiple campuses with no office space. These generally can't get on in a tenure track campus.

Full professors can make the most, depends on grants, publications - and textbooks in certain fields are very lucrative.

Better would be entry level by field. Political science barely makes $30k. Accounting, $90k, same for finance. Social sciences, maybe $40k. There's a boost at associate. You also get a cost of living raise, but with the recession, salary freeze is the norm, they may drop adjuncts and increase the workload.

Class prep is done at all hours. Weekends, nights. Then there's research. Again done at all hours. getting in to check the mail, a 2 hour lunch, then leaving at 4 doesn't mean that's the only work done. Working at home means no students showing up for advising outside of advising hours, the student begging for an A because he graduates and did none of the homework and skipped half the classes.

And there's emails which show up at all hours and students expect instant responses.

[RobbieB]

07:15 AM on 03/22/2011

Been the chair, haven't you... F&F for posting at 2:34 AM. Papers to Grade? Posting some assignment to Blackboard?

[healthanalyst]

07:12 PM on 03/22/2011

I look for chalk on the electronic blackboards, not to mention real erasers......now where's the fluorescent whiteout for this screen?

[alumcreek]

09:24 AM on 03/22/2011

Our society sees teaching as a low level unimportant occupation on the whole. The guys on the bottom are overworked and basically abused as though they were slaves. The guys on top are given a pass on productivity.

It is far worse on the secondary and primary levels except in very rich suburbs.

[healthanalyst]

07:17 PM on 03/22/2011

I feel sorry for the traveling adjuncts who do a class here and there. Was pretty common in Southern California a while back. Doubt its changed much. Only saving grace is to be accredited, you have to have a percentage of tenure track. If there is a field specific accreditation process, might be tougher.

Some areas salaries have not kept up with housing costs. So you have the 'will buy a house when we retire and move'. That hurts getting faculty to take positions there.

Its not as easy as people think. Rule of thumb used to be 50% who were ABD (finished coursework for a PhD needed just that 'little paper') never finished the PhD.

[go2goal]

08:42 AM on 03/25/2011

Is it part of the "plan" for the US to become a 2 class society instead of a health democracy with a pluralistic society?

It's beginning to look like the riich have good schools with their private prep schools, rich suburb public schools and their ability to afford a college education. And everyone else who's having their public schools and teachers cut & slashed to cover budget deficits....and this being the segment of the population where college is beyond reach economically.

Like with everything else these days....we are becoming more consolidated at the top. The rich are getting richer under our Republican designed tax code and corporate subsidies......and the rich are becoming the exclusive class of education. Anyone below the rich, and you are seeing a deterioration across everything....our schools are heading in the wrong direction and NOT because of unions. No argument, the Unions have to make some changes (get rid of tenure), but they are not THE problem.

It's been class warfare since Reagan.....the problem is the middle and lower class hasn't realized it until recenlty.

[Christopher Rector]

12:20 AM on 03/22/2011

My experience in science at least is that some profs make a lot of money and others make pretty modest money. A research group at my school in our physics dept. just got a $100 million grant from lockheed-martin, and the head of the group is a Canada research chair and has like 200+ patents...Im sure he makes a modest chunk of change. And as for hours of work go it just depends on the person. I'm sure all researchers at certain points work a ton but most people I know show up at 10 or 11 then take a 2 hour lunch break and go home at four.

[NeoConsAreFinished]

11:56 AM on 03/24/2011

BS.......................

[bccmeteorites]

10:38 PM on 03/27/2011

True dat.

[DrMink]

10:32 PM on 03/21/2011

What, did they exclude medical school faculty. Some of them make salaries approaching SEVEN figures.

[Amalek]

12:16 AM on 03/22/2011

It is rare for any physician to make that much anymore. Insurance companies have really put the screws to them.

And, they are really not faculty anyway.  They simply practice medicine at a university hospital and let the medical students watch.

[healthanalyst]

02:26 AM on 03/22/2011

Family practice can easily clear $600k, now there's other salaries and overhead to pay but you can make a bundle with an MD. Its all how efficient the staff is in getting people in and out of the office. And what you bill for.

[go2goal]

08:45 AM on 03/25/2011

Can you supply examples?

My sister-in-law was an OBGYN professor at UVM's Medical School and has since transferred to Stanford.....she isn't remotely close to making SEVEN digits. Although she is making more at Stanford than at UVM.

[moAb]

05:36 PM on 04/04/2011

Salaries have dropped significantly over the past several decades. Highest paid physicians are cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, radiologists, followed by other surgeons. The mean varies somewhat by geographic region and generally in large metropolitan areas the salaries on average are distinctly lower. While there are a few docs making 'seven figures' they are definitely the exception. As to FPs making 600K...maybe if they own a fast food restaurant on the side. More like 120-250k per year plus benefits. As to OBs...in private practice the malpractice coupled with standard overhead costs can reduce annual take home to mid to low six figures.

[MFMG]

09:58 PM on 03/21/2011

I have to comment. I have never seen a professor kill themselves with work. They usually only work 3 or 4 short days a week and then have assistants to help with setting up programs, labs, correcting tests etc... And in my opinion professors in the medical, biomedical, research, biology and other science related fields should be paid the most not the least.

[foodle]

11:02 PM on 03/21/2011

Wow, clearly you are not a faculty member and have never worked closely with one. All of the faculty I know work nearly 24/7/365. Maybe some old fossils tenured 30 years ago are phoning it in, but most faculty are working like dogs day-in day-out. Students have no idea and no appreciation for how hard faculty work.

[Amalek]

12:23 AM on 03/22/2011

I am a professor, and I came to it after a successful business career.  Here is my perspective as an inside observer.

Young professors tend to work like dogs, because they have no job security.  In order to obtain tenure, they need to publish, and publishing academically is very difficult - particularly if you need to get in top tier journals as you do at top schools.  So, young professors on tenure track at good schools often work very long hours.   They also have to teach, and are usually horrible teachers.  They have not practiced long enough to have the lectures and course materials down, so they spend a lot of time on that.

Once tenured, many do slow down.  Those at less prestigious schools might have a very easy life.  The odd person really becomes a good teacher and spends a lot of time with students - but you will be fortunate to find her.  Others keep going because they do need to keep a good research record to be respected, and because the years of striving have conditioned them for that lifestyle.  Others learn to monetize their research, and get very busy doing consulting.  I am an accounting professor, and I make about double my teaching salary consulting - in fewer hours.

But compared to life in the corporation, academia is heaven.  I may work similar hours, but they don't hurt nearly as much.

[lotusgirl]

10:24 PM on 03/29/2011

It's all a mater of perspective. I worked more hours at my old job, but enjoyed it more. Now, every hour at this job feels like torture. It really does matter if you feel passionate about what you do, are appreciated and enjoy those you work with.

Thanks for the perspective and information.

[Demarcus Jackson]

09:31 PM on 03/21/2011

Well, I know it is not me :-) I teach psychology at a community college and barely make $40,000 a year. But, I love my job, so I guess it's okay.

[Konrad Klean]

10:13 PM on 03/21/2011

Power to you Demarcus. I started my education at community college and professors such as yourself helped me find my academic confidence, leadership skills, and courage to press for greater opportunity for myself as well as my fellow students.

I think that all of you guys and gals should get paid far more than the sum you listed. There is no reason why community college professors, who in my experience are some of the most dedicated and committed faculty should make anything less than 80,000 per year. You all deserve it.

[chubby06]

06:47 PM on 03/21/2011

My few friends that went into teaching law did it since they hated practicing law. Seems strange that they would be a part of an industry the continues to crank out kids into an industry which they themselves hated. Some law profs are truly good at teaching - many others are failures in private practice with the right pedigree to get hired as a prof.

[lotusgirl]

10:26 PM on 03/29/2011

I know very few lawyers who enjoy practicing law. They are all burn-outs working 70+ hours a week. I can understand changing to a teaching position, even for less money.

[supergenius02]

06:41 PM on 03/21/2011

And those salaries don't include all the money professoors get from research grants.

[yavuz]

07:30 PM on 03/21/2011

wrong!

supergenius, LOL

[giberson]

07:37 PM on 03/21/2011

Ummmmm...you might be a super genius, but you clearly don't understand how grants work. Grant monies go to research equipment, research assistants, etc.; the only way it makes its way to the grant researcher is through salary, meaning that the grant pays the University for the time the faculty member works on the granted research, thus saving the University the faculty member's salary. So if a professor makes $100,000 and gets a grant that covers a full year's salary, the faculty member gets . . . . $100,000 salary. The University simply doesn't have to pay it. Saves super duper smart tax payers like you money!

[Christopher Rector]

12:22 AM on 03/22/2011

You do realize that different schools in different countries are going to have different policies on grants right?

[Sennin]

02:48 PM on 03/21/2011

I don't know what to think anymore, but I felt that I must comment. Thus, my days in this world.

[BAMUDA]

01:57 PM on 03/21/2011

Pretty simple, really.... the stratification is largely analogous to what it takes to lure these folks out of the private sector (at least for most of the year).

[healthanalyst]

02:41 AM on 03/22/2011

No what they're worth. Some salaries, especially business are supported by companies giving to the school because they expect X education for their graduates. Or the students are especially useful. Think engineering schools, oil companies kick in a bundle, sometimes for specific areas of research, but the don't do that to all schools, just the best. Bigger the school, more the support.

A PhD is pretty much useless in the private sector. You get just as much with an MA or MS. Not much use for black studies PhDs except academia where they produce more black studies students who hold the work for food signs. There are other majors that are pretty much as useful in the economy.

[theborg]

01:42 PM on 03/21/2011

I thought college football coaches were the highest paid professors.

[wazza]

02:48 PM on 03/21/2011

1 college football coach is worth 10-20 professors.

[wazza]

02:49 PM on 03/21/2011

Worth it to the university, that is. I don't mean in general.