Clergy salary

SOC 21-2011 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$60,810

per year, nationally

Middle half

$48,260–$76,640

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

57,200

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+1.0%

23,000 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$37,860$98,890

10th: $37,860
25th: $48,260
Median: $60,810
75th: $76,640
90th: $98,890

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where clergy earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Washington	$80,830	107.0	1,060	0.81×
2	California	$77,710	110.7	7,110	1.06×
3	Nevada	$73,910	100.0	210	0.37×
4	Massachusetts	$72,190	105.8	840	0.63×
5	New Jersey	$65,500	108.8	1,460	0.93×
6	New Hampshire	$65,200	104.2	100	0.39×
7	Vermont	$64,950	98.0	50	0.41×
8	District of Columbia	$64,800	109.9	310	1.21×
9	Maine	$64,340	97.0	160	0.68×
10	New Mexico	$64,100	92.2	270	0.83×
11	Colorado	$63,700	103.1	440	0.41×
12	Connecticut	$63,470	103.6	900	1.44×
13	Delaware	$63,260	99.8	120	0.67×
14	Oregon	$63,140	103.4	3,850	5.33×
15	Arizona	$61,900	100.7	1,070	0.90×
16	Illinois	$61,820	100.0	2,200	0.98×
17	Maryland	$61,620	105.0	670	0.66×
18	Wyoming	$61,590	92.7	40	0.42×
19	Minnesota	$61,230	98.6	1,160	1.07×
20	Hawaii	$61,050	110.0	720	3.13×
21	Wisconsin	$60,950	94.1	770	0.71×
22	North Dakota	$60,680	89.0	120	0.76×
23	Iowa	$60,630	87.8	370	0.64×
24	Georgia	$60,530	96.3	1,380	0.77×
25	South Dakota	$59,860	88.6	140	0.84×
26	Rhode Island	$59,660	102.3	230	1.27×
27	North Carolina	$59,600	94.3	1,430	0.79×
28	Idaho	$59,570	95.5	150	0.46×
29	Montana	$59,550	94.6	680	3.62×
30	Texas	$59,480	97.1	3,180	0.61×
31	Ohio	$59,160	92.8	2,020	0.99×
32	Oklahoma	$59,110	87.8	510	0.82×
33	Indiana	$59,020	93.3	1,060	0.90×
34	Kentucky	$58,920	90.2	410	0.55×
35	Missouri	$58,740	90.8	920	0.86×
36	New York	$58,580	107.9	7,790	2.19×
37	Pennsylvania	$58,300	97.6	2,150	0.96×
38	Nebraska	$57,520	90.1	270	0.71×
39	Tennessee	$57,260	91.9	710	0.59×
40	Florida	$56,940	103.4	3,560	0.97×
41	South Carolina	$56,630	93.7	450	0.53×
42	Michigan	$56,490	96.2	1,880	1.16×
43	Alaska	$55,780	102.4	150	1.23×
44	Virginia	$55,430	101.1	1,220	0.81×
45	Louisiana	$54,140	88.2	400	0.56×
46	Mississippi	$52,450	87.0	250	0.59×
47	Kansas	$52,130	90.1	450	0.85×
48	Alabama	$50,180	88.8	850	1.10×
49	Arkansas	$49,070	86.9	350	0.72×
50	West Virginia	$48,460	89.5	290	1.12×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where clergy wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for clergy

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$84,050	113.6	—	—
2	Bozeman, MT	$81,770	102.5	80	2.86×
3	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$81,750	111.1	740	0.96×
4	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$81,280	108.8	70	0.93×
5	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$80,760	107.8	70	0.86×
6	Vallejo, CA	$79,590	108.5	60	1.09×
7	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$78,330	106.4	450	0.71×
8	Salem, OR	$78,220	103.6	380	5.55×
9	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$77,510	110.4	330	0.80×
10	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$77,450	111.9	560	0.99×
11	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$77,420	100.1	30	0.63×
12	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$77,050	110.5	110	0.89×
13	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$77,030	100.3	60	0.60×
14	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$76,720	106.7	310	0.77×
15	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$75,020	105.1	80	0.75×
16	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$74,800	100.2	170	0.42×
17	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$74,580	115.6	1,130	1.29×
18	Salinas, CA	$73,770	109.0	60	0.87×
19	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$73,770	100.9	90	0.74×
20	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$73,160	108.3	620	0.62×
21	Worcester, MA	$72,300	102.5	100	0.75×
22	Fresno, CA	$71,130	102.2	280	1.60×
23	Corvallis, OR	$71,130	104.0	60	4.15×
24	Billings, MT	$70,660	93.5	120	3.35×
25	Waco, TX	$70,300	92.5	40	0.79×
26	Albuquerque, NM	$70,160	95.5	140	0.92×
27	Grants Pass, OR	$69,990	97.8	90	7.82×
28	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$69,940	101.1	30	0.56×
29	Springfield, MA	$69,900	96.1	50	0.72×
30	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$69,280	106.9	160	1.08×
31	Boulder, CO	$68,800	105.2	40	0.60×
32	Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV	$67,640	94.2	30	0.88×
33	St. Cloud, MN	$66,280	87.6	60	1.58×
34	Portland-South Portland, ME	$65,790	101.9	90	0.83×
35	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$65,710	105.4	1,750	3.93×
36	Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN	$65,670	93.4	30	0.90×
37	Modesto, CA	$65,360	104.1	90	1.29×
38	New Haven, CT	$65,290	104.6	230	2.24×
39	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$65,150	100.1	720	0.68×
40	Redding, CA	$64,640	100.7	40	1.57×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where clergy wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Directors, Religious Activities and Education$52,100
Religious Workers, All Other$45,280