Is Moving From Industry to Academia Financially Worth It? Health Administration Faculty Salaries in the University System of Georgia and How They Compare to Industry and Inflation

Abstract

The present study is a secondary analysis of publicly available data pertaining to 44 health administration faculty salaries within the University System of Georgia. Data analysis indicates that overall, mean salaries of entry-level health administration faculty at the rank of Assistant Professor have not kept pace with inflation and are below the median industry salary in health administration. Salaries of health administration faculty at the ranks of Associate Professor and Professor are more in line with current industry salaries and have kept pace with inflation. The study also looks at the breakdown of mean salaries for health administration faculty housed in different schools at different colleges and universities, specifically the School of Business, School of Health, and School of Public Health, and discusses whether it is financially feasible to leave to leave the industry for academia in the present environment.