Skip to content

An independent salary reference. Not affiliated with BLS or any U.S. government agency.

Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Average Clergy Salary in California

Clergy in California earn a median annual salary of $77,850, which is +28.0% compared to the national median. There are 6,390 workers employed locally in this occupation.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates for California (state).

$77,850
California median annual wage
$37/hour median
+28.0%
Difference vs national median
National median is $60,820
6,390
Local employment
0.4 jobs per 1,000 workers
0.94
Location quotient
Above 1.00 means the occupation is more concentrated here than nationally

Pay distribution

Local wage range

10th
$43,080
25th
$60,910
Median
$77,850
75th
$98,300
90th
$136,030

All values are percentiles of annual wages.

This local range is the useful part of the page. The median tells you the center of the market in California, while the percentile band shows how compressed or wide the local pay distribution actually is.

Regional price parity

Cost-of-living context

All-items regional price parity
110.7%
Exact state RPP match
Median wage adjusted to the national price level
$70,313
Goods: 106.1%
Services: 158.9%
Rents: 154.3%

Comparison links

Comparable states for this occupation

StateMedian annual wageCompareEmployment
Washington$77,530Compare800
Nevada$70,150Compare260
Massachusetts$67,830Compare830
Vermont$66,860Compare40
New Hampshire$66,670Compare100
Georgia$65,510Compare1,280

The point of this table is not random nearby places. It is to show the other labor markets where this same occupation looks stronger or weaker on the same OEWS release.

Area context

Top occupations in California

OccupationMedian annual wageLQ
Chief Executives$220,6001.49
Computer And Information Systems Managers$211,3401.32
Natural Sciences Managers$204,1001.20
Architectural And Engineering Managers$201,8101.25
Physicians, All Other$201,5100.56
Lawyers$197,7901.06
Nurse Midwives$196,7000.91
Podiatrists$193,5100.83

California has salary data for 806 occupations. The highest-paid occupation in this area is Chief Executives.

Historical series

Trend for Clergy in California

Historical trend data is not yet available for this occupation in this area.

Interpretation

Outlook and page notes

Nationally, Clergy are projected to change by +1.0% from 2024 to 2034, with 23,000 annual openings.

Use this page to answer three separate questions: what the occupation pays here, how large the local market is, and whether this market is unusually concentrated for the occupation.

For metro pages in particular, read long-term trend rows as directional until the area comparability layer is fully wired. OEWS area definitions can change over time, and that matters more at the metro level than at the state level.