Pastor Compensation Benchmark Report 2026
What Lifeway Research's revised 2026 Southern Baptist Church Compensation Study found: how pastor pay changed since 2024, senior pastor pay by church size, small and bivocational churches, staff roles, and benefits.
- Senior pastor pay rose, but trailed inflation: average compensation for full-time Southern Baptist senior pastors grew 5.1% from 2024 to 2026, and the pay package also grew 5.1%, while the CPI rose 6.3%. (Lifeway revised deck, Oct 9, 2026)
- Over four years, pay kept up: from 2022 to 2026, compensation rose 14.9% and the pay package 13.4%, against 12.7% inflation. (Lifeway revised deck)
- Median full-time senior pastor compensation: $81,000 (salary plus housing, 2,183 responses), from $48,740 at 25–49 in weekly attendance to $165,600 at 1,000 and up. (Lifeway / GuideStone data tool)
- Most churches provide no medical coverage: 63% of Southern Baptist churches don't pay any of the full-time senior pastor's medical insurance, rising to 74% at churches under 50 in attendance. (Lifeway revised deck)
- All US clergy: the BLS median annual wage was $60,810 in May 2025, across every tradition. (BLS OEWS)
Revised figures. Lifeway's first release in September 2026 reported a decline in senior pastor pay. On October 9 it issued a revised deck with a corrected sample (4,449 responses, up from 3,888) showing an increase. News stories written before the revision may show the earlier numbers. This report uses only the revised figures.
In This Report
1. About the 2026 Study
The 2026 Southern Baptist Church Compensation Study was conducted by Baptist state conventions along with GuideStone Financial Resources and Lifeway Research, between April 29 – June 29, 2026. Lifeway's revised summary uses responses from 4,449 full-time senior pastors, staff ministers and office personnel, with senior pastor responses weighted by average attendance. Every response comes from a Southern Baptist church.
What the figures include. For an ordained minister, Lifeway's compensation is salary plus housing allowance, plus the fair rental value and utilities of any church-owned housing. The pay package adds a Social Security equivalent, retirement benefits and insurance paid by the church. Ministry expenses reimbursed under an accountable plan are in neither figure. Church size is average weekly attendance: respondents report the higher of Sunday School or primary worship attendance.
What we did. MosesTab did not run this survey and is not affiliated with Lifeway, GuideStone or the state conventions. Every dollar figure and percentage below is copied from Lifeway's published deck, regression deck, article or online data tool, which we read on October 17, 2026. We add no estimates of our own to these tables.
What changed in this edition. The May 2026 edition of this page used 2024 figures and salary-by-size ranges taken from secondary salary guides. We could not trace those ranges to any Lifeway publication, so we replaced them with Lifeway's 2026 published percentiles and removed figures we could not verify.
2. How Pastor Pay Changed: 2024–2026 and 2022–2026
Changes in average compensation and pay package for full-time Southern Baptist church staff. Inflation (CPI-U) was 6.3% over the two years and 12.7% over the four years.
| Staff group | Compensation 2024–26 | Pay package 2024–26 | Compensation 2022–26 | Pay package 2022–26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time senior pastors (salary and housing) | +5.1% | +5.1% | +14.9% | +13.4% |
| Full-time staff ministers (salary and housing) | +4.9% | +5.3% | +12.7% | +13.5% |
| Full-time office personnel | +9.2% | +8.5% | +20.3% | +20.9% |
| Inflation (CPI-U) | +6.3% | +12.7% | ||
Source: Lifeway Research, “Compensation and Insurance: Southern Baptist Church Compensation Study 2026” (revised October 9, 2026), slides 5–6, accessed October 17, 2026.
Only office personnel saw pay grow faster than inflation over the last two years. Over four years, every group kept up with or beat inflation. Lifeway also revised its 2024 results: it now reports senior pastor compensation up 9.4% and pay package up 7.9% from 2022 to 2024.
3. Senior Pastor Pay by Church Size
Full-time Southern Baptist senior pastors, total compensation (salary plus housing, before benefits), by average weekly attendance. The middle half of pastors fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles.
| Weekly attendance | Responses | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile | Median pay package |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–24 | 44 | $15,600 | $25,750 | $43,434 | $28,720 |
| 25–49 | 196 | $36,464 | $48,740 | $63,100 | $54,148 |
| 50–74 | 290 | $45,400 | $60,036 | $74,192 | $65,642 |
| 75–99 | 249 | $57,700 | $68,000 | $80,000 | $76,000 |
| 100–149 | 340 | $64,945 | $77,000 | $89,400 | $84,228 |
| 150–199 | 233 | $73,500 | $84,000 | $98,700 | $96,000 |
| 200–299 | 282 | $79,379 | $92,000 | $107,996 | $107,989 |
| 300–499 | 249 | $89,077 | $108,561 | $126,818 | $128,854 |
| 500–999 | 182 | $107,537 | $126,519 | $145,965 | $154,835 |
| 1,000 and up | 115 | $135,900 | $165,600 | $200,500 | $202,028 |
| All sizes | 2,183 | $61,993 | $81,000 | $106,101 | $92,000 |
Source: Lifeway Research / GuideStone 2026 Compensation Study data tool, “Customize” report, Senior Pastor – Full time, one attendance band at a time, all state conventions, accessed October 17, 2026. These are Lifeway's published percentiles, not MosesTab estimates. The 1–24 row rests on only 44 responses, so treat it with caution.
Looking for one role at a time, with other staff positions and a calculator? See our church staff salary guide.
4. Small Churches and Bivocational Pastors
How much does the pastor of a 50-member church make?
Short answer, from Lifeway's 2026 data: Lifeway has no figure for exactly 50 people. Its deck and this report use average weekly attendance, but its data tool can also filter by membership. A church of about 50 sits at the edge of two bands either way:
- 25–49 members: full-time senior pastor median $60,000 (middle half $42,900–$74,000, 137 responses).
- 50–74 members: full-time senior pastor median $59,750 (middle half $42,000–$78,820, 134 responses).
- 25–49 in attendance: full-time senior pastor median $48,740 (middle half $36,464–$63,100, 196 responses).
- 50–74 in attendance: full-time senior pastor median $60,036 (middle half $45,400–$74,192, 290 responses).
- All churches under 50 in attendance, combined: full-time senior pastor median $44,750 (240 responses).
Many pastors of small churches are bivocational. Their church pay is much lower: medians of $20,800 at 25–49 and $26,500 at 50–74 in attendance (table below). Membership and attendance are different counts, so check which one you are comparing; the rest of this report uses attendance.
Source: Lifeway Research / GuideStone 2026 Compensation Study data tool, “Customize” report, Senior Pastor – Full time and Bi-vocational, filtered on membership only or on attendance only, all state conventions, accessed October 17, 2026.
Bivocational senior pastors: church compensation by attendance
| Weekly attendance | Responses | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–24 | 78 | $10,400 | $14,480 | $20,700 |
| 25–49 | 200 | $12,000 | $20,800 | $30,750 |
| 50–74 | 109 | $20,000 | $26,500 | $35,140 |
| 75–99 | 55 | $22,000 | $30,000 | $38,449 |
| 100–149 | 28 | $27,000 | $35,750 | $44,259 |
| All sizes | 487 | $14,750 | $24,000 | $34,194 |
Source: Lifeway Research / GuideStone 2026 Compensation Study data tool, Senior Pastor – Bi-vocational, accessed October 17, 2026. Larger bands are left out because Lifeway shows 7 or fewer responses there or hides the row. Figures are the compensation reported for the church position.
5. Other Church Staff Roles
Full-time Southern Baptist church staff, total compensation, all church sizes. “Only” means that ministry is the person's sole responsibility; Lifeway reports combined roles separately.
| Lifeway category | Responses | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Executive Pastor only | 125 | $80,800 | $100,000 | $128,125 |
| Associate/Assistant Pastor only | 198 | $64,922 | $78,677 | $88,841 |
| Music/Worship only | 188 | $65,000 | $76,492 | $92,447 |
| Education only | 39 | $64,301 | $83,341 | $95,825 |
| Youth/Students only | 258 | $51,395 | $59,626 | $68,485 |
| Children/Preschoolers only | 181 | $46,500 | $56,779 | $67,264 |
| Business Mgr/Administration only | 30 | $56,569 | $85,891 | $93,843 |
| Office Personnel - Full time | 570 | $37,579 | $45,010 | $57,150 |
Source: Lifeway Research / GuideStone 2026 Compensation Study data tool, “Ministerial Summary” report (full time) and, for office personnel, the “Customize” report, accessed October 17, 2026. Categories with few responses (Education, Business Manager/Administration) are less reliable.
Our per-role salary guides break these roles down by church size using ranges compiled from other salary guides. Those ranges are labelled on each page and are not Lifeway figures.
6. What Drives Senior Pastor Pay
Lifeway ran a regression on 2,155 full-time Southern Baptist senior pastors. The model starts from a constant of $78,988 and explains about 50% of the variation in total compensation (R² of the model). Each effect below is the average difference with the other factors held constant.
| Factor | Effect on annual compensation |
|---|---|
| Each additional attendee | +$15 (about $1,460 per 100) |
| Each additional year in a church vocation | +$425 |
| Each additional year at the current church | −$276 |
| Seminary graduate | +$5,361 |
| Doctorate | +$4,558 |
| High school or less | −$7,750 |
| Located in a suburb | +$5,404 |
| Located in a rural area | −$3,986 |
| Located in the West | +$4,375 |
| Located in the Midwest | −$3,269 |
Source: Lifeway Research, “SBC Compensation Study 2026: Analysis of full-time senior pastor compensation and vacation” (September 2026), slides 3–5, accessed October 17, 2026. This deck was not reissued with the October 9 revision, so its coefficients may come from the earlier dataset. It gives two different figures for pastor age, so we leave age out. The variables are related and shouldn't be read in isolation; Lifeway notes the negative effect of years at the current church is probably offset by years in ministry.
We deliberately don't turn these coefficients into a salary for a particular church size: the published medians in section 3 are the better guide.
7. Benefits, Housing and Budgets
Medical insurance. 63% of Southern Baptist churches provide no medical coverage for their full-time senior pastor; 18% pay for the pastor and family, 11% for the pastor and his wife and 9% for the pastor alone. Lifeway's article notes the share of churches funding medical insurance has fallen from 65% in 2008 to 37% in 2026.
Other benefits. Churches fully or partly pay for life and/or accident coverage (20%), dental insurance (20%), disability insurance (17%) and vision insurance (14%) for full-time senior pastors.
| Weekly attendance | No medical coverage for senior pastor | Median share of budget spent on personnel |
|---|---|---|
| 1–49 | 74% | 42% |
| 50–99 | 64% | 46% |
| 100–249 | 54% | 47% |
| 250+ | 33% | 50% |
Source: Lifeway Research revised deck (October 9, 2026), slides 7–11, and Lifeway's September 8, 2026 article (updated), accessed October 17, 2026. Southern Baptist churches only. “Personnel” means employee compensation and benefits, not salaries alone.
Budgets. Overall, Southern Baptist churches spend an average of 45% (median 46%) of their budget on employee compensation and benefits. To plan your own percentages, try the free church budget planner.
Housing allowance. Lifeway counts a housing allowance as part of an ordained minister's compensation. According to IRS Publication 517 (2025 edition, accessed October 17, 2026), the church must designate the allowance before paying it, and an eligible minister may be able to exclude it from income tax but not from self-employment tax. This is general information, not tax advice; confirm the details with a tax professional.
9. Frequently Asked Questions
What did Lifeway's 2026 pastor compensation study find?
In the revised 2026 Southern Baptist Church Compensation Study (4,449 full-time responses), average compensation for full-time senior pastors rose 5.1% from 2024 to 2026 and the average pay package also rose 5.1%, while the Consumer Price Index rose 6.3%. Over four years (2022–2026), compensation rose 14.9% and the pay package 13.4%, against inflation of 12.7%. The study covers Southern Baptist churches only.
How much does the pastor of a 50-member church make?
Lifeway publishes no figure for exactly 50 people, but its 2026 data tool can filter by membership as well as by average weekly attendance. Full-time Southern Baptist senior pastors at churches with 50–74 members reported a median total compensation of $59,750, and at 25–49 members $60,000. By attendance, the medians are $48,740 at 25–49 and $60,036 at 50–74. Bivocational senior pastors at those attendance sizes reported medians of $20,800 and $26,500 from the church. Membership and attendance are different counts, so check which one you are comparing.
What is the median senior pastor salary in 2026?
Among full-time Southern Baptist senior pastors in Lifeway's 2026 data tool, the median total compensation (salary plus housing, before benefits) was $81,000 across 2,183 responses, and the median pay package including benefits was $92,000. For all US clergy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a median annual wage of $60,810 in May 2025.
Why were the 2026 compensation numbers revised?
Lifeway issued a revised study deck on October 9, 2026. Its article says the sample size was corrected from 3,888 to 4,449 responses and that its 2024 figures were revised, and the revised release shows senior pastor pay rising since 2024 rather than falling. Lifeway has not published a more detailed reason. This report uses only the revised figures.
Who conducted the 2026 compensation study?
Lifeway's methodology says the 2026 Southern Baptist Church Compensation Study was conducted by Baptist state conventions along with GuideStone Financial Resources and Lifeway Research, between April 29 and June 29, 2026. MosesTab is not affiliated with Lifeway, GuideStone or the state conventions; this page summarizes their published results.
Do these numbers apply to non-Southern Baptist churches?
Not directly. Every response comes from Southern Baptist churches. Other denominations publish their own guidelines, and pay can differ by tradition, region and church budget. Use these figures as one reference point, not as a rule for every church.
How should a church board use these figures?
Lifeway's data tool suggests running four views — all churches, then only churches of similar attendance, then similar budget, then both — and comparing the medians. It advises against basing decisions on a single state convention and says to make cost-of-living adjustments when using the data in later years. How a church sets pay remains its own decision.
10. Full Source List & Citations
All sources accessed October 17, 2026.
- Lifeway Research: Compensation and Insurance: Southern Baptist Church Compensation Study 2026 (revised deck, October 9, 2026). research.lifeway.com (PDF)
- Lifeway Research: SBC Compensation Study 2026: Analysis of full-time senior pastor compensation and vacation (regression deck, September 2026). research.lifeway.com (PDF)
- Lifeway Research / GuideStone: 2026 Southern Baptist Church Compensation Study online data tool. research.lifeway.com/compensation-data
- Lifeway Research: Aaron Earls, “Revised Numbers Show Modest Pay Raises for Southern Baptist Pastors Since 2024” (published September 8, 2026; updated with revisions). research.lifeway.com
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Clergy (occupation 21-2011), May 2025. data.bls.gov/oes
- Internal Revenue Service: Publication 517 (2025), Social Security and Other Information for Members of the Clergy and Religious Workers. irs.gov/publications/p517
Salary Guides by Role
Want one role's numbers without the full report? Each guide breaks down pay by church size and region, and names its source.
Cite This Report
MosesTab Pastor Compensation Benchmark Report 2026 (updated October 17, 2026). Please cite Lifeway Research for the underlying figures.
https://mosestab.com/reports/pastor-compensation-benchmark-2026