Adjunct political science professor pay per course
From real political science adjunct and lecturer postings across U.S. colleges and universities, refreshed daily. Live and recently closed listings both count.
- Median per course · political science
- $4,000
- Middle half of listings (25th–75th)
- $2,700 – $7,089
- Typical range (5th–95th)
- $1,158 – $11,374
- Institutions disclosing pay
- 38
Based on 48 listings that disclose per-course pay.
Highest-paying institutions
Median per course among institutions with at least three disclosed-pay political science listings.
- Sul Ross State University$2,700n=3
By state
States with at least five disclosed-pay political science listings.
- California$7,277n=8
- Massachusetts$4,700n=7
- Texas$3,350n=8
Twelve-month trend
$1,400Nov 2025
$5,088Dec 2025
$10,356Mar 2026
$2,548Apr 2026
$3,500May 2026
$11,000Jun 2026
$3,700Jul 2026
$4,683Aug 2026
$3,302Sep 2026
$5,500Oct 2026
$10,000Nov 2026
Median per-course pay of listings posted each month.
What the median means per year
Adjuncts are paid per course, so annual income depends on load. At $4,000 per course:
- 2 courses × 2 terms
- $16,000
- 3 courses × 2 terms
- $24,000
- 4 courses × 3 terms
- $48,000
Before tax, no benefits. Most institutions cap adjuncts below the load that would trigger benefits eligibility.
Frequently asked questions
- How much do adjunct political science professors make per course?
- Across 48 political science adjunct postings that disclose pay, the median is $4,000 per course; the middle half of listings fall between $2,700 and $7,089.
- Do online adjunct political science jobs pay less?
- Online political science listings show a median of $2,491 per course against $4,000 overall (from 3 online postings with disclosed pay). Institutions usually pay online and in-person sections at the same rate; the gap reflects which institutions hire online.
- What would that be per year?
- At the $4,000 median, three courses a term over two terms is about $24,000 before tax, with no benefits. Loads are usually capped below the level that would trigger benefits eligibility.
Where these numbers come from
- Every figure is computed from adjunct, lecturer, and part-time faculty postings that OpenLecture tracks across 4,000+ U.S. institutions, refreshed daily. Closed listings stay in the sample, so the picture covers roughly the past year.
- Only postings that state a per-course amount are compared. Hourly and annual quotes are reported separately and never converted.
- Where a range is posted, the top of the range is used. Figures below $500 or above $25,000 per course are excluded as mislabelled periods.
- Medians are shown, not averages, so a handful of outliers cannot move them. Pages with fewer than 25 disclosed-pay listings carry a warning.
- Roughly a quarter of adjunct postings disclose pay at all; these numbers describe the institutions that do.