Pharmacy professors make salaries far above the national average for professors in many other fields of study. The reason for this is simple. Pharmacy professors could make much higher salaries working as pharmacists or pharmaceutical researchers if they chose to do so. If pharmacy professors were only offered the same amount of money that history or English professors made, it would be hard for colleges to attract individuals to work in academia.

Average Salary

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not provide separate salary information for pharmacy professors in its listing of postsecondary educator salaries. However, it is possible to ascertain the average salary of a pharmacy professor from other sources. According to Indeed.com, the average salary for an assistant professor in the pharmacy field was $86,000 per year, as of June 2011. Associate professors in the pharmacy field made $98,000 per year, according to Indeed.com. Although the bureau does not indicate separate salaries for pharmacy professors, it does lump them together with other "health specialty" professors. The overall average salary for professors in this specialty was $103,960, as of May 2010.

Pay Scale

The $86,000 and $98,000 earned by assistant and associate pharmacy professors was far above the average salary for assistant and associate professors in all other fields who averaged $63,827 and $76,147, as of 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the bureau, the median salary for pharmacy professors and others working in the health specialties field was $85,270. The middle 50 percent of all those working in this field made between $55,930 and $135,660. The highest paid professors made $166,400 or more per year.

Location and Institution

Where the pharmacy professor works and the type of institution in which he teaches also has an effect on how much he is paid. According to the BLS, health specialty professors worked primarily in colleges and universities earning salaries of $113,360 per year. Some health specialties professors worked in surgical and medical hospitals, or other venues, but these typically don't apply to pharmacy professors. The bureau also notes that California was the state with the highest number of professors in the health specialties field. These professors made an average salary of $89,810 per year. Michigan was the highest paying state in which to work. Professors there made an average salary of $134,410 per year.

Job Outlook

The number of jobs for professors is expected to grow by about 15 percent in the period from 2008 to 2018, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chances are that pharmacy professors and other health specialty professors can expect greater job growth because of the expected growth in their respective fields of expertise. For instance, the BLS projects 17 percent job growth for pharmacists, which means that pharmacy professors will likely be in high demand also to educate pharmacists that plan to enter the field.