As of April 01, 2025, the average annual salary for a University President in the United States is $277,747. Salary.com reports that pay typically ranges from $238,403 to $336,873, with most professionals earning between $202,582 and $390,704.
| Annual Salary |
Monthly Pay |
Weekly Pay |
Hourly Wage |
|
| 75th Percentile | $336,873 | $28,073 | $6,478 | $162 |
| Average | $277,747 | $23,146 | $5,341 | $134 |
| 25th Percentile | $238,403 | $19,867 | $4,585 | $115 |
An entry-level University President with less than 1 year of experience earns about $253,671. With 1-2 years of experience, the average salary increases to $257,194. For 2-4 years of experience, the pay typically rises to $260,130. Senior-level professionals with 5-8 years of experience earn around $264,828, and those with over 8 years of experience can expect an average of $270,700.
| Levels | Salary |
|---|---|
| Entry Level University President | $253,671 |
| Intermediate Level University President | $257,194 |
| Senior Level University President | $260,130 |
| Specialist Level University President | $264,828 |
| Expert Level University President | $270,700 |
| Entry Level | 9% |
| Mid Level | 7% |
| Senior Level | 6% |
| Top Level | 5% |
| Experienced | 3% |
Salaries in the United States differ widely between states due to factors like cost of living, local economies, and industry presence.
What Am I Worth?
Salaries in the United States can vary greatly between cities due to factors like cost of living, local economies, and industry presence.
As of April 01, 2025, our research reveals a significant shift in University President compensation over the past six years. For example, the median salary increased from $222,829 in 2023 to approximately $221,339 in 2024. (For a detailed analysis of University President salary trends, click here.)
Key factors like location, experience, industry demand, and economic growth significantly influence salary variations, making them important to consider.
Salary.com job board provides millions of University President information for you to search for. Click on search button below to see University President job openings or enter a new job title here.
Here are companies hiring for University President and their salaries, click below for more details.
| Core Compensation | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Base Salary | $277,747 | 76.9% | ||
| Bonus | $0 | 0.0% | ||
| Value of Benefits | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Social Security | $14,481 | 4.0% | ||
| 401K/403B | $12,250 | 3.4% | ||
| Disability | $4,444 | 1.2% | ||
| Healthcare | $6,371 | 1.8% | ||
| Pension | $10,500 | 2.9% | ||
| Time Off | $35,253 | 9.8% | ||
| Total Compensation | $361,045 | 100% | ||
| Degree Level | % of user with this level of education |
|---|---|
| High School | 4.5% |
| Bachelors | 9.1% |
| Masters | 54.5% |
| Doctorate | 31.8% |
What Am I Worth?
The average annual salary of University President is $277,747. In case you are finding an easy salary calculator, the average hourly pay of University President is $134; the average weekly pay of University President is $5,341; the average monthly pay of University President is $23,146.
A University President's earning potential can vary widely depending on several factors, including location, industry, experience, education, and the specific employer. According to the latest salary data by Salary.com, a University President earns the most in San Jose, CA, where the annual salary of a University President is $350,322.
The highest pay for University President is $390,704.
The lowest pay for University President is $202,582.
Plans and directs all policies, objectives, and initiatives for a single campus or institution. Develops and implements university mission and vision. Oversees all financial, academic, and operational functions. Requires an advanced degree. Typically reports to board of directors. Top level management. Aligns the company's long-term vision with actionable plans. Responsible for building relationships with key stakeholders, including the board of directors, investors, partners, and regulators. Provides overall vision, direction, and leadership for an organization. Develops organizational strategic initiatives and guides business operations. Defines key metrics and sets KPIs for organization. Typically requires extensive leadership experience in senior management or executive roles. Has extensive industry and/or operational knowledge. Past leadership of a company or business unit, including overall P&L responsibility.
Specify the abilities and skills that a person needs in order to carry out the specified job duties. Each competency has five to ten behavioral assertions that can be observed, each with a corresponding performance level (from one to five) that is required for a particular job.
Leadership: Knowledge of and ability to employ effective strategies that motivate and guide other members within our business to achieve optimum results.
Sustainability: Sustainability is a societal goal that broadly aims for humans to safely co-exist on planet Earth over a long time. Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and therefore vary in the literature and over time.
Continuous Improvement: A continual improvement process, also often called a continuous improvement process (abbreviated as CIP or CI), is an ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes. These efforts can seek "incremental" improvement over time or "breakthrough" improvement all at once. Delivery (customer valued) processes are constantly evaluated and improved in the light of their efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility. Some see CIPs as a meta-process for most management systems (such as business process management, quality management, project management, and program management). W. Edwards Deming, a pioneer of the field, saw it as part of the 'system' whereby feedback from the process and customer were evaluated against organisational goals. The fact that it can be called a management process does not mean that it needs to be executed by 'management'; but rather merely that it makes decisions about the implementation of the delivery process and the design of the delivery process itself.
Salary.com provides salary estimates, histograms, trends, and comparisons using data from employer job postings and third-party sources.
We offer detailed salary information across multiple percentiles for your reference. (Click here to learn Why the Salary Midpoint Formula Is Crucial for Achieving Pay Equity.)
With the most extensive online, real-time compensation data available, Salary.com helps you pinpoint your exact pay target.
