Salary Survey

The Region conducts a periodic salary survey of ministers. The data collected assists the regional ministers as they help church boards, search committees and finance committees determine equitable compensation for the minister.

The survey is not intended to provide quick answers about clergy compensation. Instead, it’s intent is to help congregations think through the issues of clergy compensation with an eye to congregations of similar size and context.

The data for the most recent survey was collected in February of 2011, and a summary of the survey findings can be downloaded below. Following are a few points of interest uncovered in the latest survey.

• The summary is based on 77 completed responses, approximately 35% of the congregational ministers in the Region.
• Only about three-fourths of the respondents are members of the Pension Fund of the Christian Church.
• Among commissioned ministers, 61% reported that they are not members of the Pension Fund. Pension Fund membership is open to all church employees, not just ordained clergy. (See chart.)
• Congregations with worship attendance between 75 and 150 are over-represented in the survey results. (See chart.)
• More than half of the survey respondents indicated that the church provides no health care coverage for them or their family. Among full-time senior ministers, only 62% report receiving health care coverage, either through Church Wide Health Care or another provider. (See chart.)

Charts

• Base Compensation by Community Setting. Shows the distribution of base compensation by the various congregational community settings: urban, suburban, town or rural..
• Base Compensation by Operating Budget. Shows the distribution of base compensation by the church's operating expense budget..
• Base Compensation by Worship Attendance. Shows the distribution of base compensation across congregations of varying size based on average worship attendance..
• Base Compensation for Full-Time Ministers. Shows the distribution of base compensation for responding ministers that indicated full-time status..
• Community Settings. Shows the distribution of responses from various congregational community settings: urban, suburban, town or rural..
• Expense Budget - Responses vs. Actual. Shows the distribution of responses by expense budget alongside the distribution of local operating receipts reported by Indiana congregations in the 2011 Yearbook and Directory. Indicates some skewing of the responses away from congregations with expense budgets less than $150,000..
• Health Care Coverage. Shows the proportion of full-time ministry respondents that receive health care coverage through Church Wide Health Care or another provider as well as those who do not receive any health care coverage through the church..
• Operating Expense Budget. Shows the distribution of operating expense budgets from survey respondents..
• Pension Fund Membership. Shows the percentage of respondents that are members of the Pension Fund, broken down by ordained and commissioned standing..
• Positions. Shows the distribution of ministry positions indicated by respondents..
• Worship Attendance. Shows the distribution of congregation size of respondents based on worship attendance as indicated by the survey response..
• Worship Attendance - Responses vs. Actual. Shows the distribution of congregation size based on worship attendance among the survey responses alongside the distribution of worship attendance as reported in the 2011 Yearbook and Directory. Indicates a skewing of the responses toward congregations with worship attendance between 76 and 150..