Department Chair & Professor Salary in Ontario (2025)
591 disclosed records, 2001–2025 · mostly Universities (100%)
At a Glance
2025
Disclosed
32
2025 Sunshine List
Median Salary
$223,765
+83.0% vs provincial median
Typical Range
$206,288–$237,876
25th–75th percentile
Top Salary
$258,225
Who is the highest-paid Department Chair & Professor in Ontario?
The highest-paid Department Chair & Professor on the 2025 Sunshine List was Marie Elliot at McMaster University, with a salary of $258,225; the median among the 32 listed under this title was $223,765.
Take-Home Pay
(After Tax) · 2025 estimate
A Department Chair & Professor paid the 2025 median of $223,765 would take home roughly $142,806 after income tax, CPP and EI — about $11,901 a month, an effective rate of about 33.7%. 32 people were listed under this title in 2025. Across every sector the 2025 median was $122,262, so this position sits about 83% above it. Members of OMERS, OTPP, HOOPP or OPTrust typically take home another 7–10% less after pension contributions, which this estimate leaves out.
- Estimated net pay
- ~$142,806
- Effective income-tax rate (excl. CPP/EI)
- ~33.7%
- CPP + EI contributions
- ~$5,507
- Per month, after tax
- ~$11,901
Where does $223,765 rank on the Sunshine List? →
Estimate only: 2025 federal and Ontario rates, basic personal amounts, Canada employment amount and CPP/EI credits; single, employment income only, salary treated as full-year income. Ignores pension contributions (OMERS, HOOPP, OTPP, OPTrust and similar plans lower actual take-home), union dues, RRSPs and benefits.
Median by Year
2005–2025
Median salary paid among disclosed records. 2023 is absent: job titles were not disclosed that year. Years with fewer than five people are omitted.
Where They Work
2025 · employers with 5+
| Employer | People | Median | Top | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mcmaster University | 23 | $229,668 | $258,225 | Pay here → |
| York University | 9 | $204,774 | $258,187 | Pay here → |
Highest Paid
2025
| # | Name | Employer | Title as filed | Salary | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marie Elliot | McMaster University | Department Chair / Professor | $258,225 | $258,742 |
| 2 | Wai-Ming Ho | York University | Professor/Department Chair | $258,187 | $259,144 |
| 3 | William Michael Farmer | McMaster University | Professor / Department Chair | $254,413 | $254,887 |
| 4 | Mel Rutherford | McMaster University | Professor / Department Chair | $247,572 | $248,089 |
| 5 | Alison Sills | McMaster University | Professor / Department Chair | $245,887 | $246,404 |
| 6 | Ana Regina Campos | McMaster University | Professor / Department Chair | $242,245 | $242,719 |
| 7 | Hatem Zurob | McMaster University | Professor / Department Chair | $239,123 | $239,640 |
| 8 | Mohamed Bakr | McMaster University | Professor / Department Chair | $238,476 | $238,993 |
| 9 | Richard Paige | McMaster University | Professor / Department Chair | $237,876 | $238,393 |
| 10 | Giuseppe Melacini | McMaster University | Professor / Department Chair | $235,605 | $236,122 |
By Year
Related Positions
About these figures
Source: Ontario’s Public Sector Salary Disclosure (the “Sunshine List”), which names every public-sector employee paid $100,000 or more in a calendar year. Figures are disclosed salaries, not market compensation: anyone in this position earning under $100,000 does not appear, so medians here sit above the true median for the job.
Medians and percentiles use salary paid (benefits excluded), computed over records whose filed job title was normalized into this position. Titles are as each employer filed them; spellings, word order and bilingual forms are merged. Employers and years with fewer than five people show counts only. 2023: job titles were not disclosed, so that year has no position data. Titles before 2005 were abbreviated at source; the chart starts at 2005.
Data through 2025, the most recent Sunshine List disclosed.