Salaries of humanities and social sciences professors at Ivy League universities

[Pomegranate]

Hi all,

We all hear about average salaries made in elite institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT, Princeton, etc. But how about the salary of an Assist, Assoc or Full Prof in humanities or social sciences in these institutions? Would an Assoc Prof of English literature be really making $160k at Harvard?

[Parasaurolophus]

I know of a full humanities prof at Yale who makes over 200k (like, 220 or so).

I dunno about associates, though. Here, the fancy local R1 (public, in Canada) has full profs in the humanities mostly making 140-160k, a few making substantially more. But associates mostly seem to be in the 100k-140k range, from what I can see.

[dismalist]

In 2021 nationwide salaries in thousand US Dollars for Economics professors are:
                   
    Percentile                25th        Median            90th
         
-Instructor                         50            60                   101

-Assistant                          70            83                   131

-Associate                          77            95                   187

-Full                                    97          121                   291

Source: salary.com

[clean]

In 2021 nationwide salaries for Economics professors are:
                   

                      Professor Associate Professor Assistant Professor Instructor
Economics
75th Percentile 176.05               130.00                115.00            87.60
Median            128.00               105.35                   94.00           70.30
25th Percentile 106.25                 89.45                   81.15           57.50
Mean               151.30               112.02                   98.88           7 3.49
N Incumbents     935                  842                      748                 408



https://www.aacsb.edu/-/media/aacsb/publications/data-reports/global-salary-survey/scds_exec_summ_2020_final.ashx?la=en&hash=532C30A666D5CFF96C951BACCE75407A2BEF2F53

[mleok]

My sense is that because of market forces and competition with business schools, economists tend to have some of the highest salaries in the humanities or social sciences.

[Pomegranate]

Mleok has a good point; economists are a bit different in this regard, and not very comparable to the rest. In any case, I "can" access median salaries of various fields in the US. What i wonder is humanities and social sciences profs in elite institutions, which tend to be private and do not publish their salaries. Parasa's example from Yale was informative, for example, in this regard.

[clean]

I have not looked at salary information in some time. Primarily because it tends to piss me off.  I looked at the AACSB salary information that I linked above and noted that my salary is not close to the median for my discipline.  However, it caused me to look up salary information for my university from one of the state newspapers that maintains a database from a Freedom of Information Request to the state that is updated every so often.  Even though my salary is below the discipline at large, it is ok by the standards of the university.

Not that this is the venting thread, but you brought it up , and I will make a point about it... My university did a Salary Adjustment some time ago and I expected that I would get an adjustment closer to the AACSB medians.  Instead the university did some sort of bastardized CUPA survey of 5 or 6 universities THEY picked and I found that MY salary was HIGHER!!  I balked, and had a meeting with the provost about the list.... The schools were not our Aspiration List, not even our self described Contemporary/compatible  List  but some set of schools they likely cherry picked... few were even AACSB accredited!  BUT it was what they used... and some faculty, even by THAT list were given pretty big raises... BUT even then they brought their salaries to 80% of that value.  SO imagine how nice it was to get a raise and now KNOW that they STILL only value you at 80% of the shitty list of schools!

Personally, I am trapped here another 1200 days or so until I qualify for health care in retirement.  After that, IF my retirement accounts hold up and have reached or surpassed their target values, I may very well not be constrained to working ANYWHERE! 


The point is, Even if you have these Averages or Medians (which are more accurate for comparison purposes), they dont mean much.  These national averages dont account for the cost of living in an area (even the 75th percentile in my discipline wont get you very far in San Francisco!).  there is no adjustment for state taxes, the retirement contribution, the health insurance coverage (much less quality of the local doctors), property taxes, insurance rates, ....

The bottom line, is that Salary is one small part of the Total Package.  Comparing one number, in isolation, is relatively meaningless. 

Also, comparing cross disciplines or worse, across countries (Canadian Salaries have little meaning in the US as the Total Package is different) have even less meaning. 


THE OP is new to the boards (if I recall), does not indicate why they want to know... Is this a reaction to the tv show that is gaining popularity (that i dont remember the name about a liberal arts college) or is the OP looking for information to decide about whether to pursue  a degree in that area.  The reason also matters - A Lot !!

[dismalist]

Mleok has a good point; economists are a bit different in this regard, and not very comparable to the rest. In any case, I "can" access median salaries of various fields in the US. What i wonder is humanities and social sciences profs in elite institutions, which tend to be private and do not publish their salaries. Parasa's example from Yale was informative, for example, in this regard.

Yes and no. Look at https://www.salary.com/research/salary/benchmark/instructor-english-salary for English faculty. Click on the right for higher ranks. What is amazing is that the so-called full prof stars in the 90th percentile are doing pretty well for themselves, thank you. I expect the so-called elite institutions to be paying around the 90th percentile, though I could be wrong. Other fields should be accessible on that website.

Oh, and a cursory perusal of the website shows that salaries differ a lot by location, Clean. One should look at how much geographic detail is available on the wesite.

[Economics faculty salaries are higher in B-schools than in A & S perhaps by as much as 20% on account the work there is painful! :-) The market process is far more driven by the fact that economists are well paid and have good working conditions outside academia.]

[Pomegranate]

I have not looked at salary information in some time. Primarily because it tends to piss me off.  I looked at the AACSB salary information that I linked above and noted that my salary is not close to the median for my discipline.  However, it caused me to look up salary information for my university from one of the state newspapers that maintains a database from a Freedom of Information Request to the state that is updated every so often.  Even though my salary is below the discipline at large, it is ok by the standards of the university.

Not that this is the venting thread, but you brought it up , and I will make a point about it... My university did a Salary Adjustment some time ago and I expected that I would get an adjustment closer to the AACSB medians.  Instead the university did some sort of bastardized CUPA survey of 5 or 6 universities THEY picked and I found that MY salary was HIGHER!!  I balked, and had a meeting with the provost about the list.... The schools were not our Aspiration List, not even our self described Contemporary/compatible  List  but some set of schools they likely cherry picked... few were even AACSB accredited!  BUT it was what they used... and some faculty, even by THAT list were given pretty big raises... BUT even then they brought their salaries to 80% of that value.  SO imagine how nice it was to get a raise and now KNOW that they STILL only value you at 80% of the shitty list of schools!

Personally, I am trapped here another 1200 days or so until I qualify for health care in retirement.  After that, IF my retirement accounts hold up and have reached or surpassed their target values, I may very well not be constrained to working ANYWHERE! 


The point is, Even if you have these Averages or Medians (which are more accurate for comparison purposes), they dont mean much.  These national averages dont account for the cost of living in an area (even the 75th percentile in my discipline wont get you very far in San Francisco!).  there is no adjustment for state taxes, the retirement contribution, the health insurance coverage (much less quality of the local doctors), property taxes, insurance rates, ....

The bottom line, is that Salary is one small part of the Total Package.  Comparing one number, in isolation, is relatively meaningless. 

Also, comparing cross disciplines or worse, across countries (Canadian Salaries have little meaning in the US as the Total Package is different) have even less meaning. 


THE OP is new to the boards (if I recall), does not indicate why they want to know... Is this a reaction to the tv show that is gaining popularity (that i dont remember the name about a liberal arts college) or is the OP looking for information to decide about whether to pursue  a degree in that area.  The reason also matters - A Lot !!

Yes, Clean, I'm new here. I had the possibility of moving on to a job at an Ivy (and may still have), but I am already very well paid in comparison to my colleagues in my university. (quite above the university average despite a humanities job). So I wonder if it is even worth the whole hassle, if at the elite institution, they will pay me similar to what I get now (despite radically higher cost of living, higher workload, their average salaries across their university being way higher than my current institution, etc). So I wonder essentially if I got myself forever locked in my institution?

[Puget]

Yes, Clean, I'm new here. I had the possibility of moving on to a job at an Ivy (and may still have), but I am already very well paid in comparison to my colleagues in my university. (quite above the university average despite a humanities job). So I wonder if it is even worth the whole hassle, if at the elite institution, they will pay me similar to what I get now (despite radically higher cost of living, higher workload, their average salaries across their university being way higher than my current institution, etc). So I wonder essentially if I got myself forever locked in my institution?

The only way to find out is to get an offer and see what salary you can negotiate. Knowing other people's salaries is of limited value given the ranges. 

[clean]

The only way to find out is to get an offer and see what salary you can negotiate. Knowing other people's salaries is of limited value given the ranges.

Ditto!

Im reminded of a graduate school classmate.  He asked where I had applied - when the time came- and responed, "Oh, I turned them down".  I replied, "When did you interview?"  He responded, "I didnt apply"  ... He had an ego, so in his mind, IF he applied, certainly he would get the offer, but as it didnt meet his other location requirements, he "turned them down".

The point is that UNTIL you have an offer, you have nothing!  But even an interview will provide information.  Apply or dont, but depending on the internet to look for things that you should be investigating yourself.... 
Good luck on your search. 

[mamselle]

Factor in the fact that some Ivies don't tenure folks as a matter of, almost, principle.

If you're tenured where you are, you may well not be brought in with tenure--reduced clock, maybe, but the standards are fairly stiff.

I worked as an EA supporting several profs in settings similar to those you describe, while doing my own grad work elsewhere, so I've seen the referral letters themselves.

If they 'only' describe you as among the top three in your field globally, you're already on shaky ground.

Top one, fine. Top two, OK, maybe.

But less than that, and it gets dicey.

So be sure you can leave, and get tenure, and not be left high and dry after two or three years.

The salary's just the tip of the iceberg.

M.

[dismalist]

The salary's just the tip of the iceberg.

That's a pretty blunt tip! :-(

[Hibush]

This dubious website purports to provide relevant salaries.
Princeton has these instructional-staff priorities right:
  5 Teaching Fellow $58,760
  6 Head Coach      $57,729

[Caracal]

Hi all,

We all hear about average salaries made in elite institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT, Princeton, etc. But how about the salary of an Assist, Assoc or Full Prof in humanities or social sciences in these institutions? Would an Assoc Prof of English literature be really making $160k at Harvard?

Like others, I don't know for sure, but based on salaries I do know about at private institutions a few rungs lower that sounds like the right ballpark. Of course, 160k in Boston or the Bay Area might not go as far as 90k many other places...