Posted on 11/13/2025 4:51:44 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
A pastor’s salary is determined by several factors, including church size and budget, geographic location, cost of living, education, experience, and responsibilities. While there is no universal answer, Josh and Sam discuss general guidelines and what pastors should expect from their churches.
- Remember, everything is negotiable on the front end. Don’t go to a church and negotiate after you accept the position.
- Some denominations are known to pay better than others.
- Most pastors are underpaid, but few get paid far too much.
- The median household income of a community is typically not where pastors should be given their experience, education, and responsibilities. A small school superintendent is a better comparison point for a full-time pastor at a mid-size to large church.
- Rent x 3 is a good rule of thumb.
- For churches with budgets between $600,000 and $2,000,000, 10% of the income received is typical for a compensation package of a lead pastor.
- Remember, you must consider salary, housing, benefits, and social security exemption.
- Should churches pay for half of FICA if a pastor has opted into social security? Many churches do not realize that Section 3121(b)(8)(A) prevents them from withholding Social Security and Medicare taxes (FICA) from a minister’s wages. Instead, ministers are responsible for paying Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA) tax on their salary and housing allowance—unless they have obtained an approved exemption.
(Excerpt) Read more at churchanswers.com ...
A full-time pastor should get about the same salary as a school principle. That is a fairly common baseline.
RE: How much money should a pastor make?”
“A henway.”
“What’s a henway?”
“About 2 or 3 pounds.”
“I strongly advise you to look into non-sectarian ministry.
There’s a LOT of money in it.
They are even exempt from Soc Sec taxes.
All I know is that Father Weitharn sent me a bunch of collection envelopes when I graduated high school and got a full-time job at the cheese factory. I don’t know, maybe he thought a salary increase was in order.
Difference is that the principal has to pay taxes on his package (except for pre-tax retirement. Properly structured, a good chunk of the pastor’s income shouldn’t be taxable.
On the other hand, a pastor should be able to support a lifestyle commensurate with the congregation.
One benefit of a denomination is that there are checks and balances on the terms of the pastor’s call.
Most clergy are not exempt from Social Security taxes; in fact, most pay taxes as if they were self employed.
In New York State, the average school principal makes $140K per year. Plus the State defined-benefit pension plan for long-term employees / principals comes close to that amount in retirement, especially if their final years in service were above that level.
I imagine most churches can't afford that.
What income does Trump’s pastor make?
Sorry, they are.
My wife owns a payroll processing company and has been processing for 30 years.
It’s optional but most don’t opt in. She has done a lot of church payrolls.
We know what a bargain we are getting.
“What income does Trump’s pastor make?”
I’m sure he makes a lot less than the average communist pastor.
Communist pastors are the party leaders of any given communist country who hand out the religion of communism to the masses.
Many pastors have day jobs, because their churches are too small to pay a pastor. Our pastor is retirement age, but I know there’s no salary paid.
I never heard personally of any pastor I knew who made even close to that.
Indeed - We should be thankful that God gives us people who are worried about saving souls, and not about getting rich.
Steven Furtick is a millionaire, but I’m not sure he qualifies as a real pastor.
“””””I’m sure he makes a lot less than the average communist pastor.””””””
He is a she, and she is worth millions and getting richer all the time.
Not as rich as communist party leaders.
His pastoring of congregations was free of charge.
I used to travel the country doing church & clergy tax seminars. Manfred Holk, pastor, CPA, and publisher of the monthly Clergy Journal sent my name out as his replacement when he retired back in the 1980’s.
I used to do all day seminars on this topic at several universities.
The compensation package varies considerably based upon many factors.
I’ve handled many IRS audits for pastors and never found any IRS agent that understood the related tax laws.
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