Every published answer to this question is a single number and every single number is misleading, for a reason specific to clergy pay: a large part of it is often not salary. The housing allowance is compensation the church pays, excluded from income tax and still counted for self-employment tax, and a church that reports only the cash salary looks like it pays far less than it does. Add a SECA offset where one is paid and the gap widens again. This page is about what actually decides the figure and how to work your own.
Why published averages are hard to use
Three things are usually mixed together in one number. Some sources report cash salary only, some report salary plus housing, and a few report the church's whole cost including any SECA offset. Those can differ by a third for the same pastor. Before comparing your church to any published figure, establish which of the three it is measuring, because comparing a cash salary to a total package is how boards conclude they are generous when they are not.
The four things that actually move the number
Church size, measured by attendance and by budget rather than by membership roll. Region, because housing costs drive the allowance and the allowance is a real part of the package. Whether a parsonage is provided instead of an allowance, which changes the shape entirely. And the role: a solo pastor of a small congregation, a senior pastor with staff beneath them and an associate are three different jobs.
Work the church's own figure from the budget, not from an average
The useful question is not what pastors make, it is what this church can sustain and what it should offer. That comes from the budget: total income, the committed costs, and what is left for people. The worksheet on this site works that from your own giving and costs and returns the whole pastor line, salary plus housing plus offset, so the board is deciding with one number rather than three.
What to write down once it is decided
The cash salary, the housing allowance with the date the board designated it, whether a SECA offset is paid and at what rate, and any benefits. Record it where the payroll can see it, because the designation has to be prospective and the church will be asked to evidence it. A compensation decision that lives only in the minutes of one meeting is hard to find in three years.
Questions people ask about how much do pastors make
Does a pastor's salary include the housing allowance?
Sometimes, and that is the ambiguity in every published figure. The allowance is compensation, excluded from income tax within limits, and still subject to self-employment tax. Always ask which a figure includes.
Why does the church pay a SECA offset?
Because a minister pays both halves of Social Security and Medicare as self-employment tax, where a lay employee has half paid by the employer. Many churches make that up. It is a decision, not a requirement.
What should a small church pay its pastor?
What its budget can sustain, worked from income and committed costs rather than from a published average. The worksheet returns your own figure, including the whole cost of the pastor line.
Is a parsonage better than an allowance?
It is different rather than better. A parsonage is provided housing with its own tax treatment; an allowance is cash the pastor spends on housing. The choice affects the package's value and the pastor's ability to build equity, and IRS Publication 517 covers both.