Does Columbia University pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Columbia University employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.6 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Columbia University. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Columbia University?

65% of Columbia University employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Columbia University 3.8 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.6 for culture and values and 3.7 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Columbia University?

Research Assistant (330) , Graduate Research Assistant (162) , Teaching Assistant (162) , Graduate Student (150) , PhD Student (145) , Postdoctoral Research Scientist (95) , Administrative Assistant (79) , Graduate Teaching Assistant (78) , Postdoctoral Fellow (74) , Associate Research Scientist (72) , Assistant Director (66) , Director (56) , Postdoctoral Researcher (54) , Associate Director (45) , Researcher (45)

What are the pros of working at Columbia University according to real employee reviews?

"Columbia and the Business School are great to work for because of the benefits and the people." ((in 492 reviews)); "The people are great and it's a pleasure to work with students" ((in 327 reviews)); "Flexible hours and in an understanding environment while being able to develop real world skills." ((in 121 reviews)); "Flexibility and good work life balance" ((in 118 reviews)); "The campus is beautiful and being in an academic environment in NYC is wonderful" ((in 86 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Columbia University according to real employee reviews?

"low pay compared to state schools that pay more to perform the same exact duties." ((in 303 reviews)); "low salary very far from my home not much increase yearly not much chances of growth departments are not well interconnected" ((in 282 reviews)); "extremely low on pay and poor management" ((in 110 reviews)); "Senior leadership can be difficult to deal with." ((in 39 reviews)); "If you get a bad manager, not much can be done." ((in 36 reviews))

What are employees saying about Columbia University layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Columbia University layoffs and their outlook for job security at Columbia University in 2026.

Columbia University reviews

4.0

65% would recommend to a friend

(5,428 total reviews)

Lee C. Bollinger

60% approve of CEO

51% positive business outlook

Company ratings over time

Ratings trend for the last 6 months (5,428 reviews)

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Columbia University has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 5,428 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Columbia University employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Educación industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

5K reviews

2.0

May 21, 2012

Work here if you have something you're personally working towards. Otherwise you'll be spinning your wheels.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great campus. Convenient location. Easy to commute to. Very reasonable time off & goog selection of benefits. Access to libraries. Inexpensive gym on campus.

Cons

Complete lack of communication between schools. Tons of wasteful spending. No oversight of Dean's excessive spending. Tons of illegal non-competitive job bidding. Nepotistic insider hiring. Terrible salary increases. Lack of quality food choices on campus. Confusing bureaucratic red-tape in dealing with HR. Constant trying to skirt/lack of knowing union rules. Expressed disgust for staff. No clear whistleblower policy or way of reporting malfeasance.

3.0

May 21, 2012

It's ok

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

You work in one of the best Universities in the country. Possibility of doing a lot of networking Lots os meetings, talks, conferences you can attend

Cons

Salary is low (but that is true for all postdoc positions) You expect more state-of-the-art technology Some equipment is really old

3.0

May 19, 2012

Not excessively stimulating but goo overall.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

- Not too much work, the staff is friendly and always willing to help, fun working in a university environment

Cons

- Not much interesting work, the pay is pretty bad (but not for the amount of hours required), need more feeback

Viewing 5263 - 5265 of 5,428 Reviews

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Jobs at Columbia University

Adjunct Lecturer, Solving Real World Problems with Analytics (ONLINE - Summer/Fall '26)

Adjunct Lecturer, Applied Deep Learning and AI (On-Campus, Fall '26)