ABSTRACT
In the United States, institutional base salary is the primary component of academic compensation. Indeed, institutions of higher education define the trajectory along which academic careers are pursued (as the norm, promotion through the ranks within the same institution) and control the level of compensation. Thus, the institutional type (ranging from research university to small, private college) is one of two primary determinants of how much a professor is paid. The second element is academic field: faculty compensation varies substantially at the same institution among faculty in different fields—depending largely on the market for members of that field outside the university. Within institutional types and academic fields, salaries vary intentionally by academic rank and seniority and, unintentionally, by gender. Academics in the United States are well paid in international comparisons, and salaries grew modestly in real dollars during the last quarter of the 20th century. Yet, salaries have leveled off over the past decade or two, and the salary disadvantage of academics versus other professionals in the United States has been growing.
