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How Much $$$ Do You Make?

Orginally published on Tuesday, September 06, 2005 at 10:49 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Here is some of the newest information on church staff compensation averages. According to the chart, this information includes base salary, housing or parsonage allowance, retirement contribution, life and health insurance payments, and educational funds…

Senior Pastor -- $77k
Associate Pastor -- $64k
Music Choir Director -- $60k
Administrator -- $53k
Christian Education Director -- $52k
Youth Pastor -- $50k
Accountant -- $33k
Custodian -- $31k
Secretary -- $27k

(these are rounded to the nearest thousand)

Now, remember, these are just the AVERAGE... they include all size churches, in all parts of the country, in all denominations. (The book DOES however, break down everything by these areas).

For example, Senior Pastor compensation varies widely by church size:

0-99 -- $47k
100-299 -- $66k
300-499 -- $81k
500-749 -- $94k
750-999 -- $102k
1000 -- $116k

FOR DISCUSSION: Do these stats suprise you, or do you find yourself somewhere within the right ballpark?

Again, the book goes in to great detail (152 pages of charts, graphs, and figures). Makes for some interesting reading if you're someone who deals with church salaries; or for a good read to pass on to your personnel committee chair! Again, you can order a copy here. (If you order today, it will go in the mail "priority mail" in the morning!)

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TRACKBACKS: (3) There are 29 Comments:

Posted by

Thursday, September 15, 2005 at 12:30 AM

Todd,
Allow me to answer the question:

How much $$$ do I make… With a question.

How much should I make?

If my elders or deacons can’t explain the doctrine of Justification; have I as a pastor been a good steward in my leadership?

What about the doctrine of Faith? Sovereignty?

What about Love? Perhaps. But why this one? Because if “I have not love”.

There’s more to the knowledge and grace of Jesus the Christ than Love. Especially when you consider those who are not IN HIM.

Doctrines like:
Just and Righteous

Even more so, those that are IN HIM should know more about Him so as to be equipped for every good work. Faith, Sovereignty and Justification are but a few of the major doctrines required to fully know and understand the breadth, width, heighth and length of his Love.

I suggest perhaps a second part of this question should be: How much am I worth? or Why am I worth it?
Posted by

Thursday, September 15, 2005 at 8:48 AM

I am really surprised by these numbers.
My father was a pastor for many years and was making less than min. wage. The church was small but the salary forced him to require food stamps. Eventually it forced him to acquire a second job. Which lead to less focus on the church.

It is a shame what some pastors are paid.
Posted by

Wednesday, September 21, 2005 at 4:29 PM

I would be interested to see the amounts for part-time youth pastors or pastors in general.

I am paid well for my 15 hours a week. Funny though it takes about 25 to work those 15, and retreats make it hard to work another job.

I have friends in part-time ministry that could probably make more at Best Buy.
My wife and I ran a Ministry Home for pregnant teens and had to convince the Board we deserved $800 a month.
We paid $250/mnth for car $150 for INS and about $200 for Gas.

Why do Boards pay less for Spiritual leadership then they would work for?

Just so you know those averages are quite high.
I am the best paid part-timer I have ever heard of and I’m under the average if I was full-time.
If you think those ##’s are low stay in the US never come to Canada.
Posted by

Wednesday, September 21, 2005 at 9:00 PM

Tony asks:
“Why do Boards pay less for Spiritual leadership then they would work for?”

Interestingly, I recently saw a church profile form from a certain denomination (one of those forms that churches fill out to describe themselves when looking for a new pastor) and a specific question on the form asks how the proposed pastor’s compensation (not just salary) compares to the compensation of the members of the church board.

It’s a great question that all churches should address.

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.