Full professors at private doctoral institutions make the most, averaging around $225k per year. Full professors average below 200k a year, even at elite public institutions like the University of Texas at Austin. Also varies by major. Professors in business or law tend to be the highest paid, while those in the arts or humanities tend to make the least. Keep in mind it typically takes a long time to make full professor and not something anyone can realistically hope to achieve before they are 40. Also, the era of most professors on campus being tenured has gone the way of the dodo bird. In a cost saving measure, much of the teaching load is handed off to non-tenured (adjunct) professors, who work on a contractual basis (which can be terminated at any time) and are paid a pittance. Which begs the question, where is all this money going? As always, the head football coach is typically the highest paid person at a university, by far. Some things I picked up after being in that world for a while.