This report is available as a PDF at this link.

The Annual Conference has an ongoing interest in analyzing salaries of individuals who are working in our local churches. We have an ethical obligation to be sure we are compensating our ministers appropriately. All people deserve a living wage, but we have a further responsibility to make life sustainable and possible for our ministry leaders, and to verify that we are moving toward salary equity for all genders and racial groups in our conference. The continued diversity and excellence of our clergy is only possible if we are committed as an annual conference to compensating clergy in a manner that makes it possible for them and their families to live in our expensive geographic areas.

Our local church Staff-Parish Relations Committees, charge conference meetings, District Superintendents, the Conference Board of Pension & Health Benefits, and the Annual Conference members (through Minimum Compensation Guidelines) all take an active part in setting standards and reviewing clergy salary packages. These organizations and individuals use their best knowledge and expert advice to decide what base level of compensation is appropriate, and how that is reflected in each local church context. So we all have a voice and a vote in the collective experience of clergy compensation. 

We collect information about compensation packages of clergy and lay persons assigned annually as of January 1 (and again when there is an appointment change). These packages are reviewed by District Superintendents and approved. For 2025, there are 7 packages that were not approved by the respective District Superintendents. These compensation packages have been excluded from this analysis. In addition, some of our clergy are appointed to multiple churches. Their packages at each church have been compiled into one package each to represent each person’s entire compensation. 

Between January 2023 and January 2025, the number of individuals in local church appointments or assignments with approved salary packages fell from 349 to 326, or by 6.6%. The proportion of female or non-binary persons in appointments or assignments increased by 2.8%, from 35.5% to 38.3%, and the proportion of white clergy fell 1.8%, from 39.8% to 38.0%, of the total appointments & assignments. 

The 2023 salary study used Plan Compensation only as a measure of salary. Plan compensation is the individual’s cash salary, housing allowance or parsonage value as applicable, and any allowances paid to the pastor without receipt. It does not include pension contributions, insurance premiums, reimbursables, or amounts paid directly to vendors. 

A table of 2023 and 2025 Plan Compensation comparison is below. Between 2023 and 2025, female & non-binary clergy received an average plan compensation increase of 4.5%. However, male clergy received an average plan compensation increase of 11.2%. The group receiving the highest average plan compensation in 2025 were white males, while the group receiving the lowest average plan compensation in 2025 were Hispanic females. The racial group that received the highest average increase between 2023 and 2025 were Pacific Islanders. This group had an average plan compensation increase of just over 25% in the two-year period. The reason for this increase is that Pacific Islander clergy appointment percentages have increased in the last 2 years, resulting in the overall increase in salary. We’ll see later that this group is still paid far closer to minimum compensation than other groups. There were groups that experienced an overall decline in average plan compensation:  Black, Hispanic, and Multi-Racial females, and Black and Multi-Racial males. New clergy in these categories are being brought in at lower salaries and lower-time appointments (as they are at Schedule Year 1) than comparative individuals who have left active local church pastoring in the last two years, either through retirement or after many years of service.

Average Plan Compensation of Salary Packages as of January 1, 2023 and January 1, 2025

Clergy salary packages are required to at least comply with the 2025 Minimum Compensation Standards, as printed in the 2024 Conference Journal in Section N. A large majority of local churches compensate clergy above the minimum standard. Salary packages for Lay Persons Assigned and retired clergy members are not required to meet these minimum standards.

This year, we have matched every eligible compensation package to a minimum salary schedule (PLA for Provisionals, Local Pastors, and Associate Members, or FM for Full Members) and identified the Schedule Year where each clergy person in these categories was for the 2025 calendar year. For instance, a full-time local pastor whose first appointment began on July 1, 2024 would have been on Schedule Year PLA 1 in 2024, and in PLA 2 for 2025. An elder in full connection who was ordained in June of 2023, then, would have been on Schedule Year FM1 beginning July 1, 2023, and FM3 in 2025. This hypothetical ordained pastor’s salary would need to at least meet the minimum standards, including cash salary & housing, for the FM3 Schedule Year, but could also exceed it. Per Conference Rules, packages can also be pro-rated by appointment percentage.

Thus, one measure of how well-paid a pastor is would be to compare a clergy person’s salary package – or especially, their cash salary and housing – to the minimum allowed for that person. This accounts for clergy relationship, experience, and differences in parsonage & housing allowance. So we can compare the Minimum Salary+Housing to the Actual Salary+Housing for each clergy package. (For this part of the analysis, lay persons assigned and retired clergy had to be omitted, since they are not subject to minimums.) 

There were 293 salary packages subject to the minimum compensation schedule – 83 on the PLA Schedule and 210 on the FM schedule. For clergy on the PLA schedule, the average Schedule Year was 9. For clergy on the FM schedule, the average Schedule Year was 17. In fact, 107 (36.5%) of all active clergy were ordained 17 or more years ago. 

Average Difference of Actual Salary+Housing from Minimum Salary+Housing as of January 1, 2025

As we look into gender and racial inequities, female clergy on average are 3 Schedule Years behind male clergy (Year 13 for females to Year 16 for men). Female clergy are paid above their minimum compensation (on average 9.2% higher), but male clergy are on average even higher (11.5% above their minimums). It is also important to note that white females, on average, are 3-5 years ahead of other minority groups in average schedule years. 

Other system inequities can be identified as well. For males, Black men and Pacific Islander men are 5-7 years behind other racial groups in terms of average schedule years. Pacific Islander clergy are the only racial group which have more clergy in the PLA Schedule (22) than the FM Schedule (11) (not in chart). Every other racial grouping has more clergy in the FM Schedule than the PLA Schedule. Pacific Islander clergy also have compensation packages that are far closer to minimum compensation than any other group. These differentials from the minimum for Pacific Islander clergy are the lowest of any racial and gender group. 

Observed inequities do include impacts from the appointments & assignments of retired clergy and lay persons assigned. These individuals have compensation plans which are not subject to the minimum compensation requirements, and thus are presumed to be lower than the minimum compensation required for active appointed clergy. Additionally, clergy relationship may play a part – if females or specific ethnic minority groups are proportionally more of the “not ordained” group, they would be paid less as a group. Finally, if gender or racial groups are more heavily part-time clergy (rather than full-time), then that would lower the compensation for these groups, as they are not expected to perform full-time ministry.

Plan Compensation of Part-time, Retiree, and LPA Compensation Packages as of January 1, 202

* excludes lay persons assigned and appointed & retired clergy

Notably, retired and appointed female clergy did have a higher average plan compensation than retired and appointed male clergy members (they were more frequently full-time than male counterparts). Otherwise, the outcomes are consistent as hypothesized. Part-time, appointed & retired, and LPAs have significantly lower average plan compensation than the group of active clergy who are neither lay persons assigned nor previously retired. 

Additional factors are also at play in salary packages, including

• Parsonage Values & Housing Allowances:  Parsonage Values as 25% of Adjusted Salary (in 2023 & 2025) are known to lower Plan Compensation for clergy compared to clergy with housing allowances. The minimum housing allowance of $24,000 for full-time service is equivalent to a parsonage value only if a clergy member is earning $96,000 or more in cash salary & allowances paid without receipt. This would apply to 5 clergy persons (3 male, 2 female) in the Conference during 2025. 
• Alternative models for health insurance:  Clergy who have alternative healthcare arrangements, instead of the Conference Health Plan, can receive ‘additional taxable salary in lieu of health insurance’, per the Salary & Benefits Guidelines. These individuals have a Plan Compensation that is higher than a similarly compensated clergy person enrolled in the Conference Health Plan. However, the cost of healthcare via either method is not included when reviewing Minimum vs Actual Salary+Housing, so has no impact on the differences noted here. 

Per a request from conference leadership, the next scheduled analysis of clergy compensation packages will take place after the January 1, 2026 salary packages are mostly completed and approved. 

As we look forward to the end of 2025 and moving into 2026, church leaders and local church charge conferences are again planning budgets, compensation packages, ministry work, and many other intricacies in the lives of our churches. 

In the Conference Statistician’s office, I am preparing to open the 2025 statistical collection. Your District Statisticians and I look forward to working with you to complete this upcoming annual task (by February 3). Our mutual accountability to hold to these deadlines is necessary to give us time to review your work, ask questions and possibly make revisions, and submit our work to the denomination on time. Our collective conference work is needed for the General Council on Finance & Administration to set 2027 apportionments for the annual conferences, and for our conference’s Council on Finance & Administration to have a 2027 conference budget at Annual Conference 2026 in June. These tight timelines are a challenge but we believe it is possible. It is healthy to be in connection with each other and not to drag out these tasks unnecessarily. We celebrated last year that every church in the annual conference was able to submit their information and we were able to keep to the established schedule. 

In January, I will hold both learning labs and office hours to answer questions and provide additional training. If you haven’t yet organized this work, now is a good time for your leadership – your pastors, your church treasurer, your membership secretary, your office staff, and anyone else you’ll need – to make a plan for how you will complete this upcoming task on time. 

Advent, the time in which we wait and prepare for the birth of baby Jesus, is nearly here. May God grant you and all people the hope, peace, joy, and love that we experience when we are gathered together – both figuratively and in person – as full participants in the communion of saints. 

Jennifer Gaylord
Conference Statistician