Leader Insights

Pastor Pay and Salary Statistics 2027: Latest 2026 Data and Trends

How is pastor pay changing, and how many pastors need a second job? The latest sourced figures on pay growth against inflation, benefits, personnel budgets and bivocational ministry from Lifeway Research. Most pay data comes from Southern Baptist churches, and dollar benchmarks vary widely by denomination and church size, so this page focuses on trends rather than a single national average. Every figure links to its original study. Updated October 2026.

Pastor pay statistics at a glance

StatisticFigureYearSource
Change in pay package since 2024 (other full-time ministers +5.3%, office personnel +8.5%)-0.4% senior pastors2025Lifeway Research
Senior pastor pay after inflation since 2024-6.3%2026Leader Insights
Senior pastor pay package growth, 2022 to 2024+13.9%2025Lifeway Research
Other full-time ministers' pay after inflation since 2024-0.9%2026Leader Insights
Median share of budget spent on personnel, smallest to largest Southern Baptist churches42% to 50%2026Lifeway Research
Southern Baptist churches providing medical insurance for the senior pastor (65% in 2008)37%2025Lifeway Research
Churches providing medical coverage for at least the pastor: under 50 attending vs. 250 or more26% to 67%2026Lifeway Research
Evangelical pastors who work a second job47%2025Lifeway Research
All U.S. clergy who serve bivocationally35%2025Lifeway Research
U.S. churches with a full-time pastor (2015)62.2%2015Lifeway Research
Pastors often concerned about their family's financial security46%2025Lifeway Research
Pastors' financial health34% good, 31% great2025Lifeway Research

Is pastor pay keeping up with inflation?

Benefits: health insurance and more

How much of the budget goes to personnel?

Bivocational pastors

Pastors' own finances

Looking ahead to 2027: what the latest data points to

No 2027 statistics have been published yet. Here is what the newest readings suggest. We update this page as new research arrives.

Pastor pay statistics: common questions

Is pastor pay keeping up with inflation?

Not recently. Southern Baptist senior pastor pay packages fell 0.4% since 2024 while consumer prices rose 6.3%, so buying power fell about 6.3% (Lifeway Research, 2025). Pay had risen 13.9% between 2022 and 2024. Other full-time ministers' pay rose 5.3% and office personnel pay 8.5%.

How many pastors have a second job?

35% of all U.S. clergy serve bivocationally, up from 28% in 2001. Among evangelical pastors it is 47%, among Black Protestant pastors 35%, Catholic priests 14% and mainline Protestant pastors 11% (Lifeway Research, National Survey of Religious Leaders).

Do churches provide health insurance for the pastor?

Increasingly few do. 37% of Southern Baptist churches provide some medical insurance for the senior pastor, down from 65% in 2008. Coverage rises with church size, from 26% of churches under 50 attending to 67% of churches with 250 or more (Lifeway Research).

How much of a church budget goes to staff?

Southern Baptist churches spend a median of 42% of their budget on personnel when they have fewer than 50 attending, 46% at 50 to 99, 47% at 100 to 249 and 50% at 250 or more (Lifeway Research, 2026).

What is the average pastor salary?

There is no single national figure, because studies cover different groups and define pay differently, with pay packages that include salary, housing, retirement and insurance. Lifeway Research publishes Southern Baptist compensation data by church size and region. This page tracks how pay is changing, how many pastors are bivocational and what benefits churches provide.

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About this data

Leader Insights collects statistics about U.S. churches from published research. Every number is checked against the wording of the original source before it is published, and each statistic links back to the study it came from. Different studies define the same topic differently, so figures from different sources are not directly comparable; each is labeled with its publisher and year.