Learn about the types of people who become professors. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.
Employment Type Mix, 2025
52% of professors work in full-time roles while 48% work part-time.
Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2025
This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming a professor. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.
More men than women are interested in becoming professors at a ratio of 1.21 to 1.
Actual Gender Mix, 2025
62% of professors are female and 38% are male.
Gender Bias, 2025
This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being a professor and the actual gender mix of people in the career.
If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming a professor and those who end up becoming one.
In this case there are more men interested in becoming a professor than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.
Ethnic Mix, 2019
The largest ethnic group of professors are White, making up 67% of the population. The next highest segments are Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish and Other, making up 7% and 7% respectively.