The UUA provides salary guidance in order to assist and empower congregational leaders in making values-based compensation decisions.

Format

Information about the Congregation Salary Program is provided as a “book” of pages. (See Content below.) We hope this makes it easy for you to find what you need.

Economic Justice

Our program is grounded in economic justice, creating opportunities for all to thrive. Economic justice consists of procedural justice (how pay decisions are made and implemented) and distributive justice (the amount of pay given to employees). We put a special emphasis on procedural justice – helping you ensure that your pay policies and practices are equitable, transparent, and attentive to employees who may be marginalized due to their positions and/or identities. Start your compensation journey by reviewing our values-aligned Salary Policies and Practices on the next page.

Adjustments for 2026-2027

Recommended salary ranges have increased 2% for all positions, in keeping with nonprofit salary structure trends. A 2% raise will keep an employee at the same position within their salary range.

Career-Path and Community-Based Positions

Our Recommended Salary Ranges are constructed with UU career-path employees in mind – in other words, for those whose equivalent work is within Unitarian Universalism. These staff have more potential for career development and progression within our faith and are more likely to view their work as a vocation.

Employees in community-based positions (those not tied to UU career paths) are more likely to pay attention to the local job market. For your community-based staff, prevailing wages for comparable work in your area are important to consider, potentially more important than UUA Recommended Salary Ranges.

Salaries for Ministerial Interns

See Guidelines for Ministerial Student Internships in the Internship Clearinghouse.