Compensation · Adjusted for California inflation · Fiscal years 2006–07 through 2026–27
After inflation, faculty pay is down 11%. The chancellor’s is up 23%.
California prices rose about 71% over twenty fiscal years. An assistant professor who received only the raises negotiated for all faculty now has less buying power than in any of those years.
Change in purchasing power since 2006–07
TuitionChancellor base salaryAssistant professor, negotiated raises only
Constant 2026–27 dollars, using the California Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers. A line below zero means less purchasing power than in 2006–07.
Twenty years in today’s dollars
| Tuition | Chancellor | Asst. professor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006–07, in 2026–27 dollars | $4,319 | $646,209 | $145,697 |
| 2026–27 | $6,838 | $795,000 | $129,544 |
| Real change | +$2,519 | +$148,791 | −$16,153 |
| Real change, percent | +58.3% | +23.0% | −11.1% |
To match its 2006–07 buying power, the $85,000 salary would need to be about $145,700 today. The negotiated-raise path reached $129,544, a gap of roughly $16,150 a year.
The professor’s real pay peaked in 2008–09 at about $148,700 in today’s dollars. It fell through the recession freeze, recovered partly after the 2016 contract, then fell again when inflation jumped in 2021 and 2022. It is now at its lowest point of the twenty years, down 5.3% in real terms since the last raise in July 2024.
The chancellor’s real pay also eroded between appointments. In today’s dollars it fell from about $698,000 in 2007–08 to $604,000 in 2020–21. Each new chancellor then reset it well above inflation, which is how it ends 23% higher than where it started.
Tuition rose fastest of all in real terms through 2011–12, then lost ground to inflation for a decade while it was held flat. The 6% annual increases since 2024–25 are now outrunning inflation again.
Year by year, in 2026–27 dollars
Fiscal years (July 1 to June 30). Each figure is the nominal amount multiplied by the ratio of the 2026–27 price level to that year’s average.
| Fiscal year | CA CPI | Tuition | Chancellor | Asst. professor | Professor vs. 2006–07 |
|---|
How we built this
Price index. The California Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers, published by the Department of Industrial Relations as a weighted average of the Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Riverside indexes. Each fiscal year uses the average of the bimonthly readings from August through June. October 2025 is missing because of the federal shutdown, so 2025–26 averages five readings.
2026–27 price level. Only the August 2026 reading (367.047) is available, so it stands in for the full year. If prices keep rising through June 2027, the real losses shown here will grow slightly.
Salaries and tuition. Same series and sources as Chancellor pay vs. faculty raises and Tuition vs. faculty raises. The faculty line is a modeled path with general raises only; most faculty also receive step and promotion increases, so this measures what the CSU chose to give everyone, not a typical career.
A statewide index understates costs near CSU Dominguez Hills and Long Beach, where housing has risen faster than prices overall. A South Bay housing page will address that separately.
Sources
- California Department of Industrial Relations, Office of the Director–Research Unit. (2026). California consumer price index, 1955–2026. https://www.dir.ca.gov/OPRL/cpi/entireccpi.pdf
- California State University, Northridge, Office of Faculty Affairs. (2024). History of faculty salary increases. https://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/History-of-Faculty-Increases-2024-25.pdf
- California State University. (2026, August 4). CSU executive compensation summary. https://www.calstate.edu/csu-system/transparency-accountability/executive-compensation/Documents/executive-compensation.pdf
- California State University. (2023). Multi-year tuition proposal. https://www.calstate.edu/apply/paying-for-college/tuition-increase/Pages/proposed-tuition-adjustments.aspx
- See the chancellor and tuition pages for the full list of salary and tuition sources.
Last updated November 1, 2026. Price level for 2026–27 is provisional.