Albert Einstein’s Institute for Advanced Study appointment set his salary at $15,000 a year, effective October 1, 1933. That figure is a useful starting point—not a direct measure of what the same salary would mean to you today. To compare fairly, distinguish inflation-adjusted dollars from how his pay ranked against other workers, and account for the fact that the appointment included benefits beyond salary.
What was Einstein’s salary?
The Institute for Advanced Study’s archival minutes record Einstein’s appointment as Professor of Theoretical Physics and set his salary at $15,000 per year, with the appointment beginning October 1, 1933. The minutes document the appointment and its terms; the employer was the Institute for Advanced Study, not Princeton University. Read the Institute’s archival record.
The salary was only one part of the arrangement. The minutes also specify a 5% contribution to the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, matched by the Institute, terms concerning possible double income taxation, retirement provisions, a surviving-spouse pension for Elsa Einstein, and paid transportation to America. The archival record is the strongest source for the exact appointment terms; a later university-hosted biography also reports the $15,000 salary but differs on the retirement benefit amount. The Princeton-years biography.
How to compare the salary with your pay
There are two different comparisons, and they answer different questions:
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- Inflation-adjusted dollars: This estimates how the general price level changed between 1933 and a chosen target year. It does not establish that Einstein and a present-day worker could afford the same lifestyle.
- Relative earnings: This compares the historical salary with a specified earnings benchmark for a defined population and period. It can show how the figures relate, but only if the populations and pay measures are made clear.
Find a CPI-adjusted amount for a target year
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) inflation calculator uses the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, all items. For a completed year, it uses the average CPI for that calendar year; for the current year, it uses the latest monthly index. Enter $15,000 and select 1933 and your target year in the BLS CPI Inflation Calculator. The result depends on the target year, so there is no single timeless “worth today” figure.
CPI measures average price changes for consumer goods and services. It is a general inflation adjustment, not a personalized cost-of-living calculation or a measure of salary rank. Housing, local prices, household needs, occupation, work hours, taxes and benefits can make your financial circumstances very different from the national average. The BLS explains both the use and limits of CPI for income comparisons in Income and the Consumer Price Index.
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Compare with a modern earnings benchmark
For context, BLS reported median usual weekly earnings of $1,204 in 2025 for full-time wage and salary workers. This is a weekly median, not an annual salary. The 2025 annual estimate is an 11-month average because survey data were not collected in October. See the BLS report on 2025 median weekly earnings.
You can annualize that weekly benchmark by multiplying $1,204 by 52, which gives $62,608. That is a calculation from the reported weekly median, not a separately reported annual median; it retains the same full-time-worker population and October collection caveat. It is also a present-day benchmark, not a direct comparison of purchasing power with Einstein’s 1933 pay.
What the comparison can—and cannot—tell you
Comparing your gross annual pay with Einstein’s documented $15,000 salary does not, by itself, establish whether you earn more or less in equivalent terms. Use the CPI calculator to express his salary in a chosen year’s dollars, then compare that estimate with a clearly defined earnings figure for the same country and period. Keep the measures distinct: inflation adjustment addresses broad price changes, while an earnings statistic describes a particular group of workers.
Your own comparison also depends on whether you are looking at gross or take-home pay, full-time or part-time work, your location, benefits and household circumstances. The BLS 2025 median is a national figure for full-time wage and salary workers; it is not a benchmark for every occupation, worker or household. The Institute’s account of its October 2, 1933 opening places Einstein among the faculty at the Institute’s opening, providing institutional context for the appointment.
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