History Faculty Salaries Fall Behind Inflation and the Rest of Academia

Average salaries for history faculty in four-year colleges and universities increased by just 0.5 percent over the academic year 2010–11—the smallest increase for our discipline in 25 years of surveying by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR).1 Since the national inflation rate measured just under 2 percent over the same span (academic year 2010–11), the minuscule salary rise actually marked a real decline in the earning power of historians.

Historians in colleges and universities also lost ground in relation to faculty in the rest of academia. At public colleges and universities, the average salary for faculty members in all disciplines rose 1.1 percent, from $71,500 to $72,291, while the average for historians increased only 0.3 percent, from $63,178 to $63,391. The picture was only slightly better at private institutions, where the average salary for history faculty gained 0.6 percent, from $65,699 to $66,106. But here again, the increase in average salaries for faculty in all fields was more than double the growth in history, rising 1.4 percent, from $69,703 to $70,683....