Clergy in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,355
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$17,355
22.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,610
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — 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
$77,710
Kept after tax
$60,355
Worth in national money
$53,610
State rank
2
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for clergy is strong here. California's middle earner gets $77,710, putting the state 2 of 50 — about 27.79% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations California reports figures for, this is number 211.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $77,710 the take-home is $60,355; in national-average money that behaves like $53,610. The average comes to $87,150, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For clergy, California sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $77,710, ranking 2 of 50 and running about 27.79% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In California's occupational distribution, clergy sits at 211 of 492 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Take-home for clergy in California, on $77,710, is $60,355; deflated by the state's price level, $53,610. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $87,150 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Clergy
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $157,030 |
| This salary | $77,710 |
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 California | $60,355 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,499 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,735 |
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 | $73,240 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$15,587 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of clergy in California earn under $77,710 and half over. The published range runs $42,690 at the tenth percentile to $157,030 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $60,355 take-home in California comes from $77,710. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 211 of 492.
- Two cautions on $53,610, the adjusted value of that $77,710 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of California. 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 211 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for clergy in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,690 to $157,030; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $60,355, from $77,710, assumes a single California filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 211 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 50 for it.
- This $53,610 adjusted figure, worked from $77,710, 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 211 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 211 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $87,150 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $42,690 at the bottom tenth to $157,030 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in California run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $53,610 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and California's own levy, $60,355 remains.
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 California is $87,150. 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 ($42,690) and the ninetieth ($157,030) 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?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $53,610 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 $60,355 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California 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.