Clergy · SOC 21-2011

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Clergys

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for clergy. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked. Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 221 metro areas

Clergy: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$84,050	Not published	Not published
2	Bozeman, MT	$81,770	80	1.1
3	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$81,750	740	0.4
4	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$81,280	70	0.3
5	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$80,760	70	0.3
6	Vallejo, CA	$79,590	60	0.4
7	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$78,330	450	0.3
8	Salem, OR	$78,220	380	2.0
9	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$77,510	330	0.3
10	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$77,450	560	0.4
11	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$77,420	30	0.2
12	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$77,050	110	0.3
13	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$77,030	60	0.2
14	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$76,720	310	0.3
15	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$75,020	80	0.3
16	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$74,800	170	0.2
17	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$74,580	1,130	0.5
18	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$73,770	90	0.3
19	Salinas, CA	$73,770	60	0.3
20	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$73,160	620	0.2
21	Worcester, MA	$72,300	100	0.3
22	Corvallis, OR	$71,130	60	1.5
23	Fresno, CA	$71,130	280	0.6
24	Billings, MT	$70,660	120	1.2
25	Waco, TX	$70,300	40	0.3

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Clergy overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.