- We took a look into how much professors at the 50 best public colleges in the US earn for their work.
- Using rankings from US News and data from the Department of Education, we found the average salary for non-medical instructional staff.
- Top-ranked UCLA has the highest average professor salary at just over $162,000.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
College professors at the top public universities in the United States tend to do pretty well for themselves. That is to say, most of them are at least earning more money than the average K-12 public school teacher.
We took a look at the 2020 50 best public colleges and universities as ranked by US News and World Report and gathered data on the average salary for non-medical instructional staff normalized to a standard nine-month contract for the 2017-2018 school year from the Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System survey results. Many school rankings are tied.
We found that average salaries for professors tended to be higher at schools closer to the top of the rankings, with top-ranked UCLA also having the highest average professor salary at $162,148.
Here are the average salaries for instructional staff at the top 50 public universities and colleges in the US, ranked in ascending order:
Auburn University
US News national rank: 44 (TIE)
Average salary: $91,861
Temple University
US News national rank: 44 (TIE)
Average salary: $96,861
University of California-Merced
US News national rank: 44 (TIE)
Average salary: $95,315
University of Colorado-Boulder
US News national rank: 44 (TIE)
Average salary: $101,847
University of Oregon
US News national rank: 44 (TIE)
Average salary: $89,123
University of South Carolina
US News national rank: 44 (TIE)
Average salary: $96,576
University of South Florida
US News national rank: 44 (TIE)
Average salary: $91,188
University of Tennessee
US News national rank: 44 (TIE)
Average salary: $98,069
University of Utah
US News national rank: 44 (TIE)
Average salary: $90,405
New Jersey Institute of Technology
US News national rank: 43
Average salary: $114,220
Miami University-Oxford
US News national rank: 39 (TIE)
Average salary: $84,557
Stony Brook University-SUNY
US News national rank: 39 (TIE)
Average salary: $101,513
University of California-Riverside
US News national rank: 39 (TIE)
Average salary: $115,251
University of Delaware
US News national rank: 39 (TIE)
Average salary: $114,057
Colorado School of Mines
US News national rank: 34 (TIE)
Average salary: $102,643
Michigan State University
US News national rank: 34 (TIE)
Average salary: $106,253
North Carolina State University-Raleigh
US News national rank: 34 (TIE)
Average salary: $98,011
University of California-Santa Cruz
US News national rank: 34 (TIE)
Average salary: $125,225
University of Iowa
US News national rank: 34 (TIE)
Average salary: $99,670
Binghamton University-SUNY
US News national rank: 31 (TIE)
Average salary: $83,269
Indiana University-Bloomington
US News national rank: 31 (TIE)
Average salary: $93,585
University at Buffalo-SUNY
US News national rank: 31 (TIE)
Average salary: $91,312
Virginia Tech
US News national rank: 30
Average salary: $101,535
Clemson University
US News national rank: 27 (TIE)
Average salary: $92,589
Texas A&M University-College Station
US News national rank: 27 (TIE)
Average salary: $102,767
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
US News national rank: 27 (TIE)
Average salary: $106,604
University of Connecticut
US News national rank: 24 (TIE)
Average salary: $108,246
University of Maryland-College Park
US News national rank: 24 (TIE)
Average salary: $116, 219
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
US News national rank: 24 (TIE)
Average salary: $111,840
Rutgers University-New Brunswick
US News national rank: 22 (TIE)
Average salary: $107,178
University of Washington
US News national rank: 22 (TIE)
Average salary: $114,011
Florida State University
US News national rank: 18 (TIE)
Average salary: $99,450
Pennsylvania State University-University Park
US News national rank: 18 (TIE)
Average salary: $102,273
Purdue University-West Lafayette
US News national rank: 18 (TIE)
Average salary: $109,552
University of Pittsburgh
US News national rank: 18 (TIE)
Average salary: $97,541
Ohio State University-Columbus
US News national rank: 17
Average salary: $111,006
University of Georgia
US News national rank: 16
Average salary: $100,687
University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign
US News national rank: 14 (TIE)
Average salary: $110,178
University of Texas-Austin
US News national rank: 14 (TIE)
Average salary: $112,283
University of Wisconsin-Madison
US News national rank: 13
Average salary: $108,135
College of William and Mary
US News national rank: 12
Average salary: $100,829
University of California-Davis
US News national rank: 11
Average salary: $125,263
University of California-San Diego
US News national rank: 10
Average salary: $142,951
University of California-Irvine
US News national rank: 9
Average salary: $135,936
University of California-Santa Barbara
US News national rank: 7 (TIE)
Average salary: $136,700
University of Florida
US News national rank: 7 (TIE)
Average salary: $107,263
Georgia Institute of Technology
US News national rank: 5 (TIE)
Average salary: $110,397
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
US News national rank: 5 (TIE)
Average salary: $113,524
University of Virginia
US News national rank: 4
Average salary: $124,710
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
US News national rank: 3
Average salary: $105,317
University of California-Berkeley
US News national rank: 2
Average salary: $149,427
University of California-Los Angeles
US News national rank: 1
Average salary: $162,148
