Clergy Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $50K, rent takes 32.5% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,085/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,000/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new clergies typically earn — is $38K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,309/month. At HUD’s $1,085/month FMR, rent would take 47% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Local pay runs 17% below the national median — $50K here vs. $61K nationally. Cost of living is 12% below the national average, which narrows that gap in real purchasing power.

Alabama pays $50K median vs. the U.S. average of $61K — that’s -17%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 88.36), the purchasing-power equivalent is $57K — below the national median.

The median is $50,180 a year, that works out to about $24 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $38,480, and experienced clergies can clear $71,650. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,335/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,085/month, which eats 32.5% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

Alabama has a Regional Price Parity of 88.36 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median clergy salary is worth about $56,790 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.