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Updated through 2024NTEE V · Social Science

Social Science nonprofitexecutive pay

Median top-executive pay across 435 social science nonprofits, 2021 – 2024. Each organization is counted once at its most recent filing, using the highest-paid leader reported on IRS Form 990, Schedule J.

Organizations that conduct research and education in the social sciences, including economics, political science, and sociology.

Median executive pay
$122,500
The typical social science nonprofit's highest-paid executive earns $122,500 in total reported compensation.
25th pct
$53k
75th pct
$209k
90th pct
$415k
435 organizations · 2021 – 2024
Percentile distribution

Where the middle 50% lands.

Half earn between $53k and $209k. That band is the interquartile range. The 90th percentile sits at $415k, roughly 3.4 times the median. That upper tail is where the largest organizations cluster.

PercentileTotal compMeans
90th$414,837Top 10% of earners
75th$208,68225% earn more than this
50th · median$122,500The typical executive
25th$52,75225% earn less than this
10th$19,85410% of executives earn less than this
By organization size

Bigger budgets, bigger paychecks.

Median executive pay rises with organization revenue. Each band shows the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of top-executive pay for social science nonprofits in that revenue range.

Revenue band25thMedian75thOrgs
Under $1M$30k$65,991$114k221
$1M – $10M$119k$171,808$253k166
$10M – $100M$312k$426,067$545k41
$100M – $500M$854k$1,022,915$1.2M7
Revenue bands with fewer than 5 organizations are not shown.
Geography

Pay varies by state.

District of Columbia pays $136,006 more than the national median across social science nonprofits.

By role

Benchmark a specific Social Science role

Drill into median pay for individual leadership roles within social science nonprofits.

Board & trustee pay

Social Science board & trustee pay norms

14% of social science nonprofits pay at least one board member or trustee, with a typical per-person payment of $46,060 across a median board of 5 paid members.

Organizations paying board members
14%
Median board pay
$46,060
Median paid board size
5
By filing type
Form 990: 17%
Form 990-EZ: 9%
Form 990-PF: 12%
Directory

Social science research organizations, think tanks, policy institutes, and academic societies. Covers economics, political science, sociology, and interdisciplinary research. There are 771 social science organizations in our database with compensation data from IRS Form 990 filings. Use the table below to browse them, or sort by revenue, location, or number of reported executives.

Organizations in Social Science

771 organizations · Page 16 of 16