In fall 2023, 68.2% of faculty members in US colleges and universities held part-time or full-time contingent appointments that were ineligible for tenure, up from 46.9% in 1987, while the share on the tenure track fell from 53.1% to 31.8% (AAUP, Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession 2025-26). The typical part-timer is paid by the course: an average of 4,093 dollars per three-credit section in 2024-25, with a median minimum of 3,130 dollars. Only 43.3% of full-time faculty at institutions with a tenure system now hold tenure, against 56.2% three decades ago, and 402,217 faculty have turned to unions. The same staffing logic reaches down to graduate students, covered in our graduate teaching assistant stipend statistics. We aggregated data from the American Association of University Professors, the National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS and the Digest of Education Statistics), the Government Accountability Office, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education at Hunter College.
TL;DR
- 68.2% of faculty held contingent appointments in fall 2023, vs 46.9% in 1987 (AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26).
- Only 31.8% held full-time tenured or tenure-track jobs, vs 53.1% in 1987 (AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26).
- 23% of faculty were full-time tenured in fall 2023, vs 39% in 1987 (AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023).
- Full-time contingent appointments grew about 65% from fall 2002 to fall 2023, tenure-track appointments fell about 7% (AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023).
- 670,688 of 1,530,513 faculty (43.8%) were part time in fall 2023 (NCES, Digest Table 315.10).
- 43.3% of full-time faculty at tenure-system institutions held tenure in 2023-24, vs 56.2% in 1993-94 (NCES, Digest Table 316.80).
- Contingent shares range from about 51% at Research I universities to about 83% at associate’s colleges (AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023).
- Average part-time pay was 4,093 dollars per three-credit section in 2024-25 (AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26).
- Only 30.6% of institutions contributed to part-time faculty medical premiums (AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26).
- Part-time contingent faculty earned about 75% less per course than tenure-track faculty (GAO-18-49, 2017).
- 52.1% of full-time women faculty were tenured or tenure-track, vs 62.2% of men (AAUP, Women Faculty and Faculty of Color, Fall 2023).
- 27% of faculty (402,217) were unionized at the start of 2024 (Hunter College National Center, 2024 Directory).
1. The Long Shift: From Tenure-Track Majority to Contingent Majority
The tenure-track professor stopped being the typical faculty member decades ago. The share of faculty in full-time tenured or tenure-track jobs fell from 53.1% in 1987 to 31.8% in fall 2023, and full-time tenured faculty alone fell from about 39% to about 23% (AAUP, Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession 2025-26). The AAUP calls it ‘the defining structural fact of the profession’, and the growth figures show where the new jobs went: from fall 2002 to fall 2023, full-time contingent appointments rose about 65% and part-time appointments about 20%, while full-time tenure-track appointments fell about 7% (AAUP, Data Snapshot: Tenure and Contingency in US Higher Education, Fall 2023).
The pipeline is the problem, not the existing tenured stock. Tenured appointments still grew about 6% over the same period, so the decline in the tenure-track share is driven by fewer entry-level tenure lines, not by firing tenured professors. Each retirement that is backfilled with a lecturer moves the ratio another notch.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Faculty in contingent appointments, fall 2023 | 68.2% (46.9% in 1987) | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Faculty in full-time tenured or tenure-track jobs, fall 2023 | 31.8% (53.1% in 1987) | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Faculty in full-time tenured jobs, fall 2023 | About 23% (about 39% in 1987) | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Faculty employed part time, fall 2023 | 48.6% (about 33% in 1987) | AAUP, Annual Report 2024-25 and Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Full-time contingent appointments, fall 2002 to fall 2023 | +65% | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Full-time tenure-track appointments, fall 2002 to fall 2023 | -7% | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Full-time tenured appointments, fall 2002 to fall 2023 | +6% | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Part-time appointments, fall 2002 to fall 2023 | +20% | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
Context note: the AAUP counts degree-granting nonprofit institutions participating in Title IV, using IPEDS data plus National Study of Postsecondary Faculty estimates for 1987 to 2002. For fall 2021 the same series showed 68% contingent and 48% part time (AAUP, Data Snapshot, fall 2021 data), so the ratio has plateaued rather than reversed.
2. The Part-Time Headcount: Peak in 2011, Slow Retreat Since
The federal headcount tells a more nuanced story than the AAUP shares. Part-time faculty went from 22.2% of all faculty in 1970 to a peak of 50.0% in 2011, then eased to 43.8% in fall 2023 (NCES, Digest of Education Statistics Table 315.10). Between 2011 and 2023, full-time faculty grew from 762,114 to 859,825 (+12.8%, 859,825 / 762,114 = 1.128) while part-time faculty fell from 762,355 to 670,688 (-12.0%, 670,688 / 762,355 = 0.880).
That retreat does not mean a return to tenure. Section 1 shows the full-time growth landed mostly in contingent lines, and the 2011 peak coincided with the enrollment surge after the Great Recession, so part of the later decline likely reflects enrollment rather than a policy choice. Readers following the demand side can compare our college enrollment statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total faculty, degree-granting institutions, fall 2023 | 1,530,513 (859,825 full time, 670,688 part time) | NCES, Digest Table 315.10 (2024) |
| Part-time share, fall 2023 | 43.8% (56.2% full time) | NCES, Digest Table 315.10 (2024) |
| Part-time share, 1970 | 22.2% (104,000 of 474,000) | NCES, Digest Table 315.10 |
| Part-time share, 1987 / 1999 | 34.0% / 42.8% | NCES, Digest Table 315.10 |
| Part-time share, 2011 (peak) | 50.0% (762,355 of 1,524,469) | NCES, Digest Table 315.10 |
| Part-time share, 2019 / 2020 | 45.5% / 43.8% | NCES, Digest Table 315.10 (2024) |
| Faculty by control, fall 2023 | Public 962,940; private nonprofit 502,810; for-profit 64,763 | NCES, Digest Table 315.10 (2024) |
| Faculty by level, fall 2023 | 4-year 1,270,883; 2-year 259,630 | NCES, Digest Table 315.10 (2024) |
Context note: NCES’s 43.8% part-time share and the AAUP’s 48.6% differ because NCES includes for-profit institutions and counts all faculty with instruction, research or public service duties, while the AAUP restricts to nonprofit Title IV institutions. The NCES Condition of Education faculty indicator reports the same 2011 to 2022 trend: full-time up 11%, part-time down 13%.
3. Tenure Inside the Full-Time Ranks
Even a full-time job is now less likely to come with tenure. Among full-time faculty at institutions with a tenure system, 43.3% held tenure in 2023-24, down from 56.2% in 1993-94 and 48.7% in 2009-10 (NCES, Digest Table 316.80). The share of institutions with any tenure system recovered to 57.6% after bottoming at 47.8% in 2009-10, yet tenure remains almost absent in one sector: just 1.3% of for-profit institutions have a tenure system.
The rank data show where the bottleneck sits. 86.9% of full professors and 70.1% of associate professors are tenured, but only 3.6% of assistant professors (the probationary stage) and 2.1% of lecturers. Lecturer and instructor titles are, for most holders, a permanent non-tenure track rather than a stepping stone.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time faculty with tenure, 2023-24 | 43.3% (56.2% in 1993-94; 48.7% in 2009-10) | NCES, Digest Table 316.80 (2024) |
| Full-time faculty with tenure, 2022-23 | 44.0% | NCES, Digest Table 316.80 (2023) |
| Institutions with a tenure system, 2023-24 | 57.6% (62.6% in 1993-94; 47.8% in 2009-10) | NCES, Digest Table 316.80 (2024) |
| Tenure system by control, 2023-24 | Public 73.4%, private nonprofit 56.7%, for-profit 1.3% | NCES, Digest Table 316.80 (2024) |
| Tenured share by control, 2023-24 | Public 45.5%, private nonprofit 38.6%, for-profit 9.0% | NCES, Digest Table 316.80 (2024) |
| Tenured share by rank, 2023-24 | Professor 86.9%, associate 70.1%, assistant 3.6%, instructor 24.1%, lecturer 2.1% | NCES, Digest Table 316.80 (2024) |
| Full-time faculty by rank, fall 2023 | Professors 192,300; associate 162,356; assistant 179,554; instructors 98,075; lecturers 47,696; other 179,844 | NCES, Digest Table 315.20 (2024) |
Context note: instructors, lecturers and other or unranked faculty together numbered 325,615 in fall 2023, or 37.9% of full-time faculty (325,615 / 859,825), per Digest Table 315.20. Not all of them are off the tenure track, but these titles carry the lowest tenure rates in Table 316.80.
4. Where Contingency Concentrates: Institution Type and Field
Contingency is not spread evenly. The share of faculty in contingent appointments ranged from about 51% at Research I universities to about 83% at associate’s colleges in fall 2023 (AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023). Community colleges run on part-time instructors, which matters for transfer students whose first two years are taught mostly off the tenure track (see our community college transfer statistics).
The GAO found the same pattern in course loads: in the three states it examined, contingent faculty taught 45% to 54% of courses at 4-year public institutions and higher percentages at 2-year public schools (GAO-18-49, Contingent Workforce, 2017). Medical schools show the trend has reached even the best-funded corner of academia: the tenured or tenure-track share fell from about 39% in 2002 to about 26% in 2023 as full-time contingent appointments grew about 133% (AAUP, Tenure and Contingency in US Medical Schools, Fall 2023).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Contingent share, Research I universities, fall 2023 | About 51% | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Contingent share, associate’s colleges, fall 2023 | About 83% | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Contingent share of instructional positions, 2015 | About 70% | GAO-18-49 (2017) |
| Share of courses taught by contingent faculty, 4-year public, three states | 45% to 54% | GAO-18-49 (2017) |
| Medical schools, tenured or tenure-track share | About 26% in 2023 (about 39% in 2002) | AAUP, Medical Schools Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Medical schools, full-time contingent appointments, 2002 to 2023 | +133% | AAUP, Medical Schools Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Medical schools, part-time share | About 21% in 2023 (about 20% in 2002) | AAUP, Medical Schools Snapshot Fall 2023 |
Context note: the GAO data are from 2015 and were published in 2017; most recent available data from GAO on course shares is that report.
5. Contract Security: Renewable vs Semester-to-Semester
Contingent does not mean one thing. About 76% of faculty on part-time contingent appointments were on nonrenewable short-term contracts in fall 2023, while about 85% of full-time contingent faculty had renewable annual or multiyear contracts (AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023). The full-time lecturer with a three-year renewable contract and the adjunct hired a week before term are both off the tenure track, but only one can plan next year’s rent.
The AAUP’s 2025-26 report sharpens the part-time picture: in fall 2024, 81.5% of part-time contingent faculty either held short-term nonrenewable contracts or lacked formal faculty status altogether. The GAO’s interviews in 2017 described the same thing in plain words: ‘uncertainty due to short-term contracts, untimely contract renewals, and pay, including a lack of compensation for some of their work’ (GAO-18-49).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Part-time contingent on nonrenewable short-term contracts, fall 2023 | About 76% | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Part-time contingent on short-term nonrenewable contracts or without formal faculty status, fall 2024 | 81.5% | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Full-time contingent on renewable (annual or multiyear) contracts, fall 2023 | About 85% | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Medical schools, full-time contingent on renewable contracts | About 82% | AAUP, Medical Schools Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Graduate student employees with teaching or research duties, 2002 to 2023 | +40% or more | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Graduate assistants at degree-granting institutions, fall 2022 | 398,862 | NCES, Digest Table 314.40 (2023) |
Context note: the 76% (fall 2023) and 81.5% (fall 2024) figures use different years and the second adds faculty without formal faculty status, so they are not a like-for-like trend.
6. Pay and Benefits: The Per-Course Economy
Part-time faculty are paid by the section, and the numbers explain why adjuncts often teach at several campuses. Average pay for a standard three-credit course section was 4,093 dollars in 2024-25 across 428 reporting institutions, and the median minimum rate was 3,130 dollars (AAUP, Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession 2025-26). Seventy percent of reporting institutions set minimum pay at 4,000 dollars or less, although nearly one-fifth reported a minimum above 5,000 dollars.
Benefits are the bigger gap. Only 30.6% of institutions contributed to part-time faculty medical insurance premiums and 32.7% to retirement, and associate’s colleges were the most generous (48.9% and 53.8%). The GAO estimated that, counting all responsibilities, part-time contingent faculty earned about 75% less per course than tenure-track faculty and full-time contingent faculty about 40% less (GAO-18-49). For comparison, the AAUP’s average full-time assistant professor salary in 2025-26 was 97,232 dollars, and BLS puts the median pay of all postsecondary teachers at 85,330 dollars in 2025 (BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Postsecondary Teachers).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average part-time pay per three-credit section, 2024-25 | 4,093 dollars (428 institutions) | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Range of averages by institution type | 3,200 dollars (religious master’s) to 6,320 dollars (private-independent baccalaureate) | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Median minimum pay per section | 3,130 dollars (556 institutions reporting) | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Institutions with minimum pay of 4,000 dollars or less | 70% | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Institutions contributing to part-time medical / retirement | 30.6% / 32.7% | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Part-time / full-time contingent pay per course vs tenure-track | About 75% / 40% less (60% / 10% less on teaching duties only) | GAO-18-49 (2017) |
| Average full-time salary by rank, 2025-26 | Professor 163,836; associate 113,427; assistant 97,232; lecturer 84,292; instructor 74,087 dollars | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Real full-time salaries vs fall 2019 | About 9.5% lower | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
Context note: the AAUP’s 2025-26 preliminary release gave a median starting pay of 3,121 dollars per section; the final report’s median minimum is 3,130 dollars, which we use. Nominal full-time salaries rose 2.3% from fall 2024 to fall 2025. BLS projects 7% employment growth for postsecondary teachers from 2025 to 2035, with about 103,300 openings a year, and notes that institutions are likely to hire more part-time teachers to meet demand. Adjuncts who lecture across several campuses carry heavy speaking loads, a risk covered in our teacher voice strain statistics.
7. Who Is Off the Tenure Track, and the Union Response
The contingent workforce is disproportionately female. 52.1% of full-time women faculty held tenured or tenure-track appointments in fall 2023, compared with 62.2% of full-time men (AAUP, Data Snapshot: Women Faculty and Faculty of Color, Fall 2023). NCES shows the same gap in tenure itself: 39.4% of full-time female instructional faculty were tenured in 2023-24 versus 52.2% of men. Women were 51.8% of all faculty in fall 2023 but held 37.4% of full professorships (71,910 / 192,300) and 54.6% of assistant professorships (98,024 / 179,554), per Digest Table 315.20.
Unionization has become the main response. By the start of 2024, 402,217 faculty, or 27%, were union-represented, in 775 bargaining units, and the overwhelming majority of new units formed between 2013 and 2023 contained non-tenure-track faculty (126 units, 83.4%) (Hunter College National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education, 2024 Directory). The pressure behind it shows in the AAUP pay data, and in tuition that keeps rising while per-course pay does not (see our college tuition statistics).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time faculty on tenured or tenure-track jobs, women vs men, fall 2023 | 52.1% vs 62.2% | AAUP, Women Faculty and Faculty of Color, Fall 2023 |
| Full-time on tenured or tenure-track jobs, URM vs White vs Asian, fall 2023 | 55.9% vs 56.6% vs 65.3% | AAUP, Women Faculty and Faculty of Color, Fall 2023 |
| Tenured share of full-time instructional faculty, women vs men, 2023-24 | 39.4% vs 52.2% | NCES, Digest Table 316.80 (2024) |
| Unionized faculty, start of 2024 | 402,217 (27%) in 775 units | Hunter College National Center, 2024 Directory |
| Unionized faculty by sector | Public 361,759; private nonprofit 40,458 | Hunter College National Center, 2024 Directory |
| New units 2013 to 2023 with NTT faculty / exclusively NTT | 126 (83.4%) / 108 (71.5%) | Hunter College National Center, 2024 Directory |
| Most frequent new unit type since 2012 | Exclusively part-time faculty, 59 units (39.1%) | Hunter College National Center, 2024 Directory |
| Union-represented graduate student employees, start of 2024 | About 150,104 in 81 units | Hunter College National Center, 2024 Directory |
Context note: the Hunter directory also counted 10 exclusively postdoc units representing 11,471 employees and 3,515 unionized undergraduate student employees in 19 units across nine states. Its union data run through January 1, 2024; an updated directory would capture the 2024-2026 organizing wave.
Summary: Adjunct and Non-Tenure-Track Faculty by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Contingent share of faculty, fall 2023 | 68.2% (46.9% in 1987) | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Full-time tenured or tenure-track share, fall 2023 | 31.8% (53.1% in 1987) | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Full-time tenured share, fall 2023 | About 23% (about 39% in 1987) | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Full-time contingent growth, 2002 to 2023 | +65% | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Tenure-track appointments, 2002 to 2023 | -7% | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Part-time faculty, fall 2023 | 670,688 of 1,530,513 (43.8%) | NCES, Digest Table 315.10 |
| Part-time share, 1970 / 2011 peak | 22.2% / 50.0% | NCES, Digest Table 315.10 |
| Full-time faculty with tenure, 2023-24 | 43.3% (56.2% in 1993-94) | NCES, Digest Table 316.80 |
| Institutions with a tenure system | 57.6% (for-profit 1.3%) | NCES, Digest Table 316.80 |
| Assistant professors with tenure | 3.6% | NCES, Digest Table 316.80 |
| Contingent share, Research I vs associate’s colleges | About 51% vs about 83% | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Part-time contingent on nonrenewable short-term contracts | About 76% | AAUP, Data Snapshot Fall 2023 |
| Average part-time pay per three-credit section | 4,093 dollars | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Median minimum pay per section | 3,130 dollars | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Institutions contributing to part-time medical premiums | 30.6% | AAUP, Annual Report 2025-26 |
| Part-time contingent pay per course vs tenure-track | About 75% less | GAO-18-49 (2017) |
| Median pay, postsecondary teachers, 2025 | 85,330 dollars | BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook |
| Women vs men full-time on tenure lines | 52.1% vs 62.2% | AAUP, Women Faculty and Faculty of Color |
| Unionized faculty | 402,217 (27%) | Hunter College National Center, 2024 Directory |
| New faculty units with NTT faculty, 2013 to 2023 | 83.4% | Hunter College National Center, 2024 Directory |
Methodology and Sources
Every figure above was read during research for this article in an AAUP report or data snapshot, an NCES Digest table, a GAO report, the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook or the Hunter College bargaining directory. Several AAUP pages and the Hunter PDF were read through a plain-text mirror after direct requests were blocked; links point to the original documents. AAUP’s interactive IPEDS dashboards (data.aaup.org) could not be read as text, so new-hire breakdowns are not included.
- AAUP: Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession 2025-26 (June 2026) and full PDF; Annual Report 2024-25 (June 2025)
- AAUP data snapshots by Glenn Colby: Tenure and Contingency in US Higher Education, Fall 2023, Tenure and Contingency in US Higher Education (fall 2021 data), Tenure and Contingency in US Medical Schools, Fall 2023, Women Faculty and Faculty of Color, Fall 2023 (Academe, Fall 2025)
- NCES Digest of Education Statistics: Table 315.10, faculty by employment status (2024), Table 315.10 (2023 edition, historical years), Table 315.20, full-time faculty by rank (2024), Table 316.80, tenure (2024), Table 316.80 (2023), Table 314.40, employees by occupation (2023)
- NCES: Condition of Education, Characteristics of Postsecondary Faculty (May 2024)
- Government Accountability Office: GAO-18-49, Contingent Workforce: Size, Characteristics, Compensation, and Work Experiences of Adjunct and Other Non-Tenure-Track Faculty (October 2017)
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Outlook Handbook, Postsecondary Teachers
- Hunter College, CUNY: National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, 2024 Directory of Bargaining Agents and Contracts in Institutions of Higher Education (Herbert, Apkarian and van der Naald)
- Data watch: AAUP and NCES part-time shares differ (48.6% vs 43.8% for fall 2023) because the AAUP counts only nonprofit Title IV institutions while NCES covers all degree-granting institutions, including for-profits. The AAUP 2025-26 report still uses fall 2023 for the appointment-mix headline; fall 2024 composition data will appear in the next snapshot. NCES revised its fall 2022 totals between the 2023 and 2024 Digest editions (1,507,641 vs 1,505,927 faculty); we cite the 2024 edition for recent years and the 2023 edition for historical years. The AAUP preliminary 2025-26 median starting pay (3,121 dollars) differs slightly from the final report’s median minimum (3,130 dollars). GAO course-share and pay-gap figures use 2015 data (most recent available from GAO, 2017), the Hunter directory runs to January 1, 2024, and the graduate assistant count is fall 2022. The Coalition on the Academic Workforce survey (2012) is too old to cite and its report could not be retrieved.
Last updated: October 3, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when the AAUP publishes its fall 2024 tenure and contingency data snapshot and NCES releases the 2025 Digest of Education Statistics faculty tables.