Universities & Colleges

20172025 · 22,602 total records

Data sourced from the Nova Scotia Public Sector Compensation Disclosure. This site is independent and not affiliated with the Government of Nova Scotia. Always verify against the official source.

The Universities & Colleges sector had 3,580 employees on the 2025 Nova Scotia Compensation Disclosure, with an average salary of $140,903 and a total disclosed payroll of $504M — up 17.6% from 2024. The highest-paid employee on record in this sector was Kent MacDonald (St Francis Xavier University), earning $585,077 in 2020.

3,580

Employees

In 2025

$140,903

Avg Salary

2025

$504.4M

Total Payroll

2025 disclosed

12

Employers

Reporting in 2025

Headcount & Salary Trends

Disclosed employees · bars = headcount, lines = salary

Year-by-Year Breakdown

2025+17.6% headcount

Employees

3,580

Avg Salary

$140,903

Median

$129,942

Total Payroll

$504.4M

2024+15.2% headcount

Employees

3,044

Avg Salary

$143,835

Median

$134,738

Total Payroll

$437.8M

2023+6.8% headcount

Employees

2,642

Avg Salary

$139,112

Median

$130,821

Total Payroll

$367.5M

2022+6.6% headcount

Employees

2,473

Avg Salary

$141,182

Median

$132,201

Total Payroll

$349.1M

2021+4.2% headcount

Employees

2,319

Avg Salary

$138,534

Median

$129,633

Total Payroll

$321.3M

2020-6.5% headcount

Employees

2,226

Avg Salary

$138,372

Median

$129,130

Total Payroll

$308.0M

2019+19.8% headcount

Employees

2,380

Avg Salary

$136,876

Median

$127,624

Total Payroll

$325.8M

2018+1.7% headcount

Employees

1,986

Avg Salary

$136,171

Median

$127,251

Total Payroll

$270.4M

2017

Employees

1,952

Avg Salary

$135,415

Median

$126,866

Total Payroll

$264.3M