Faculty employment in the United States combines a large, relatively stable workforce with major differences in work status, institution type, compensation, and field. NCES counted 1.5 million faculty at degree-granting postsecondary institutions in fall 2022, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects 1,512,300 postsecondary teachers in 2034. Together, these measures show both the size of the academic workforce and the employment outlook for teaching after high school.
On this page: Workforce size and change · Full-time and part-time employment · Gender, institution type, and student ratios · Faculty demographics · Pay for postsecondary teachers · Employment projections
Workforce size and change
The NCES Characteristics of Postsecondary Faculty figures describe faculty at degree-granting postsecondary institutions in fall of each named year. The total number was 1.5 million in both fall 2011 and fall 2022. Across the period, the annual total ranged from 1.5 million to 1.6 million, reaching a peak of 1.6 million in fall 2015. This relatively narrow range indicates that the overall headcount changed less than the composition of the workforce.
Several changes stand out when the endpoints are compared. Full-time faculty increased from 762,100 in fall 2011 to 842,400 in fall 2022, a 11 percent increase. Part-time faculty moved in the opposite direction, decreasing from 762,400 to 665,200 over the same period, a 13 percent decrease. Thus, the stable total concealed a shift toward full-time employment.
The NCES figures can be summarized as follows:
| Measure | Fall 2011 | Fall 2022 | Change or 2022 share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total faculty | 1.5 million | 1.5 million | 1.5–1.6 million across the period |
| Full-time faculty | 762,100 | 842,400 | Up 11% |
| Part-time faculty | 762,400 | 665,200 | Down 13% |
| Female faculty | 734,900 | 776,500 | Up 6% |
| Male faculty | 789,600 | 731,100 | Down 7% |
The endpoint comparison is useful for understanding direction, but it should not be read as a year-by-year series. The peak total occurred in fall 2015, and the figures above identify the two measurement years rather than every annual movement between them.
Full-time and part-time employment
In fall 2022, 56 percent of faculty were full time and 44 percent were part time, according to NCES. Those shares provide context for the headcounts: full-time faculty were the larger group by that year, even though the two groups were almost equal in fall 2011. The change in shares is consistent with the reported increase in full-time faculty and decrease in part-time faculty.
Employment status also matters when interpreting other faculty statistics. A percentage describing full-time faculty is not automatically a percentage describing every faculty member. For example, the NCES racial and ethnic distribution below is specifically for full-time faculty in fall 2022, while the institution-type counts cover faculty overall. Keeping those populations separate avoids treating unlike measures as if they were interchangeable.
The full-time and part-time figures refer to faculty employment at degree-granting postsecondary institutions and are measured in fall. They are not wage categories, and they do not by themselves indicate whether a position is tenure-track, tenured, temporary, or otherwise classified. The supplied NCES figures support conclusions about work status and headcount, but not about those additional job characteristics.
Gender, institution type, and student ratios
NCES reported that the share of faculty who were female rose from 48 percent in fall 2011 to 52 percent in fall 2022. The corresponding counts were 734,900 female faculty in fall 2011 and 776,500 in fall 2022, a 6 percent increase. Male faculty decreased from 789,600 to 731,100, a 7 percent decrease. These figures describe faculty overall for the named fall measurements.
Institution type is another important part of the employment picture. In fall 2022, 63 percent of faculty were employed at public institutions, 33 percent at private nonprofit institutions, and 4 percent at private for-profit institutions. The associated counts were 946,800 at public institutions, 495,800 at private nonprofit institutions, and 65,000 at private for-profit institutions.
The NCES endpoint counts show different directions since fall 2011. Public-institution faculty decreased slightly from 954,200 to 946,800. Private nonprofit faculty increased from 432,600 to 495,800. Private for-profit faculty decreased from 137,700 to 65,000. The percentages describe the fall 2022 distribution; the counts provide the comparison with fall 2011.
NCES also reported a lower overall FTE student-to-faculty ratio in fall 2022 than in fall 2011: the ratio fell from 16:1 to 13:1. The ratio is based on full-time-equivalent students and faculty, so it should not be interpreted as the number of students physically present in every instructor’s class.
| Institution category, fall 2022 | FTE student-to-faculty ratio |
|---|---|
| Private for-profit institutions | 23:1 |
| Public 2-year institutions | 17:1 |
| Private nonprofit 2-year institutions | 14:1 |
| Public 4-year institutions | 14:1 |
| Private nonprofit 4-year institutions | 10:1 |
These ratios show why an overall ratio can hide substantial institutional variation. The reported fall 2022 ratio was highest among private for-profit institutions at 23:1 and lowest among private nonprofit 4-year institutions at 10:1.
Faculty demographics
The NCES demographic percentages for fall 2022 apply to full-time faculty. Among full-time faculty, 72 percent were White, 13 percent were Asian, 7 percent were Black, 6 percent were Hispanic, and 1 percent were of Two or more races. Less than one-half of 1 percent were American Indian/Alaska Native, and less than one-half of 1 percent were Pacific Islander.
Because the categories are rounded percentages, they should be used as a profile rather than combined into unsupported exact headcounts. The source population is also narrower than the overall faculty workforce: these figures concern full-time faculty, not all full-time and part-time faculty together.
NCES provided additional breakdowns by rank and gender. In fall 2022, White males made up 39 percent of professor-rank faculty, and Asian males made up 8 percent of professor-rank faculty. Among nonprofessor-rank faculty, White males made up 33 percent and Asian males made up 5 percent. These rank-specific measures should not be compared directly with the all-full-time-faculty racial and ethnic percentages, because they describe different groupings.
For readers interpreting faculty workforce data, the distinction between overall employment, full-time employment, and rank is central. A workforce can have one distribution by institution type, another by employment status, and another within professor-rank positions. The NCES measures make each of those views visible without turning one percentage into a claim about the entire profession.
Pay for postsecondary teachers
The BLS Postsecondary Teachers data report a median annual wage of $83,980 in May 2024. In the same May 2024 wage distribution, the lowest 10 percent of postsecondary teachers earned less than $48,570, while the highest 10 percent earned more than $199,520.
These are annual wage measures for postsecondary teachers and should not be confused with the NCES fall faculty headcounts. The measurement date is different, and the occupational definition used by BLS is not presented as identical to the NCES institutional faculty count. The wage figures therefore provide compensation context rather than a direct wage calculation for every faculty member counted by NCES.
The spread between the lower and upper wage thresholds is substantial. It describes the position of the bottom and top 10 percent in May 2024, while the median identifies the midpoint of the wage distribution. None of these figures is a forecast, and none states that every faculty field or institution pays the same amount.
Employment projections
BLS projects overall employment of postsecondary teachers to grow 7 percent from 2024 to 2034. The agency projects about 114,000 openings for postsecondary teachers each year on average during that period. Annual openings can include opportunities created by growth as well as the need to replace workers who leave occupations, but the supplied figures do not provide a separate replacement breakdown.
BLS projects 1,415,600 postsecondary teachers in 2024 and 1,512,300 in 2034. That is a projected 96,700 net increase over the decade. These are forecasts, not counts of already realized employment, so they should be labeled as projections when used in planning or teaching materials.
The projected totals differ by teaching field:
| Postsecondary teaching field | 2024 projection | 2034 projection |
|---|---|---|
| Business teachers | 103,100 | 109,000 |
| Computer science teachers | 44,800 | 47,200 |
| Mathematical science teachers | 58,900 | 60,200 |
| Engineering teachers | 50,300 | 54,400 |
| Health specialties teachers | 289,600 | 339,700 |
| Nursing instructors and teachers | 91,600 | Not supplied |
Among the fields with both endpoints supplied, health specialties teachers have the largest projected increase, from 289,600 in 2024 to 339,700 in 2034. Business teachers are projected to rise from 103,100 to 109,000; computer science teachers from 44,800 to 47,200; mathematical science teachers from 58,900 to 60,200; and engineering teachers from 50,300 to 54,400.
The BLS data separately identify 91,600 nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary, in 2024. No 2034 figure is supplied for that narrower nursing category here, so an endpoint comparison or growth rate would not be supported. This is an example of why projections should be reported only for the years and categories actually stated by the source.
Taken together, the NCES and BLS measures describe a faculty workforce that was 1.5 million strong in fall 2022, had a 56 percent full-time share, and was distributed mainly across public and private nonprofit institutions. BLS then provides a separate occupational outlook: 7 percent projected growth from 2024 to 2034, about 114,000 average annual openings, and field-specific changes led by health specialties teaching.