how many academic researchers and professors are there in the united states?

Question

Thanks for the response! To clarify, I'm interested to know the number of people in this category who might be known as "experts" in their field. Thus, a university researcher, whether or not they teach, is probably more what i'm looking for. Any further insight?
Thanks!

Answer 1

This is a tough question to answer because the definitions of 'researcher' and 'professor' are kind of loose.

There are over 6000 different schools that an American student can choose from when he finishes high school. About 2000 of those are colleges and universities. A very small college might have only 5 or 10 professors, but many large universities have 1000s of professors. Some of the professors only teach, and do little or no research. Other professors, especially at some of the famous schools, do little or no teaching and only do research.
And there are many thousands of researchers working at private firms. I have know high school teachers who did really good research projects as well... so, the total number of people who might fit in your definition is definitely in the millions.