School pay data

Public universities publish their payrolls; we load them person by person. These boards rank the people and the schools.

Highest-paid public university employees “The Ivory Tower”
The largest pay on public university payrolls, per person and year.
Top: SMART,KIRBY PAUL $13,802,999, 2025; Day, Ryan $13,387,554, 2025; Allen, Thomas E $12,410,427, 2023
Athletic department pay “Game Day Payroll”
Pay in public university athletics: coaches, athletic directors and athletics staff.
Top: SMART,KIRBY PAUL $13,802,999, 2025; Day, Ryan $13,387,554, 2025; Allen, Thomas E $12,410,427, 2023
Coaches' pay, payroll and 990s together “Whistle Money”
Coaches from public university payrolls and from Form 990s (private universities, athletic and booster foundations, alumni associations and other nonprofits), one row per coach.
Top: Daniel Mullen $18,762,075, 2021; Robert P Petrino $18,489,792, 2018; Arthur Briles $17,873,576, 2016
Administrators' pay against faculty salaries “Top Brass vs. Chalkboard”
Median pay of administrators on a public university's payroll, against the IPEDS average faculty salary there the same year.
Top: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences 4.32x, 2024; Southeast Arkansas College 4.17x, 2024; Southern Arkansas University Tech 4.06x, 2024
Biggest year-over-year raises “The Big Raise”
The largest increases in one person's published pay from one year to the next.
Top: Allen, Thomas E $8,088,897, 2023; SMART,KIRBY P $6,025,000, 2018; Calipari, John $5,039,355, 2025
Biggest payrolls by school
Total published payroll, school by school, with headcount, top pay and IPEDS faculty salary averages.
Top: Ohio State University-Main Campus $4,091,363,769 (top paid: Day, Ryan), 2025; University of Washington-Seattle Campus $2,193,586,170 (top paid: SARKISIAN, STEPHEN A), 2013; Indiana University-Bloomington $2,013,977,495 (top paid: Cignetti, Curtis J), 2025

Every school with its pay columns (Report Card, pay view)

Other school data: School 990s · Student loan data