The Takeaways: Some of the more interesting findings from the study include:
•Total cash compensation (including allowances for housing) for senior pastors ranged from $85,000 to more than $265,000, though the majority of the salaries cluster around the $100,000 to $140,000 range.
•The most influential factor in setting staff salaries is a church's size, measured by its budget and worship attendance.
•Senior pastor salaries in very large churches tend to rise with increased size of attendance. • The highest paid geographic region was the South, followed by West, and Northeast. The lowest was Midwest.
•The highest salaries were for churches located in an older residential area in the city, followed closely by those in an older suburb around the city, followed by those in a downtown or central area of the city. The lowest were those churches located in a newer suburb around the city.
•For each additional 1,000 people in attendance, annual salary increases by roughly $8,000 on average for large church senior pastors.
•Founding pastors are paid $515 more per year than successor pastors, excluding outliers and controlling for church size and length of tenure.
•The second-highest-paid person in churches is most often generically described as the executive pastor. This #2 person typically receives 66% of the salary amount received by the senior pastor.
•Being a multisite church does not favorably increase salaries for the senior pastor.
