How much do humanities PhDs make?

Jasper Mangel: It depends on several factors: most critically, whether you are hired at-an urban or rural college-a poorly funded state university / poorly-endowed private college or a well-endowed private college- a History dept. or a Religion dept. or another dept.- the ranking (prestige, reputation) of said college in your discipline- the amount of pull the department chair has with the college's administrationUrban colleges will pay more because of the higher cost of living associated with their location.Well-endowed colleges will pay more because their endowments support higher faculty salaries.History usually (but not always) pays better than either Religion or Lit.Departments with stellar reputations are sometimes better funded than their less-stellar counterparts.Chairs who are owed favors by / work well with / suck up to / are treasured by / the administration can sometimes leverage salary caps.Depending on a combination of these factors, a beginning salary for a! newly hired professor on the tenure track, beginning at assistant professor, could range from 35K to 70K. Most often, somewhere in the 40-50K range is a reasonable expectation. Your best bet is to check out the upcoming (first week of September, I think) salary edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Your library (and maybe even your department) has a subscription. This edition will provide average salaries in every discipline, at every level, in both state and private institutions....Show more

Rubye Bonnin: Very low wages $45,000 for the long term investment you are making in years of schooling, escpecially since most bachelor's holding graduates will start out earning more than you.

Veta Slicker: i am getting my phd at the university of michigan in a humanities field. most people who write really interesting, innovative dissertations and get independent funding along the way generally can get a decent job after they graduate. but those are a lot! of maybes. you really need to have something interesting to ! say within your field if you are going to get a job. basically, you DO want to get into a top program. this means not only gaining admission, but getting the school to fund you all the way. it makes NO sense to go into debt to get your phd in the humanities. for a first job out of grad school, humanities phds can make anywhere from 35k to 50k. it really depends on your luck the year you enter the job market, which varies wildly from year to year....Show more