Clergy in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,772
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$11,128
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,217
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$61,900
Kept after tax
$50,772
Worth in national money
$50,217
State rank
15
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona is one of the better-paying states for clergy. The middle earner takes $61,900, which ranks 15 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 1.79% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Clergy ranks 209 among 491 occupations Arizona publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Arizona costs about what the country costs, so from $61,900, take-home of $50,772 is worth roughly $50,217 in national money. The average comes to $68,350, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Arizona ranks 15 of 50 states publishing a median for clergy, at $61,900 — about 1.79% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 209 of 491 in Arizona places clergy in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Price parity in Arizona is near the national base, so for clergy, whose median is $61,900, the adjusted figure of $50,217 differs little from $50,772 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $68,350 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Clergy
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,290 |
| This salary | $61,900 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Arizona | $50,772 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,917 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,209 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $60,475 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,881 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $61,900 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $44,440 and the ninetieth is $102,290 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arizona's $50,772, worked from $61,900. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 209 of 491.
- Two cautions on $50,217, the adjusted value of that $61,900 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arizona. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 209 of 491 locally.
- The Arizona median of $61,900 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $44,440 to $102,290. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Arizona take-home of $50,772, on $61,900 for work ranking 209 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 209 of 491 in the state.
- This $50,217 adjusted figure, worked from $61,900, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 209 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 209 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $68,350, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $44,440 and the top tenth $102,290 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $50,217 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $50,772 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Arizona is $68,350. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($44,440) and the ninetieth ($102,290) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $50,217 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $50,772 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.