Professor Hourly Pay, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 13,634 US job postings by 957 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for professors: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 13,634 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for professors in US job postings is $48.50 an hour (1,555 postings from 231 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $32.76 to $65.77 an hour.
- The skills that most set professor postings apart are canvas, teaching experience, blackboard.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 2 years of experience.
Professor job postings in the US, October 2026
- $48.50/hr
- Median advertised pay (1,555 postings)
- $32.76–$65.77
- Middle 50% of postings
- 13,634
- US job postings from 957 employers
- 2 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a professor make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $48.50 an hour, from 1,555 US job postings by 231 employers that state pay. That is about $94,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 1,555 US professor job postings: median $94,000 a year ($48.50 an hour), middle half $70,000 to $128,000.
- Median: $94,000 ($48.50/hr)
- 25th percentile: $70,000
- 75th percentile: $128,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $10K–$20K | 0.5% |
| $20K–$30K | 0.2% |
| $30K–$40K | 0.8% |
| $40K–$50K | 2.7% |
| $50K–$60K | 9.1% |
| $60K–$70K | 11.4% |
| $70K–$80K | 9.8% |
| $80K–$90K | 11.5% |
| $90K–$100K | 10.8% |
| $100K–$110K | 10.3% |
| $110K–$120K | 4.2% |
| $120K–$130K | 4.3% |
| $130K–$140K | 6.8% |
| $140K–$150K | 2.0% |
| $150K–$160K | 1.3% |
| $160K–$170K | 1.0% |
| $170K–$180K | 1.8% |
| $180K–$190K | 2.6% |
| $190K–$200K | 2.2% |
| $200K–$210K | 1.4% |
| $210K–$220K | 0.5% |
| $220K–$230K | 0.2% |
| $230K–$240K | 0.5% |
| $240K–$250K | 0.5% |
| $250K–$260K | 0.7% |
| $260K–$270K | 0.5% |
| $270K–$280K | 0.2% |
| $290K–$300K | 0.2% |
| $300K–$310K | 0.1% |
| $310K–$320K | 0.1% |
| $320K–$330K | 0.1% |
| $330K–$340K | 0.2% |
| $380K–$390K | 0.4% |
| $470K–$480K | 0.1% |
| $490K–$500K | 0.1% |
| $560K–$570K | 0.1% |
| $760K–$770K | 0.4% |
| $970K–$980K | 0.4% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | Most common titles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $48.50 | $32.76–$65.77 | 555 | Adjunct, Adjunct Instructor, Adjunct Faculty |
| Postings that state an annual salary | $88,000 | $70K–$119K | 527 | Assistant Professor, Assistant/Associate Professor, Assistant or Associate Professor |
| All pay postings, annualised | $94,000 | $70K–$128K | 1,555 | – |
What is the starting salary for a professor?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Highest-paying professor jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adjunct Instructor | $48.67/hr | 651 | 78 |
| Assistant Professor | $43.27/hr | 543 | 121 |
Professor pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $60.46/hr | $46.20–$81.77 | 393 | 10.7% |
| New York | $57.45/hr | $39.21–$99.00 | 107 | 4.8% |
Skills employers ask for in professor job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 22% |
| Interpersonal skills | 15% |
| Organizational skills | 11% |
| Canvas | 6% |
| Microsoft Office | 5% |
| Problem-solving | 5% |
| Teaching experience | 4% |
| Communicate effectively | 4% |
| Excel | 4% |
| Powerpoint | 4% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set professors apart
- Canvas110.3× as often as in all postings · 6%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a professor job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a professor do?
Employers post these jobs as Adjunct, Adjunct Faculty, Assistant Professor, Adjunct Instructor, Assistant/Associate Professor and other titles. The largest specializations are Adjunct Instructor (46%), Assistant Professor (36%), Nursing Instructor (6%), Assistant Professor of Psychology (1%), Assistant Professor of Accounting (1%), Assistant Professor of Exercise Science (under 1%), assistant professor of veterinary medicine (under 1%).
How much experience do you need to be a professor?
Among 2,113 postings that state a minimum, the median is 2 years. Under 1% say 0 years and 17% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 2,113 US professor job postings: median 2 years, and 17% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | under 1% |
| 1 yr | 17% |
| 2 yrs | 36% |
| 3-4 yrs | 32% |
| 5-7 yrs | 13% |
| 8-9 yrs | under 1% |
| 10+ yrs | 1% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Part-time 67%, Full-time 33% of the 3,110 postings that state working hours.
Other names for a professor: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Adjunct | 296 (30.9%) |
| Adjunct Faculty | 274 (28.6%) |
| Assistant Professor | 262 (27.4%) |
| Adjunct Instructor | 214 (22.4%) |
| Assistant/Associate Professor | 125 (13.1%) |
| Associate Professor | 83 (8.7%) |
| Nursing Instructor | 70 (7.3%) |
| Adjunct Professor | 66 (6.9%) |
| Assistant or Associate Professor | 63 (6.6%) |
| Part Time Instructor | 48 (5.0%) |
| Part-Time Faculty | 48 (5.0%) |
| Nursing Faculty | 46 (4.8%) |
| Assistant Professor of Biology | 34 (3.5%) |
| Clinical Assistant Professor | 29 (3.0%) |
| Visiting Assistant Professor | 28 (2.9%) |
| Tenure Track Assistant Professor | 25 (2.6%) |
| Open Rank Faculty | 24 (2.5%) |
| Assistant Professor of Psychology | 22 (2.3%) |
| Assistant Teaching Professor | 22 (2.3%) |
| Practical Nursing Instructor | 21 (2.2%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Professor job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adjunct Instructor | 1,431 | 214 | – | 2 years | communication, interpersonal skills, organizational skills |
| Adjunct Faculty | 2,807 | 274 | – | 3 years | communication, interpersonal skills, organizational skills |
| Assistant Professor | 1,745 | 262 | – | – | communication, interpersonal skills, organizational skills |
Professor compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professor | $48.50/hr | 2 years | 13,634 | – |
| Library Assistant | – | 2 years | 870 | 18 |
| Tutor | $21.88/hr | 2 years | 4,607 | 10 |
| Academic Advisor | – | 2 years | 688 | 15 |
| Instructional Designer | – | 3 years | 805 | 15 |
Similar careers
Applying for professor jobs?
- Professor resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find professor jobs: search open postings
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 19 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.