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Current salary information
Salary rates for faculty, academic staff and other unclassified positions are maintained by the UW-Madison Office of Human Resources (OHR) Academic Personnel Office, and are updated annually.
Below is a directory of frequently-used rate information; additional information can be found on the OHR Academic Personnel Office Policies, Procedures, Guidelines, and Handbooks for Unclassified Employees page:
- Student hourly
- Graduate assistant
- Research associate (postdoc)
- Faculty
- Researcher, scientist (Category B academic staff). Category B positions require a PhD and have research responsibilities similar to faculty.
Other research/outreach positions (Category A academic staff)
Includes research specialist, outreach specialist, lab manager, outreach program manager, research program manager and other positions without responsibilities similar to faculty.
Determining Category A salary rate is a two-step process:
1. Determine salary grade code for the position title/level.
Using the OHR Unclassified Title Guide, locate the position title of interest. Corresponding salary grade codes for each level within the title are displayed at right, as shown below. In this example, the salary grade code for an Associate Research Specialist is 1.

2. Determine salary range based on salary grade code.
Using the Office of Human Resources Category A Academic Staff Salary Ranges table, locate the salary grade code that you identified in the previous step, as shown below. Corresponding salary ranges for Annual (A) and Academic (C) appointments are shown at right. In this example, the annual appointment salary range for an associate research specialist (grade code 1) is $29,094-$41,190.

Salary Budgeting Tips
- Use up to 3% for salary increases in multiple year budgets. This is a guideline and if a department feels strongly that they want to use a higher percentage they can do so but agencies require that accurate projection rates are utilized.
- NIH policy
- Consider any staff adjustments/promotions when budgeting, particularly on continuing grants with ongoing personnel. You may need to contact payroll for anticipated salary changes.
- Use 1% for fringe benefits increases in multiple year budgets.
Salary Resources
- Maximum appointments for graduate assistants policy
- Unclassified title guidelines
- Unclassified title definitions
- NIH NRSA Stipend Levels: 2019| 2018