CUPA-HR’s signature surveys collect data on composition and pay equity on all higher education administrator, faculty, professional, and staff positions.
Staff positions are generally non-exempt and do not require a college degree. Examples of non-exempt staff in higher education include electricians, police officers, photographers, custodians, office assistants, and food service workers. These interactive graphics show composition and pay equity by gender and race/ethnicity for higher education staff over time. To explore trends in composition and pay equity for custom comparison groups or specific positions, subscribe to DataOnDemand.
Composition of Staff by Gender and Race/Ethnicity
Navigating the Chart: Click the labels in the legend to select or deselect specific data in the graphic. Use the drop-down menu to select a subset of staff positions. 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.
Key Findings: People of color represent one-third of all staff, which is the largest proportion of people of color in the higher ed workforce. This makes higher ed staff the only employee group that mirrors the representation of higher ed students by race/ethnicity. Notably, people of color are best represented in the lowest-paying positions on campus. When examined by job category, service and maintenance staff have the highest representation of people of color (45%), and skilled craft staff have the lowest representation of people of color (18%). Women make up 85% of office and clerical positions and only 4% of skilled craft positions. These patterns have been consistent since 2016-17, when CUPA-HR first started collecting this data.
Median Pay Ratios for Staff by Gender and Race/Ethnicity
Navigating the Chart: Use the drop-down menu to select a subset of staff positions. 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.
Key Findings: Overall, women’s pay ratios are lower than men’s pay ratios of the same race/ethnicity, a pattern that has persisted for staff since 2016-17. In addition, Black and Hispanic/Latino men’s pay is consistently lower than the pay of White men, except for office and clerical positions. Looking at staff overall, intersectional pay ratios for Black and Hispanic/Latina women are the lowest compared to all other groups. Black women have been paid $0.93 or less and Hispanic/Latina women have been paid $0.94 or less for every dollar White men are paid since 2016-17. In service and maintenance jobs, pay ratios are consistently lower for people of color despite being well represented in these positions. Additionally, in office and clerical positions where women make up the vast majority of staff, women of color’s pay ratios are lower than men’s pay ratios of the same race/ethnicity.
Methodology
Data were collected in CUPA-HR’s Staff 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., 2026 reflects academic year 2025-26). Analyses include only non-profit institutions of higher education; each year of overall staff data includes data from at least 640 colleges and universities and at least 133,103 staff. Median pay ratios control for position. Median salaries by race/ethnicity and sex for each staff 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.
Additional Resources
For more information and data on higher education non-exempt staff, see our comprehensive report, The Non-Exempt Higher Education Staff Workforce: Trends in Composition, Size, and Pay Equity.
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