Professionals Composition and Pay Equity by Gender and Race/Ethnicity
CUPA-HR’s signature surveys collect data on composition and pay equity on all higher ed administrator, faculty, professional, and staff positions. To explore trends in representation and pay equity for custom comparison groups or specific positions, subscribe to DataOnDemand.
Professionals work in a specific functional area, such as academic or student services. Their positions generally require at least a baccalaureate degree or functional equivalent. These interactive graphics show composition and pay equity by gender and race/ethnicity for higher ed professionals over time.
Composition of Professionals by Gender and Race/Ethnicity
Key Findings: From 2016-17 to 2023-24, the representation of professionals of color increased 4 percentage points to 26%. Some of this progress has been achieved in incremental increases between 2016-17 to 2023-24 for Admissions and Financial Aid (27% to 31%), Development and Fundraising (11% to 15%), Information Technology (19% to 25%), Librarians (11% to 14%), and Student Affairs (24% to 32%). The representation of people of color in Diversity and Equal Opportunity has been unchanged since 2017-18 at 33%, Fiscal Affairs has been unchanged since 2019-20 at 28%, and Human Resources has been unchanged since 2021-22 at 34%. The representation of women accounts for at least 70% of each individual professional area depicted except for Information Technology, where women’s representation is only 27%.
Navigating the Chart: Use the drop down-menu to select a subset of professionals’ positions. Click the labels in the legend to select or deselect specific data in the graphic. Slide the circle side-to-side in the bar to change the year or click the “Animate All Years” button to see how percentages change over time.
Median Pay Ratios for Professionals by Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Professional Area
Key Findings: Median pay for Black, Hispanic/Latina, and White women has been lower than for White men since 2016-17 across all professional positions. Asian men and women were the only racial/ethnic group with pay ratios at or above that of White men since 2016-17. However, when examined by professional area, Student Affairs’ median pay for Black, Hispanic/Latina, and White women has been at or above that for White men since 2016-17. Asian men and women in Student Affairs have had pay ratios at or below that of White men since 2016-17. There is no clear pattern of progress in pay equity for the past eight years across all professional positions. The only professional area to show evidence of progress in pay equity is Development and Fundraising. Jobs in this area have had pay ratios for women that were at or above White men since 2022-23.
Navigating the Chart: Use the drop down-menu to select a subset of professional area. Slide the circle side-to-side in the bar to change the year or click the “Animate All Years” button to see how median pay ratios change over time.
Methodology
Data were collected in CUPA-HR’s Professionals in Higher Education Survey with an effective date of November 1 of each academic year. (For these charts, the academic year is denoted with the last part of the year, e.g., 2024 is academic year 2023-24). Analyses include only non-profit institutions of higher education; each year of professionals’ data includes data from at least 802 colleges and universities and at least 153,015 professionals.
Median pay ratios control for position. Median salaries by race/ethnicity and sex for each professional position were obtained; then the median of those medians was calculated by race/ethnicity and sex. Finally, each group’s median salary was divided by the median salary of White men to calculate the pay ratio. This controls for the fact that women and people of color may be represented differently in specific positions that pay higher or lower salaries, and it means that the wage gaps present are not explained by the fact that women or people of color may have greater representation in lower-paying positions.