english professor salary phd

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Average Professor Salary -

2023 average professor salary by state.

• Rhode Island has the highest Professor salary of $123,318 and Kansas has the lowest Professor salary of $69,107.
• For public schools, California has the highest Professor salary of $140,351 and Kentucky has the lowest Professor salary of $70,177.
• For private schools, Rhode Island has the highest Professor salary of $127,511 and New Mexico has the lowest Professor salary of $43,256.
• For national universities, New Hampshire has the highest Professor salary of $183,583 and Mississippi has the lowest Professor salary of $89,482.
• For liberal arts colleges, Colorado has the highest Professor salary of $142,287 and Idaho has the lowest Professor salary of $41,379.
• For community colleges, Hawaii has the highest Professor salary of $103,412 and North Carolina has the lowest Professor salary of $52,974.

Comparison of 2023 Professor Salary by State

Here are the average salaries of professors at all 8 Ivy League schools

• Professors at top schools can make more than $175,000 a year.
• Harvard University professors make the most compared to other Ivy League faculty members — they earn $226,394 per year.
• Here are the average yearly salaries of professors at all 8 Ivy League colleges.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

Professors at Ivy League universities and colleges hold some of the most prestigious jobs in the country. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Ivy League professors are paid generously for their contributions to education. 

Professor salaries can differ depending on the school, and whether the university or college is public or private.

According to data collected by The Chronicle of Higher Education , Ivy League professors all made upwards of $175,000 a year in 2017. Comparatively, the average base salary for a college professor in 2019 is $94,868, according to Glassdoor . 

Read more: Every Ivy League university ranked from least to most expensive

Here are the yearly salaries of professors at all 8 Ivy League colleges, ranked from lowest paid to highest. 

Cornell University: $175,682

Out of all the Ivy League institutions, Cornell professors make the least. However, that isn't to say that they aren't paid generously. Cornell pays their professors an average of $175,682 a year — roughly $80,000 more than the national average salary for college professors. 

Brown University: $181,173

In 2018, Brown University employed 1,023 instructional faculty members. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the average salary for a Brown University professor is $181,173 .

Dartmouth College: $188,163

The 2019 tuition and fees cost for attending Dartmouth College is $76,623   per year, according to the school's website. Professors at Dartmouth make $188,163 per year on average.

Princeton University: $213,769

Princeton is a not-for-profit university in Princeton, New Jersey. The average salary of a professor at Princeton is $213,769 per year. The student to faculty ratio is 20% . 

Yale University: $214,575

The cost of attending Yale University in New Haven, CT is $53,430 . Professors there are paid $214,575 . It is classified as a research university by Carnegie Classification and the highest degree you can receive from Yale is a Doctorate. 

University of Pennsylvania: $217,411

University of Pennsylvania professors are paid generous salaries — they make an average of $217,411 per year. There are more than 5,000 professors at Penn, and they offer " an integrated, multi-disciplinary point of view," according to the university's website. 

Columbia: $223,427

At $223,427 a year, Columbia professors make the second-highest salaries. Columbia has a total enrollment of 30,454 students and employs 4,205 faculty members. The cost to attend Columbia is $59,430 per year.

Harvard University: $226,394

Harvard professors make the most out of all Ivy League professors. They earn an average of $226,394 each year. Student tuition is $50,420  per year and total student enrollment is 31,120.

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English Professor Careers: Job Description & Salary Info

Pros and Cons of an English Professor Career

A career as an English professor can appeal to those who love literature and the written word. Learn the pros and cons of this career field to find out if becoming an English professor is the right choice for you.

Sources: *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, **O*NET OnLine.

Essential Career Information

Job description and duties.

As an English professor, you'll moderate classroom discussions on subjects such as comparative literature or linguistics and lecture about course material. You may help students develop research skills and advise them on the different ways to approach subject matter. Subjects you may cover, among others, include poetry, writing, or novel structure. Depending on the school, you may have graduate students who assist you in your teaching and research duties.

Salary and Employment Prospects

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), English professors earned a median annual salary of $60,160 as of May 2014 ( www.bls.gov ). Those working at junior colleges and universities or professional schools, two of the top-paying industries, earned closest to this figure. English professors at technical schools earned almost $48,900, and those working at business schools averaged approximately $53,030, according to the BLS.

Employment projections between 2012 and 2022 for English professors are expected to increase by 12%, which is faster than the average among all occupations. However, the BLS indicated that many positions in postsecondary education could be in science and healthcare-related fields. Stiff competition is expected for tenured positions during this period, as many schools eliminate them in favor of adjunct or part-time positions in an effort to cut costs.

What Are the Requirements?

Education and training requirements.

According to the BLS, to become a postsecondary teacher, you'll either need a master's degree or a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in your field of study, depending on the school's requirements. A graduate program in an English-related field can allow you to focus on a specific niche area that will become important in your career as an English professor. For example, many English departments prefer professors who are experts in a particular era, genre or person, such as medieval literature, Shakespeare, 19th century American literature or postmodern writing.

As part of your graduate education, you may be required to teach undergraduate English courses. This can provide you with valuable teaching experience that may help with your future job prospects. In most programs, you'll also be required to write and defend a dissertation in your area of expertise, which can aid you in researching and writing the scholarly papers and articles often required of English professors. If you're interested in becoming a tenured professor, you will need strong research skills as publishing scholarly papers is often a requirement for getting and keeping a tenured position.

What Do Employers Look For?

Colleges and universities often look for potential professors who are able to teach a specific field in English, such as technical writing, composition and rhetoric, linguistics or journalism. Often, professors must start in part-time assistant or adjunct positions before becoming eligible for tenured positions. The following jobs were advertised in April and May of 2012:

• A Jesuit university in West Virginia needed an assistant professor for its English department. The candidate for this tenure-track position would teach writing and composition. A Ph.D. was required and the candidate would need to contribute to the school's overall mission.
• A community college in Tennessee sought an instructor to teach freshman composition. A master's degree was required and full-time teaching experience was preferred.
• A college in Florida had an opening for a tenure-track literature and composition professor. The position involved night and weekend classes and was a yearly, two-semester contract position. A master's degree in an English-related field was required, as well as some postsecondary teaching experience.

How to Stand Out in the Field

Develop related skills.

Based on job postings, employers tend to desire professors with teaching experience, as well as strong research skills. You can gain teaching experience through many on-campus graduate programs or you can volunteer at community centers where you teach basic reading and writing skills.

Develop your research skills as a graduate student by researching a topic within your field of expertise and submitting an article to a scholarly journal. You can also hone your research and writing skills and professionally network by presenting a paper at an English conference. This often requires submitting your paper prior to the conference, and you may need a faculty member to sponsor your work.

Since job postings demonstrate that employers look for applicants who are familiar with particular emphases, you can study a specific area within English. Specializations within English can vary from a specific genre of writing to the analysis of literary work or author. Just of a few of the specializations available in English graduate programs include:

• Gender studies
• Cinema studies
• Interpretative theory
• Modern studies
• Restoration literature
• Victorian literature

Other Careers to Consider

If you're interested in history, but don't want to focus on the literary aspects, you can become a historian. Historians are academics who analyze and interpret history and human culture over time, according to the BLS. Historians can be professors, but they can also work for governments, non-profits and historical societies.

Since not all historians are professors, some only need a master's degree. Employment growth for historians outside of academia was projected to similar to that of professors at 18% from 2010 to 2020. The BLS noted that there would be tough competition for jobs in this field. Historians, as of May 2011, earned an average income of almost $58,000, according to the BLS.

Writer or Author

If you enjoy writing but aren't interested in teaching, you can become a writer or an author. Writers can be grouped in any number of occupational sectors, ranging from magazine writers to book authors. Since there is a large range of occupational options, there are typically no requirements to hold a graduate degree. In fact, the BLS stated that most salaried writing positions only required a bachelor's degree.

Although the BLS indicated that writers and authors would experience a slow job growth of 6% between 2010 and 2020, writers specializing in online media would have an advantage. As of May 2011, writers and authors earned an average salary of about $68,000, according to the BLS.

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PhD, Professor, and Postdoc Salaries in the United States

The United States is home to several of the world’s best universities making it a top destination for international researchers. Here’s a breakdown of the most common American job titles and their associated average annual salaries. All salary statistics in this article are in American Dollars (USD) and are pre-tax.

PhD Student

A Master’s degree is not always required to do a PhD in the US. Several top universities offer direct entry PhD programs. An American PhD begins with two to three years of coursework in order to pass qualifying exams. During this time doctoral students are able to develop their research interests and hone in on their thesis topic. They will then write a thesis proposal which must be approved before they can start their dissertation. Most programs require PhD students to gain two to three years of teaching experience as well, either by leading their own class or as teaching assistants for a professor. It takes an average of six years to earn a PhD in the US.

Unlike some European countries, there is no mandated minimum salary or national salary scale for PhD students in the US. PhD students ear n between $ 15,000 and $30,000 a year depending on their institution, field of study, and location. This stipend can be tax-free (if it is a fellowship award) or taxable (if it is a salary e.g from a teaching position). American PhD students are usually only paid for nine months of the year but many programs offer summer funding opportunities. A PhD funding package will also include a full or partial tuition waiver.

After earning a PhD, many researchers go on to a postdoc. A postdoc is a continuation of the researcher’s training that allows them to further specialize in a particular field and learn new techniques. Postdoc positions are usually two to three years and it is not unusual to do more than one postdoc. There is no limit on the number of years you can be a postdoc in the US. The average salary (2023 ) for postdocs in the US is $61,143 per year.

A lecturer is a non-tenure-track teaching position. They often have a higher teaching load than tenure track-faculty and no research obligations. These positions are more common in the humanities or as foreign language instructors. Lecturers hold advanced degrees, though not always PhDs. The average salary for a full time lecturer in 2021-2022 according to the American Association of University Professors was $69,499.

Assistant Professor

This is the start of the tenure track. An assistant professor is responsible for teaching, research, and service to the institution (committee membership). Assistant professors typically teach two to four courses per semester while also supervising graduate students. They are also expected to be active researchers and publish books, monographs, papers, and journal articles to meet their tenure requirements. The average salary for assistant professors in 2021-2022 was $85,063 according to the American Association of University Professors . 

Associate Professor

An assistant professor who has been granted tenure is then promoted to an associate professor. An associate professor often has a national reputation and is involved in service activities beyond their university. The average salary for associate professors in 2021-2022 was $97,734 according to the American Association of University Professors . 

This is the final destination of the tenure track. Five to seven years after receiving tenure, associate professors go through another review. If they are successful, they are promoted to the rank of professor (sometimes called full professor). Professors usually have a record of accomplishment that has established them as an international or national leader in their field. The average salary for professors in 2021-2022 according to the American Association of University Professors was $143,823. 

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English PhD Stipends in the United States: Statistical Report

By Eric Weiskott

This report presents the results of research into stipends for PhD candidates in English conducted between summer 2021 and spring 2022. The report surveys the top 135 universities in the U.S. News and World Report 2022 “Best National University Ranking,” plus the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Of these universities, 80 offer a PhD in English and guarantee full funding for five or more years. Graduate administrators at three universities declined to grant permission to have current or historical stipend amounts published, citing legal concerns (appendix A). The remaining 77 institutions form the data set. Stipend amounts are expressed in absolute dollars (table 1), in cost-of-living-adjusted dollars (table 2), relative to endowment size for universities with institutional endowments of $3.5 billion or less (figure 1), and broken down by type of university (public or private) (tables 3a–3b) and by region (tables 4a–4d).

The stipend data were gathered by consulting program websites and, if no URL is cited, by canvassing departmental faculty and staff members responsible for administering English PhD programs, often holding the title “Director of Graduate Studies” (DGS). 1 In some cases, the standard stipend must be expressed as a dollar range rather than a fixed amount, for reasons specified in the notes.

All figures given in this report are gross pay, reflecting neither tax withholding schemes nor any mandatory student fees. All figures are rounded to the nearest dollar. All figures reflect the base or standard stipend offer, not including supplemental funding offered on a competitive basis at the department, college, or university level. All figures represent twelve-month pay, regardless of whether the program distinguishes between academic-year stipend and any summer stipend, provided both are guaranteed. While every effort was made to procure academic year 2021–22 or 2022–23 figures, in a few cases this was not possible. A limitation of the data therefore is that they mix current and recent stipend amounts. For some programs, the standard stipend increases or decreases during the course of the degree. Where the changes in pay occur in specific years, they are accordingly factored into the numbers given in the report, which represent a five-year average in these instances. However, where the changes depend on the unpredictable completion of program requirements, or reflect differential pay based on past degrees earned or not earned at the time of matriculation, I express the standard stipend as a range. Because programs with a stipend range are ranked and averaged according to the average of the low and high ends of the range, the report may slightly overstate or understate the total value of the stipend over the length of the degree depending how candidates tend to move through those programs, or depending on the academic background of the candidates who matriculate into them.

Cost-of-living comparisons were made using Nerdwallet ’s cost-of-living calculator (“Cost”), checked against the standardized cost-of-living rating on BestPlaces (“2022 Cost”).  Nerdwallet ’s calculator has the advantage of splitting up geography into medium-sized benchmark areas, often roughly corresponding to a commutable radius around a town or city, as opposed to the jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction comparisons of BestPlaces and other cost-of-living calculators, which would be more pertinent to real estate purchases. However, use of the Nerdwallet tool entails limitations, occasionally acute. Some university campuses are located closer to available Nerdwallet benchmarks than others. Certain rural and suburban campuses are located in jurisdictions with somewhat higher or lower cost of living than the closest available Nerdwallet benchmark, often a city. These limitations were corrected for in the more severe cases and to the extent possible by averaging multiple benchmarks selected for geographic proximity and comparable cost of living (as given on BestPlaces ) to the location of the campus, as noted in each case in table 2. The possibility of PhD candidates’ commuting to campus from a distance greater than the radius of a Nerdwallet benchmark, not to mention the possibility of their living farther afield when teaching remotely in the COVID-19 pandemic or dissertating, further complicates a direct benchmark-to-benchmark cost-of-living conversion.

It was particularly difficult to determine the cost of living for one campus, Rutgers University, New Brunswick. This is because Rutgers is within commuting distance of New York, the highest cost-of-living metropolitan area in the United States, coupled with the fact that the Nerdwallet benchmark to which the city of New Brunswick belongs, “Middlesex-Monmouth,” covers two New Jersey counties that include many towns as distant from New Brunswick to the south and west as Brooklyn and Manhattan are to the north and east. That is, New Brunswick is inadvantageously situated in its Nerdwallet benchmark for the purposes of stating an average cost of living that captures patterns of commuting to and from campus. Commutes from south and west of campus are included, while commutes from north and east are excluded. In the Midwest and West, where Nerdwallet tends to have fewer benchmark areas, suburban and smaller urban campuses within commuting distance of a large city often are benchmarked to that city—for example, the University of Colorado, Boulder, to the Denver benchmark and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, to the Detroit benchmark. It would therefore seem to be inconsistent to omit to factor New York into the cost-of-living-adjusted value of a stipend paid by Rutgers University, New Brunswick, particularly as the difference between the cost of living in New York and New Brunswick is so much greater than the difference between the cost of living in Detroit and Ann Arbor, or between Denver and Boulder. My solution, to average the average of the Nerdwallet results for Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens together with the results for Middlesex-Monmouth, is an admittedly provisional one that risks overstating the cost of living of pursuing a PhD in English at Rutgers, which, after all, is not located in Brooklyn, Manhattan, or Queens. In a private communication, the DGS reports that a little over one quarter of current Rutgers English graduate candidates reside in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, or adjacent Jersey City, NJ. I consider this proportion large enough to confirm my initial expectation that the very high cost of living in New York should factor into an estimate of the cost of living associated with a Rutgers English PhD in some way. I have not systematically polled DGSs about where candidates live. If nothing else, I hope the difficult case of Rutgers illuminates the limitations of representing cost of living with a single standardized number in an age of urban agglomeration, rapid transport, and a prevailing tolerance for work commutes of up to one hour or so.

Endowment figures (figure 1) were drawn from the fiscal year 2020 statistical report on North American university endowments published by the National Association of College and University Business Officers ( U.S. and Canadian Institutions ).

This stipend report is not a substitute for a holistic assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of an individual PhD program and is not intended to guide prospective PhD applicants toward or away from any given program. The report does not take account of such significant variables as relative strength of the program in the applicant’s area of specialty; any competitive fellowships and stipends available; exam requirements burden; teaching and service expectations; cultural life and nearby off-campus intellectual institutions; the number of years of full funding guaranteed past five, if any; or record of placing graduates into full-time academic employment. The report isolates the stipend as one important factor among several shaping the experience, opportunity cost, and financial, intellectual, and professional benefit of pursuing graduate study in English. Graduate candidates are workers as well as students, and the stipend is their salary. It is hoped that by understanding these data, program administrators, graduate administrators, department chairs, current PhDs, and prospective PhD applicants can form an evidence-based impression of what the English PhD pays around the country and in divergent institutional and regional settings.

For completeness, appendixes list the universities among the 135 that either offer the PhD in English but do not guarantee full funding for five or more years (appendix B) or do not offer the PhD in English (appendix C). Note

1 I thank Anna Chang for assistance gathering updated stipend amounts at a late stage of the project.

Works Cited

“Best National University Rankings.” U.S. News and World Report , 2022, www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities .

“Cost of Living Calculator.” Nerdwallet , 2022, www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator .

“2022 Cost of Living Calculator.” BestPlaces , 2022, www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living/ .

U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Endowment Market Value and Change in Endowment Market Value from FY19 to FY20 . National Association of College and University Business Officers , 2021, www.nacubo.org/-/media/Documents/Research/2020-NTSE-Public-Tables–Endowment-Market-Values–FINAL-FEBRUARY-19-2021.ashx.

Table 1. English PhD Standard Stipend Nationwide Comparison

Table 1 Average: $25,006

Table 1 Median: $25,000   

Table 1 Notes

1 The figure reflects a stipend of $30,800 for the first year and $36,570 thereafter, averaged over five years.

2 gfs.stanford.edu/salary/salary22/tal_all.pdf . I obtained this figure by tripling the standard arts and sciences per-quarter rate to reflect Stanford University’s three-quarter, nine-month academic year.

3 The figure reflects an academic-year stipend of $27,605 ($3,067 per month), plus a summer stipend that is the average of the 2020–21 summer stipend of $5,300 ($1,767 per month) and three months of the 2021–22 academic-year rate—namely, $7,251 ($2,417 per month). Brown University is phasing in a summer stipend to match the academic-year stipend over the next year.

4 www.tgs.northwestern.edu/funding/index.html .

5 gsas.yale.edu/resources-students/finances-fellowships/stipend-payments#:~:text=students%20receive%20a%20semi%2Dmonthly,2022%20academic%20year%20is%20%2433%2C600 .

6 The figure reflects an academic-year stipend of $28,654, plus a summer stipend of $6,037 for the first four years, averaged over five years.

7 today.duke.edu/2019/04/duke-makes-12-month-funding-commitment-phd-students#:~:text=students%20in%20their%20guaranteed%20funding,54%20programs%20across%20the%20university .

8 english.rutgers.edu/images/5_10_2021_-_Fall_2022_grad_website_updated_des_of_funding_for_prospectives.pdf . The figure reflects an academic-year stipend of $25,000 for the first year and $29,426 thereafter, plus a summer stipend of $5,000 the first summer and $2,500 each of the next two summers, averaged over five years.

9 The figure is anticipated for 2022–23 following an admissions pause in 2021–22.

10 The low figure is a teaching assistant offer; the high figure is a university fellowship. While funding in excess of the rate for teaching assistants is competitive, it is also de facto guaranteed: for 2021–22, all eight offers of admission exceeded the rate for teaching assistants.

11 policy.wisc.edu/library/UW-1238 . The figure reflects a stipend of $25,000 with $1,000 in summer funding in year 3 and $4,500 in summer funding in years 4-5, averaged over five years.

12 The figures reflect a stipend range of $18,240–$25,000 for the first year and $23,835 thereafter, averaged over five years.

13 The figure reflects a stipend of $25,166 for the first year, $24,166 for the second through fourth years, and $19,000 for the fifth year, averaged over five years.

14 grad.ucdavis.edu/sites/default/files/upload/files/facstaff/salary_21-22_october_2021.pdf . I obtained this figure by halving the standard teaching assistant annual rate to reflect the rule that PhD candidates at the University of California, Davis, may work no more than half time.

15 Lehigh University guarantees full funding for five years for candidates classified as full-time. This includes all candidates except a few who are nontraditional students and bring an outside salary or other outside funding to the degree.

16 miamioh.edu/cas/academics/departments/english/admission/graduate-admission/graduate-funding/teaching-positions/index.html .

17 The figures reflect an academic-year stipend of $17,100, plus a summer stipend range of $2,500–$5,000.

18 The figures reflect a stipend of $23,688 for the first year and a range of $19,480–$20,250 thereafter, averaged over five years.

19 hr.uic.edu/hr-staff-managers/compensation/minima-for-graduate-appointments/ .

20 The University of Utah guarantees full funding for five years for those entering with a BA but four years for those entering with an MA.

21 Among the doctoral degrees offered by the English department at Purdue University, West Lafayette, the one in question is the PhD in literature, theory, and cultural studies.

22 The University of Florida guarantees full funding for six years for those entering with a BA but four years for those entering with an MA.

23 These figures reflect the range between FTE .40 at level I (BA holder, precandidacy) and FTE .49 at level II (MA holder, advanced to candidacy). See https://graduatestudies.uoregon.edu/funding/ge/salary-benefits for a schedule of salaries.

Table 2. English PhD Standard Stipend Nationwide Comparison, Adjusted for Cost of Living (Expressed in Boston-Area Dollars)

Table 2 Average: $33,060

Table 2 Median: $31,718

Table 2 Notes

1 I used the benchmark for Philadelphia, which, although geographically distant from State College / University Park, has a more comparable cost of living than other benchmarks for Pennsylvania.

2 For programs located in New York City—in this listing, Columbia University; New York University; Graduate Center, City University of New York; and Fordham University—I averaged the results for Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.

3 I averaged the results for Austin and Houston.

4 I averaged the New York City triborough average with the results for Middlesex-Monmouth, NJ. This reflects Rutgers’s liminal geographic location: it is much closer to New York City, without being in the city, than any other campus on this list, and a substantial minority of Rutgers PhD candidates commute to campus from the city.

5 I averaged the results for San Francisco and Oakland.

6 I averaged the results for Bakersfield and San Diego. While Los Angeles is closer geographically, it has a much higher cost of living than Riverside and is just outside of convenient commuting range.

7 I averaged the results for Boston and Pittsfield.

8 I averaged the results for Queens and Albany, a better approximation of the cost of living on eastern Long Island than averaging the cost of living in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.

9 I averaged the results for Los Angeles and San Francisco.

10 I averaged the results for Washington, DC, and Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, MD.

Table 3a. English PhD Standard Stipend Nationwide Comparison: Private Universities

Table 3a Average: $28,653

Table 3a Median: $28,967

Table 3b. English PhD Standard Stipend Nationwide Comparison: Public Universities

Table 3b Average: $22,230

Table 3b Median: $21,500

Table 4a. English PhD Standard Stipend Comparison: West and Southwest

Table 4a Average: $25,661

Table 4a Median: $25,500

Table 4b. English PhD Standard Stipend Comparison: Midwest

Table 4b Average: $23,234

Table 4b Median: $21,966

Table 4c. English PhD Standard Stipend Comparison: Northeast

Table 4c Average: $26,741

Table 4c Median: $26,235

Table 4d. English PhD Standard Stipend Comparison: South

Table 4d Average: $22,438

Table 4d Median: $20,881

Appendix A. English PhD Programs Declining to Have Stipend Data Published

Appendix b. english phd programs not guaranteeing full funding for five or more years.

Appendix B Notes

1 The department will “attempt to fully fund all students admitted to the PhD program for five years” ( english.columbian.gwu.edu/graduate-admissions-aid#phd ).

2 Guarantees full funding for four years.

3 “All admitted students receive a multi-year funding package” ( www.humanities.uci.edu/english/graduate/index.php ).

4 Guarantees full funding for four years.

Appendix C. Universities Not Offering the PhD in English

Appendix C Notes

* Offers a terminal MA in English.

1 Offers a terminal MA in literature, culture, and technology.

2 Offers a terminal MA in English literature and publishing.

3 Offers a PhD in rhetoric and professional communication.

4 Offers a PhD in communication, rhetoric, and digital media.

5 Offers a PhD in communication and rhetoric.

6 Offers a PhD in literature. The University of California, Davis, and the University of Kansas also offer a PhD in literature, yet, unlike the University of California, San Diego, or the University of California, Santa Cruz, the Davis and Kansas degrees are housed in English departments and retain an explicitly anglophone focus.

7 Offers a PhD in rhetoric and writing.

*Campus-specific endowment information is not available in the National Association of College and University Business Officers report.

Eric Weiskott is professor of English at Boston College, where he directs the English PhD program. His most recent book is  Meter and Modernity in English Verse, 1350–1650  (U of Pennsylvania P, 2021).

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English Professor

$92,607 (usd)/yr, $44.52 (usd) /hr, $2,491 (usd) /yr.

The average english professor gross salary in United States is $92,607 or an equivalent hourly rate of $45. In addition, they earn an average bonus of $2,491. Salary estimates based on salary survey data collected directly from employers and anonymous employees in United States. An entry level english professor (1-3 years of experience) earns an average salary of $65,665. On the other end, a senior level english professor (8+ years of experience) earns an average salary of $114,654.

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$104,022 (USD)

Based on our compensation data, the estimated salary potential for English Professor will increase 12 % over 5 years.

This chart displays the highest level of education for: English Professor , the majority at 50% with masters.

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The United States of America (USA or U.S.A.), commonly known as the United States (US or U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federation of 50 states, a federal capital district (Washington, D.C.), and 326 Indian reservations. Outside the union of states, it asserts sovereignty over five major unincorporated island territories and various uninhabited islands. The country has the world's third-largest land area, second-largest exclusive economic zone, and third...

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English Professor salary

Average english professor salary, how much does an english professor make.

The average english professor salary in the United States is $56,038. English professor salaries typically range between $26,000 and $118,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for english professors is $26.94 per hour. English professor salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. English professors earn the highest average salary in California. According to Roselyn Costantino Ph.D. , Professor of Latin American Studies at Pennsylvania State University Altoona, "Jobs of the future that we cannot even imagine now will benefit from and require the language and cultural skills that perspective employees can provide. Without sounding crass, and speaking specifically about Spanish, studies have shown that when 2 applicants with similar resumes apply for the same job, with the only difference being ability to speak Spanish, the applicant with Spanish-language skills will get the job the overwhelming majority of times and will be in the position to demand a higher salary, than the one who does not. Just a fact."

Where can an English Professor earn more?

English professor salary estimates from across the web, average english professor salary by state.

The highest-paying states for english professors are California, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The lowest average english professor salary states are Iowa, New Mexico, and South Carolina.

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Highest paying states for english professors

Highest paying cities for english professors.

The highest-paying cities for english professors are Placerville, CA, Ontario, CA, and New York, NY.

English Professor salary details

An english professor's salary ranges from $26,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $118,000 at the 90th percentile.

What is an english professor's salary?

Highest paying english professor jobs.

The highest paying types of english professors are professor, visiting professor, and associate professor.

Top companies hiring english professors now:

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• American University Jobs (4)
• English Jobs (5)
• Academia.edu Jobs (4)

Which companies pay english professors the most?

English professor salaries at Saint Louis University and The University of Tulsa are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average english professor salary at companies like Bucknell University and University of North Texas are highly competitive.

Wage gap by gender, race and education

English professor salary trends.

The average english professor salary has risen by $6,164 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average english professor earned $49,874 annually, but today, they earn $56,038 a year. That works out to a 8% change in pay for english professors over the last decade.

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English Professor Related Careers

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English Professor Related Jobs

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Professor Of English Salary

How much does a Professor Of English make? The average Professor Of English salary is $105,482 as of March 26, 2024, but the salary range typically falls between $83,504 and $168,477 . Salary ranges can vary widely depending on many important factors, including education , certifications, additional skills, the number of years you have spent in your profession. With more online, real-time compensation data than any other website, Salary.com helps you determine your exact pay target. 

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• Lecturer and Professor Salaries – Explained
• After a PhD

Based on the 2018/19 HE Single Pay Spine and the typical 2019/20 university grade system, the average possible salary for university staff in the UK is: £40,761 for a Lecturer, £51,590 for a Senior Lecturer, £64,356 for an Associate Professor and £90,891 for a Professor.

Introduction

On this page, we discuss how the UK academic pay scale works, the average salaries of university lecturers and professors, and how they change with academic rank. While we’ve summarised the salaries at the top of this page, we go on to provide a full breakdown for each rank, so continue reading for the full picture.

How Salary Scales Work within UK Universities

In the United Kingdom, there is a single national pay spine that governs the salaries of university staff. The pay spine, formally known as the ‘ HE Single Pay Spine ’, is led by University and College Union ( UCU ) which negotiates salaries, pay structure and employment conditions on behalf of higher education (HE) and further education (FE) institutions.

It’s important to recognise that although the vast majority of UK universities adopt the HE Single Pay Spine, a handful of institutions do not. In such cases, staff salaries are regulated internally and may differ from those stated on this page.

Many considerations go into determining a staff member’s salary, but to summarise, staff members are assigned a grade based on their level of responsibility, experience and position (e.g. Lecturer, Senior Lecturer or Professor) and a corresponding spine value. In turn, the spine value corresponds to a pre-determined salary listed in the ‘HE Single Pay Spine’.

Note: London universities generally offer slightly higher Lecturer and Professor salaries, but this is only to offset the higher cost of living associated with working in the capital. This offset, more commonly referred to as a ‘London Allowance’, is typically in the region of £3,000 per year .

Average Salaries of University Lecturers and Professors in the UK

Based on the 2018/19 HE Single Pay Spine and the average 2019/20 grading levels adopted by three UK universities, we have determined the average salaries of research assistants, lecturers and professors as shown in the table below.

Note: Although the average salaries provide a quick, useful insight, it would be equally advantageous to know the salary range for each position, as academic salaries are relatively dynamic; the reason for this is discussed later.

Table showing average salaries and ranges for Research Assistants, Lecturers and Professors in the UK

The following image shows these salary ranges in the context of the typical progression paths observed for higher education positions within UK universities.

It is worth noting that while salaries can exceed £100,000 per year for positions with significant managerial responsibility, very few individuals will reach these positions. In fact, data from the Office for Students (OfS) shows that in 2017/18, only 1.5% of academic staff were paid over £100,000.

How Salary Increases Works

Salary increases within a grade.

The expectation is that each year, staff members will move up the spine scale and receive a pay increase in line with their new spine level. This will continue until the ceiling of their current grade is reached. At that point, with the exception of inflation-adjusted increases, the staff member will stop receiving wage increases until they move up a grade.

Note: The grade of a staff member reflects the level of responsibility they have, which usually coincides with their job title, i.e. whether they are a Lecturer, an Associate Professor or a Professor.

Increasing Grades

Moving up a grade is only possible when the responsibilities of a staff member increase noticeably or when they are promoted to a higher position, such as from a Senior Lecturer to an Associate Professor.

Non-Monetary Benefits

As with most professions, a university Lecturer or Professor’s job position comes with non-monetary benefits that complement their salary. These will vary between universities, and sometimes even within the same university, but can include:

• Allowances for travel or relocation,
• Discounted or fully waived access to training, university courses and on-site recreational facilities,
• Private healthcare,

UK vs US Lecturer and Professor Salaries

Unlike the United Kingdom, the United States does not have a national academic pay scale. This means that the salaries of Lectures and Professors in the US vary considerably not only between universities but also between states, institution types (public or private) and academic fields.

In addition, because the US does not have a national academic pay scale, it’s common for staff members to negotiate a pay increase when moving to a new institution. This is not generally the case in the UK as it would place staff members outside of the single pay spine.

According to ‘ The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2018-2019 ‘, produced by the American Association of University Professors ( AAUP ), the average university lecturer salary and average university professor salary within the United States is as per the comparison table below.

Table comparing average salaries for Lectures and Professors in the UK and the US

It should be noted that the US salaries stated above have the potential to be skewed. This is because the data provides a total sum only for the number of universities forming the data, and not for the number of staff members holding each position type.

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