Where the middle 50% lands.
Half earn between $76k and $259k. That band is the interquartile range. The 90th percentile sits at $468k, roughly 3.5 times the median. That upper tail is where the largest organizations cluster.
| Percentile | Total comp | Means |
|---|---|---|
| 90th | $467,533 | Top 10% of earners |
| 75th | $259,246 | 25% earn more than this |
| 50th · median | $132,000 | The typical executive |
| 25th | $75,574 | 25% earn less than this |
| 10th | $32,200 | 10% of executives earn less than this |
How the package is built.
The typical pay structure across 131 organizations with full Schedule J reporting (44% of the 295 orgs in this slice). Each share is the average across orgs of the fraction of total comp that goes to this component, so the bar fills 100%.
The number in context.
Every row links to its own dedicated benchmark page.
All figures are median total reported compensation · IRS Form 990, Schedule J
Pay varies by state.
District of Columbia pays $142,746 more than the median Executive Director compensation in social science nationally.
The ten highest-paid social science Executive Directors by filing.
| # | Organization | Location | Total compensation | Filing year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | American Institutes For Research In The Behavioral Sciences | Arlington, VA | $2,241,374 | 2023 |
| 02 | National Opinion Research Center | Chicago, IL | $1,357,245 | 2024 |
| 03 | American Enterprise Institute For Public Policy Research | Washington, DC | $1,123,965 | 2023 |
| 04 | American Psychological Association | Washington, DC | $1,068,705 | 2023 |
| 05 | The Urban Institute | Washington, DC | $1,022,915 | 2023 |
| 06 | National Bureau Of Economic Research Inc | Cambridge, MA | $924,694 | 2023 |
| 07 | The Aspen Institute Inc | Washington, DC | $911,570 | 2024 |
| 08 | Buck Institute For Research On Aging | Novato, CA | $845,957 | 2023 |
| 09 | The Economic Club Of New York | New York, NY | $826,293 | 2024 |
| 10 | The Narbha Institute Inc | Flagstaff, AZ | $822,513 | 2023 |
Total includes base, bonus, other reportable, and deferred/retirement compensation per Schedule J.
What does a $X org pay?
Adjust the slider to your organization's revenue. The median Executive Director compensation for social science nonprofits in that revenue band updates live.
{sector} {role} pay, answered
- How much does a Social Science nonprofit Executive Director make?
- The median total compensation for a Executive Director at a social science nonprofit is $132,000, based on 295 organizations in IRS Form 990 filings. The middle 50% fall between $75,574 and $259,246.
- What is the salary range for a Executive Director in Social Science nonprofits?
- Pay ranges from $75,574 at the 25th percentile to $259,246 at the 75th and $467,533 at the 90th. The spread reflects differences in organization size, budget, and region within the sector.
- Is this Social Science compensation data reliable?
- Yes. It comes from IRS Form 990 filings, legal documents filed under penalty of perjury, not self-reported surveys. Figures cover 295 social science nonprofits reporting a Executive Director.
- Why does Social Science nonprofit Executive Director pay differ from other sectors?
- Compensation reflects the typical organization size, revenue, and operating complexity of each sector. Larger, better-funded social science organizations pull the upper percentiles higher, while smaller ones anchor the lower end.