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Job outlook for associate faculties in the United States
Associate faculty job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected associate faculty job growth rate is 12% from 2018-2028.
About 159,400 new jobs for associate faculties are projected over the next decade.
Associate faculty salaries have increased 14% for associate faculties in the last 5 years.
There are over 106,132 associate faculties currently employed in the United States.
There are 26,270 active associate faculty job openings in the US.
The average associate faculty salary is $64,860.
Are associate faculty jobs in demand?
Associate faculty job and salary trends over time
Associate faculty jobs over time
Associate faculty job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 106,132 | 0.03% |
| 2020 | 104,826 | 0.03% |
| 2019 | 108,190 | 0.03% |
| 2018 | 100,462 | 0.03% |
| 2017 | 102,547 | 0.03% |
Average associate faculty salary over time
Associate faculty salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $64,860 | $31.18 | +0.9% |
| 2024 | $64,263 | $30.90 | +3.9% |
| 2023 | $61,876 | $29.75 | +4.6% |
| 2022 | $59,178 | $28.45 | +3.6% |
| 2021 | $57,107 | $27.46 | +2.8% |
Associate faculty jobs by state
Most common states for associate faculties
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 169 | 24% |
| 2 | Alaska | 739,795 | 116 | 16% |
| 3 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 837 | 10% |
| 4 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 101 | 10% |
| 5 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 452 | 8% |
| 6 | Kentucky | 4,454,189 | 335 | 8% |
| 7 | Vermont | 623,657 | 47 | 8% |
| 8 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 455 | 7% |
| 9 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 279 | 7% |
| 10 | New York | 19,849,399 | 1,096 | 6% |
| 11 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 178 | 6% |
| 12 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 101 | 6% |
| 13 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 415 | 5% |
| 14 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 321 | 5% |
| 15 | South Carolina | 5,024,369 | 256 | 5% |
| 16 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 87 | 5% |
| 17 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 482 | 4% |
| 18 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 424 | 4% |
| 19 | Mississippi | 2,984,100 | 108 | 4% |
| 20 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 38 | 4% |
Most common cities for associate faculties
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edina | 2 | 4% | $51,453 |
| 2 | New Britain | 1 | 1% | $62,048 |
| 3 | Reading | 1 | 1% | $61,098 |
| 4 | Baltimore | 2 | 0% | $57,629 |
| 5 | Houston | 1 | 0% | $51,451 |
| 6 | New York | 1 | 0% | $71,070 |
Associate Faculty job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of associate faculty experts
North Carolina State University
Skidmore College
Lehigh University
Clemson University
University of Minnesota Crookston
Elmira College
Jane Kuandre
Associate ProfessorWhat will help Associate Faculties increase their earning potential?
Jane Kuandre: Networking is crucial for career advancement in academia as it allows individuals to establish collaborations, gain access to resources, and stay updated on the latest research trends.
Aurelie Matheron
Assistant Professor of FrenchSkidmore College
Romance Languages, Literatures, And Linguistics
What Associate Faculty skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Aurelie Matheron: Leadership: you will be in positions of leading a program/department. Learn from current chairs by observing their own skills during meetings and moments of decision. Collaboration: develop interpersonal and interprofessional relationships that will allow you to build collaborative projects (interdepartmental courses, for instance).
What will help Associate Faculties increase their earning potential?
Aurelie Matheron: Do some research online about how much someone earns at your stage of the career. If there is a significant gap, point out (diplomatically) that, because of your extensive experience in XYZ, you would like to get a X% increase in your salary. Be reasonable: if you want a 3% increase, ask for 5% (not 10% or more). Justify your negotiation: why should they pay me more? What experience can I show them to justify my request? If you have a higher offer from another place, you can say that “I have received another generous offer and would like to know about the possibility for matching that offer.” Salary is not the only thing you can negotiate: office space, computer/laptop, sabbaticals, course release, etc. Again, be reasonable: if you think you are entitled to XYZ requests, you also have to show why.
Dr. Floyd Beachum
Bennett Professor of Urban School LeadershipLehigh University
Educational Administration And Supervision
What general advice would you give to an Associate Faculty?
Dr. Floyd Beachum: When starting your career as a new faculty member, you should first try to negotiate as high as
possible when taking your first position (be reasonable of course). This does not mean ask for
the same salary as the dean, but rather look up that institution or comparable institutions and
negotiate towards the high end of what new faculty members make. Also, if a college or
university cannot give you salary (actual dollars), try to negotiate for start-up funds. These are
college/university accounts that spend a lot like real money but they can be used for travel,
hardware, software, student support, etc.
What Associate Faculty skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Floyd Beachum: This advice would be for a recent graduate of a doctoral program who is interested in pursuing
a career as a faculty member at a college or university. Three quick pieces of advice I would give
include: get organized, get focused, and get moving. Get organized in terms of getting all of
their materials together as they embark upon a new position or as they look for a position. They
will need to have easy access to relevant documents, official paperwork, files, and/or work
products. Organization is the key to a better work flow. Get focused in terms of having the right
mindset to be successful as an academic. This requires that the person work diligently to
develop a research agenda in which they will have to publish articles, books, book chapters, and
present their research at academic conferences. Two major conferences in educational
leadership are the annual meeting of the University Council of Educational Administration
(UCEA) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Focus also includes
teaching various courses in educational leadership. It will take a considerable amount of time to
plan, read, coordinate, teach the course, and continuously learn while teaching. Focus also
means getting used to serving on various department, college, and/or university committees.
Service work helps evenly distribute work loads to help accomplish the goals of that college or
university. The last step, is get moving. This means that once the preliminary steps are taken,
then the person should be very purposeful as they go about doing all of the things mentioned
here. There is no time to waste because a person in the role of a new faculty member usually
has about three years before their first big review and six years before they must go up for
tenure and promotion. These decision points are high stakes because if they are productive,
then employment continues, if they are not productive, specific improvement advice can be
given and/or employment can be terminated.
What will help Associate Faculties increase their earning potential?
Dr. Floyd Beachum: In the next three years, professors of educational leadership should look to develop skills in the
areas of technology, problem-solving, and diversity awareness. Technology, including the
proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) will surely transform the overall career landscape. In
educational leadership, faculty members should develop skillsets that will enhance their
understanding so that the technology can better support their teaching and research
endeavors. The skill of problem-solving is universal. For educational leadership professors, this
skill will better align them with the real-world issues that their students face. Being a better
problem-solver will also help build credibility with their students as well as practicing
administrators who sometimes call on professors for advice or consul. Diversity-awareness is an
important skill because the demographic landscape in the United States will become more
diverse. It is counter-productive to try and ignore, downplay, or refute this fact. School leaders
who recognize and prepare themselves to deal with diverse communities will be much better
off than those who choose not to engage.
Bo Clements
Lecturer of American Sign LanguageClemson University
Department of Languages
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Associate Faculties?
Bo Clements: Pandemic during life after Graduation is very obviously tricky. Look at the unemployment rates. Millions of job positions are in a freeze. No jobs out there. A positive note that a student has a degree in American Sign Language with specialization in Interpretation Education & Training, Wireless Technology, or Development & Innovative of Social Media allows working from home to create thousands of online jobs - Teaching, Marketing, Engineering, Spectrum of Technology, and many more.
We cannot remove our masks, making it so difficult to communicate, as it's hard to read people's lips. That is the number 1 communication barrier for all of us. We cannot be close or touch each other in a public place, even at work, to communicate in person. That makes it so difficult to find jobs.
Dr. Margaretha Rudstrom
LecturerUniversity of Minnesota Crookston
Agriculture and Natural Resources Department
What Associate Faculty skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Margaretha Rudstrom: I am taking this from the perspective of an agribusiness major.
If a student isn't able to land a position within their field of study, I would suggest they work on their people skills and stay up to date with what is happening in the markets, ag policy, and agriculture. Staying up to date means following the popular press in the areas you have a career interest in. That could mean following the news from places like Drovers, local and national producer associations, or congressional or senate ag committees. This will help keep you up to date on what's happening in the areas you have an interest in or are looking for a career.
I seem to be harping on the people skills piece. Get experience in working with customers, customer service, customer complaints. These experiences will help you develop critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and communication skills sought after by employers.
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Associate Faculties in the next 3-5 years?
Rebecca Sarver: The use of remote and virtual meetings will continue even after COVID-19. Face to face meetings may still be the preferred method of contact, but the reality is that many clients who need to access services do not have reliable and consistent transportation to get to the services. Phones and computers enable more convenient meetings that are less costly in terms of time and travel. Some clients may prefer not to leave their homes.