Business professor statistics show a large and varied academic workforce. In May 2023, the U.S. employed 82,980 Business Teachers, Postsecondary, with a mean annual wage of $113,240. The same occupation ranged from $48,580 at the 10th percentile to $211,230 at the 90th percentile, according to the BLS 2023 OEWS Business Teachers, Postsecondary data.
Table of contents
- U.S. employment and salary distribution
- Where business teachers work
- State-level employment and wages
- Metropolitan wage patterns
- Business-school staffing scale
- Academic roles and faculty representation
- Higher-education workforce conditions
U.S. employment and salary distribution
The BLS 2023 OEWS Business Teachers, Postsecondary profile counted 82,980 workers in May 2023. Its mean annual wage was $113,240, while the median was $97,130. These measures describe different points in the distribution: the mean is pulled upward by higher-paid positions, while the median identifies the midpoint of reported wages.
The percentile figures show how widely reported annual pay varied:
- The 10th-percentile annual wage was $48,580.
- The 25th-percentile annual wage was $64,670.
- The median annual wage was $97,130.
- The 75th-percentile annual wage was $140,070.
- The 90th-percentile annual wage was $211,230.
Together, these BLS figures describe business teaching as an occupation with a broad wage range in the United States. They do not identify an individual professor’s contract type, tenure status, discipline, seniority, or workload.
Where business teachers work
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools were the largest listed industry setting, employing 68,300 Business Teachers, Postsecondary in May 2023. The mean annual wage in that setting was $117,170.
Junior Colleges employed 14,020 business teachers and reported a mean annual wage of $94,710. The other listed settings were much smaller. Technical and Trade Schools employed 400, with a mean annual wage of $82,060. Business Schools and Computer and Management Training employed 210, with a mean annual wage of $131,590.
The industry figures provide a useful comparison of both scale and pay:
| Industry setting | Employment, May 2023 | Mean annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | 68,300 | $117,170 |
| Junior Colleges | 14,020 | $94,710 |
| Technical and Trade Schools | 400 | $82,060 |
| Business Schools and Computer and Management Training | 210 | $131,590 |
These categories should be read as reported industry groupings, not as a ranking of individual colleges or business departments. The BLS source labels the occupation Business Teachers, Postsecondary, which is the closest supplied statistical category for business professors.
State-level employment and wages
State results show that the largest employment totals were concentrated in several populous or higher-education-intensive states. New York employed 8,550 Business Teachers, Postsecondary in May 2023, with a mean annual wage of $138,990. Texas employed 5,720, with a mean of $114,340, while California employed 5,580, with a mean of $123,400.
Ohio employed 4,810 and reported a mean annual wage of $102,310. Pennsylvania employed 4,720, with a mean of $111,970. Massachusetts employed 4,400, with a mean of $123,590. New Jersey employed 2,810, with a mean of $136,020.
Several smaller reported state workforces had comparatively high mean wages. The District of Columbia employed 830 business teachers and reported a mean of $126,460. New Hampshire employed 610, with a mean of $123,010. Utah employed 580, with a mean of $137,400. Rhode Island employed 400, with a mean of $132,410. Alaska employed 80, with a mean of $144,600.
| State or district | Employment | Mean annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 8,550 | $138,990 |
| Texas | 5,720 | $114,340 |
| California | 5,580 | $123,400 |
| Ohio | 4,810 | $102,310 |
| Pennsylvania | 4,720 | $111,970 |
| Massachusetts | 4,400 | $123,590 |
| New Jersey | 2,810 | $136,020 |
| District of Columbia | 830 | $126,460 |
| New Hampshire | 610 | $123,010 |
| Utah | 580 | $137,400 |
| Rhode Island | 400 | $132,410 |
| Alaska | 80 | $144,600 |
North Dakota had a location quotient of 2.52 for Business Teachers, Postsecondary in May 2023. This is a concentration measure reported by the BLS source; the supplied data does not provide a corresponding North Dakota employment total or mean wage.
Metropolitan wage patterns
The BLS 2023 OEWS Business Teachers, Postsecondary data also reported high mean annual wages in selected metropolitan areas. Lawrence, Kansas, had 150 business teachers and a mean annual wage of $187,450. Auburn-Opelika, Alabama, had 130 and a mean of $180,660. Salt Lake City, Utah, had 200 and a mean of $169,500.
Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, had 370 business teachers and a mean of $167,240. New York-Newark-Jersey City, New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania, had 7,520 and a mean of $153,830. Other reported metropolitan mean wages included $161,190 in York-Hanover, Pennsylvania; $160,840 in Madison, Wisconsin; $155,100 in Lansing-East Lansing, Michigan; $152,190 in Columbia, South Carolina; and $150,060 in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The supplied metropolitan figures combine employment counts and mean wages inconsistently: some areas have both measures, while others have only a mean wage. That distinction matters when comparing local labor-market size with local pay.
Business-school staffing scale
The AACSB 2026 Business School Data Guide reported 71,505 full-time faculty in business schools and 71,892 full-time faculty with doctoral degrees. It also reported 55,770 part-time faculty, excluding graduate teaching assistants, and 3,481 graduate teaching assistants.
The same guide reported 92,494 full-time business school staff and administrators. Across the business unit, it reported 285,554 total people employed. These totals describe the participating business-school population in the AACSB source and are not interchangeable with the BLS occupation count for May 2023.
AACSB also classified faculty by academic profile. It reported 71,657 scholarly academics among full-time faculty in AACSB-accredited schools, equal to 89.1% of participating faculty. The guide reported 12,864 practice academics, equal to 65.4% of participating faculty, and 5,068 scholarly practitioners, equal to 68.1%. Instructional practitioners numbered 32,649, equal to 37.0% of participating faculty.
These classifications describe different faculty categories in the AACSB guide. Their percentages should therefore remain attached to their reported labels rather than being combined into a single share.
Academic roles and faculty representation
NCES reported 859,825 full-time faculty in degree-granting postsecondary institutions in fall 2023. Within that national total, NCES counted 192,300 professors, 162,356 associate professors, 179,554 assistant professors, 98,075 instructors, 47,696 lecturers, and 179,844 people in other faculty roles.
The NCES Digest Table 315.20 data also reported 419,891 female full-time faculty and 439,934 male full-time faculty in fall 2023. Among professors, 71,910 were female and 120,390 were male. Among assistant professors, 98,024 were female.
The AACSB 2026 Business School Data Guide reported the following female and male faculty counts by race or ethnicity category:
- American Indian or Alaska Native: 17 female and 42 male faculty.
- Asian: 2,123 female and 3,408 male faculty.
- Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: 6 female and 21 male faculty.
- Black or African American, non-Hispanic: 446 female and 603 male faculty.
- Hispanic/Latino: 267 female and 602 male faculty.
- White, non-Hispanic: 1,151 female and 2,761 male faculty.
- Two or more races: 60 female and 88 male faculty.
- Race/ethnicity unknown: 712 female and 1,421 male faculty.
These AACSB counts are specific to the guide’s participating business-school population, while the NCES counts cover degree-granting postsecondary institutions nationally. They should not be treated as the same universe.
Higher-education workforce conditions
The AAUP 2024–25 Annual Report said full-time faculty salary growth was 3.8% from fall 2023 to fall 2024. It also said real average full-time faculty salaries remained about 6.2% below fall 2019 levels. The first figure is a nominal growth measure over the stated period; the second is a real-salary comparison with fall 2019.
Part-time faculty made up 48.6% of the academic workforce in fall 2023, according to the AAUP report. Part-time faculty averaged $4,093 per three-credit course section in 2023–24. The report further said that 31.8% of faculty held full-time tenured or tenure-track appointments in fall 2023, while 23.1% held full-time tenured appointments.
AAUP reported that 68.2% of faculty were either part time or full-time contingent and ineligible for tenure in fall 2023. It also reported that women full-time faculty earned 83.2% of men’s salaries in 2024–25.
For broader institutional context, the AAUP 2024–25 Annual Report reported a median salary of about $268,000 for presidents at public associate’s institutions without ranking systems. At private-independent doctoral universities, the median president salary was over $900,000. These presidential compensation figures describe senior institutional leadership, not business professor pay.