MEDIAN SALARIES WITH A DOCTORATE DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY

Students who pursue graduate school and earn a Doctorate degree in psychology may be employed in several different areas of psychology. The Occupational Outlook Handbook (1998) reports the following median starting salaries and the median salaries for full-time employed psychology Doctorates based on information collected from surveys by the American Psychological Association.

Please recall from your Quantitative Methods class (if you have completed the class) that the median salary is that salary that marks the point where half the salaries are above that salary and half the salaries are below that salary.

Because of geographical variations and the wide range of starting salaries in the different fields, only the median starting salaries are given here.

Median Starting Salary for Full-Time Employed Psychology Doctorates
Employment Area	Median Starting Salary
Associate Professor	$49,000
Assistant Professor	$43,000
Lecturer/Instructor	$37,000
Adjunct/Visiting Faculty	$37,000
Research Position	$40,000
Director of Human Services, Clinical Psychology	$38,000
Median Salary for Full-Time Employed Psychology Doctorates
Employment Area	Median Salary
Director of Human Services, Counseling Psychology	$38,000
Director of Human Services, School Psychology	$43,000
Administration of Human Services	$45,000
Other Applied	$54,000
Faculty Position	$48,000
Research Position	$50,000
Administration of Research	$70,000
Independent Practice/Clinical	$74,000
VA Hospital/Clinical	$60,000
Independent Practice/Counseling	$70,000
Applied Psychology (I/O)	$80,000
Director of Human Services/Other	$60,000

Source: Landrum E. R. & Davis S. F. (2003). The Psychology Major: Career Options and Strategies for Success, 2^nd ed., Pearson Education Inc.: Upper Saddle river, NJ.