Clergy in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,936
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$9,744
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,508
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$60,680
Kept after tax
$50,936
Worth in national money
$57,508
State rank
22
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. North Dakota pays clergy around $60,680 at the midpoint, 22 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Clergy ranks 225 among 460 occupations North Dakota publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $60,680 you keep $50,936 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $57,508 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $70,050, since top earners drag the number up.
- For clergy the North Dakota median is $60,680, ranking 22 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 225 of 460 in North Dakota 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.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $50,936 after the full tax stack, from $60,680. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $57,508 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $70,050 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Clergy
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $86,840 |
| This salary | $60,680 |
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 North Dakota | $50,936 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,936 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,091 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $60,680 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,205 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $60,680 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,740 and the ninetieth is $86,840 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In North Dakota the take-home figure of $50,936, from $60,680, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 225 of 460 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Dakota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $57,508, the adjusted value of that $60,680 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 225 of 460 in the state.
- The North Dakota median of $60,680 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,740 to $86,840. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for North Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $50,936 from $60,680. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 225 of 460 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Dakota, so $57,508 — the adjusted value of that $60,680 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 225 of 460 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 $70,050, 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 $35,740 and the top tenth $86,840 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Dakota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $57,508 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 North Dakota's own levy, $50,936 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 North Dakota is $70,050. 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 ($35,740) and the ninetieth ($86,840) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $57,508 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $50,936 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.