Business faculty statistics show how business schools combine full-time professors, part-time instructors, staff, administrators, and graduate teaching assistants. The AACSB 2026 Business School Data Guide reports an average of 88 full-time business faculty per school across 813 institutions. It also reports an average of 57 part-time faculty, excluding graduate teaching assistants, across 935 institutions. The figures below keep each reported measurement period, role definition, and participating-institution count explicit.
Contents
- Faculty staffing at a typical business school
- Academic roles and faculty composition
- Tenure and appointment status
- Professor salary statistics by discipline
- Associate professor salary statistics
- Assistant professor salary statistics
Faculty staffing at a typical business school
The AACSB 2026 Business School Data Guide reports several different views of staffing. These averages should not be treated as a single census of identical schools: the number of participating institutions changes by measure, and each figure describes the schools included in that measure.
Full-time business faculty averaged 88 per school across 813 institutions. Full-time faculty with doctoral degrees averaged 73 per school across 983 institutions. Part-time faculty, excluding graduate teaching assistants, averaged 57 per school across 935 institutions. Graduate teaching assistants averaged 4 per school across 164 institutions.
The broader employment picture was larger than the faculty-only measures. Full-time business school staff and administrators averaged 24 per school across 979 institutions. Total headcount for all people employed by the business unit averaged 290 per school across 984 institutions. That total is an all-employee measure, so it should be read separately from the full-time and part-time faculty averages.
| AACSB measure | Average per school | Participating institutions |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time business faculty | 88 | 813 |
| Full-time faculty with doctoral degrees | 73 | 983 |
| Part-time faculty, excluding graduate teaching assistants | 57 | 935 |
| Graduate teaching assistants | 4 | 164 |
| Full-time staff and administrators | 24 | 979 |
| All people employed by the business unit | 290 | 984 |
The doctoral-degree figure is reported for 983 institutions, while the full-time faculty average is reported for 813. Because the participation bases differ, the two averages describe different AACSB reporting groups. The same caution applies when comparing the 164-institution graduate teaching assistant measure with the larger staffing measures.
Academic roles and faculty composition
The guide also separates faculty into academic and practitioner-oriented categories. Scholarly academics averaged 65 per school and represented 89.1% of participating faculty across 916 institutions. Practice academics averaged 12 per school and represented 65.4% of participating faculty across 798 institutions.
The practitioner categories were reported separately. Scholarly practitioners averaged 5 per school and represented 68.1% of participating faculty across 620 institutions. Instructional practitioners averaged 30 per school and represented 37.0% of participating faculty across 865 institutions.
These values are category-specific AACSB measures. Their percentages should not be combined into a single faculty-composition total, because the guide reports each category with its own participating-institution count and category definition. The averages also describe the reported group for each measure rather than a universal staffing profile for every business school.
| Faculty category | Average per school | Share reported | Institutions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scholarly academics | 65 | 89.1% | 916 |
| Practice academics | 12 | 65.4% | 798 |
| Scholarly practitioners | 5 | 68.1% | 620 |
| Instructional practitioners | 30 | 37.0% | 865 |
The contrast between 65 scholarly academics and 30 instructional practitioners, for example, is a comparison of two reported averages with different institutional coverage. It is useful for describing the range of roles represented in business education, but it does not establish a staffing ratio for an individual school.
Tenure and appointment status
AACSB reported the share of business faculty in three appointment-status groups for five academic years from 2020-21 through 2024-25. The tenured share was 53.6% in 2020-21, 53.4% in 2021-22, 53.1% in 2022-23, 53.6% in 2023-24, and 53.0% in 2024-25.
The tenure-track share was 23.3% in 2020-21, 23.5% in 2021-22, 23.3% in 2022-23, 22.9% in 2023-24, and 23.3% in 2024-25. The non-tenure-track share was 23.2% in 2020-21, 23.0% in 2021-22, 23.3% in 2022-23, 23.6% in 2023-24, and 23.3% in 2024-25.
| Academic year | Tenured | Tenure-track | Non-tenure-track |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 53.6% | 23.3% | 23.2% |
| 2021-22 | 53.4% | 23.5% | 23.0% |
| 2022-23 | 53.1% | 23.3% | 23.3% |
| 2023-24 | 53.6% | 22.9% | 23.6% |
| 2024-25 | 53.0% | 23.3% | 23.3% |
Across the reported years, the tenured share remained between 53.0% and 53.6%. The tenure-track share remained between 22.9% and 23.5%, while the non-tenure-track share remained between 23.0% and 23.6%. These are reported shares for the stated academic years; they are not forecasts.
Professor salary statistics by discipline
The AACSB 2026 Business School Data Guide reports professor salaries in thousands of U.S. dollars, alongside the number of faculty and institutions represented. The largest reported professor faculty counts in the supplied figures were finance/banking, with 1,600 faculty across 488 institutions; accounting, with 1,251 faculty across 432 institutions; management, with 1,071 faculty across 346 institutions; and economics/managerial economics, with 1,069 faculty across 342 institutions.
Professor salary figures for these disciplines were $220.6 thousand in finance/banking, $209.6 thousand in accounting, $166.8 thousand in management, and $164.2 thousand in economics/managerial economics. Behavioral science/organizational behavior reported $218.8 thousand for 320 faculty across 133 institutions. CIS/MIS reported $184.2 thousand for 850 faculty across 319 institutions, while entrepreneurship/small business administration reported $187.3 thousand for 221 faculty across 136 institutions.
Other professor salary observations included $180.6 thousand in leadership for 41 faculty across 24 institutions; $178.8 thousand in business ethics/CSR for 67 faculty across 40 institutions; $173.0 thousand in insurance for 54 faculty across 32 institutions; $169.5 thousand in international business for 153 faculty across 88 institutions; and $168.6 thousand in data analytics for 147 faculty across 83 institutions.
The guide also reported $162.4 thousand in hotel/restaurant/tourism for 69 faculty across 45 institutions; $145.9 thousand in business law/legal environment for 172 faculty across 101 institutions; $137.4 thousand in health services/hospital administration for 23 faculty across 18 institutions; $130.8 thousand in business communication for 51 faculty across 26 institutions; and $113.2 thousand in general business for 25 faculty across 14 institutions.
Smaller reported professor samples included actuarial science at $92.4 thousand for 19 faculty across 7 institutions and e-business/e-commerce at $110.1 thousand for 13 faculty across 10 institutions. The sample sizes and institution counts matter when interpreting these discipline-level values.
Associate professor salary statistics
Associate professor salaries were reported at $173.4 thousand in finance/banking for 1,452 faculty across 471 institutions; $172.4 thousand in accounting for 1,598 faculty across 492 institutions; and $149.6 thousand in behavioral science/organizational behavior for 318 faculty across 131 institutions. CIS/MIS was reported at $147.0 thousand for 712 faculty across 296 institutions, and data analytics at $148.4 thousand for 199 faculty across 100 institutions.
The associate professor figure for insurance was $187.6 thousand, based on 26 faculty across 23 institutions. Leadership was $149.0 thousand for 29 faculty across 20 institutions. Entrepreneurship/small business administration was $128.0 thousand for 216 faculty across 130 institutions, while international business was $125.1 thousand for 129 faculty across 78 institutions.
Additional associate professor figures were $122.2 thousand in economics/managerial economics for 884 faculty across 302 institutions; $123.3 thousand in HR management for 197 faculty across 114 institutions; $119.8 thousand in health services/hospital administration for 45 faculty across 27 institutions; and $114.6 thousand in business law/legal environment for 167 faculty across 100 institutions.
Business communication was reported at $97.8 thousand for 94 faculty across 43 institutions, business ethics/CSR at $115.4 thousand for 45 faculty across 33 institutions, and business education at $95.5 thousand for 16 faculty across 7 institutions. Hotel/restaurant/tourism was $112.8 thousand for 79 faculty across 50 institutions. Actuarial science was $78.4 thousand for 22 faculty across 8 institutions, and e-business/e-commerce was $138.2 thousand for 5 faculty across 6 institutions.
Assistant professor salary statistics
Assistant professor salaries were reported at $161.8 thousand in finance/banking for 1,469 faculty across 451 institutions; $157.0 thousand in accounting for 1,500 faculty across 483 institutions; $137.8 thousand in behavioral science/organizational behavior for 298 faculty across 122 institutions; and $132.7 thousand in CIS/IS for 860 faculty across 290 institutions.
Data analytics was reported at $122.7 thousand for 302 faculty across 131 institutions. Entrepreneurship/small business administration was $129.9 thousand for 242 faculty across 146 institutions, while leadership was $129.6 thousand for 25 faculty across 19 institutions. Insurance was $136.6 thousand for 23 faculty across 20 institutions, and international business was $106.2 thousand for 84 faculty across 56 institutions.
Assistant professor salary figures also included $107.4 thousand in economics/managerial economics for 832 faculty across 284 institutions; $101.4 thousand in business law/legal environment for 110 faculty across 81 institutions; $98.6 thousand in HR management for 216 faculty across 129 institutions; $98.2 thousand in hotel/restaurant/tourism for 54 faculty across 39 institutions; and $97.5 thousand in health services/hospital administration for 37 faculty across 33 institutions.
The reported figure for business ethics/CSR was $95.7 thousand for 42 faculty across 29 institutions. Business communication was $76.4 thousand for 74 faculty across 39 institutions, business education was $82.8 thousand for 17 faculty across 8 institutions, and general business was $71.2 thousand for 38 faculty across 24 institutions. Actuarial science was $61.4 thousand for 16 faculty across 7 institutions, while e-business/e-commerce was $100.5 thousand for 3 faculty across 6 institutions.
Taken together, these discipline-level salary statistics show why business faculty comparisons need rank, discipline, faculty count, and institutional coverage kept together. The AACSB 2026 Business School Data Guide presents the salary observations as reported values for the listed faculty and participating institutions; they do not by themselves establish a forecast or a salary for every business school.