Recommended Salary Ranges for Congregational Staff

Part of Congregational Salary Program

By Jan Gartner, Sean Griffin

Find Recommended Salary Ranges for the 2026-2027 and 2025-2026 program years.

Key Information

To use our Recommended Salary Ranges, you need to determine:

  • Your congregation’s Geo Index, based on Congregational Location
  • Your congregation’s Size Profile, based on membership, budget, and staffing
  • Each employee’s Job Level, based on job characteristics

General Guidance

Ranges have increased 2% from 2025-2026 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.

Minimum Wage

All Recommended Salary Ranges meet the federal minimum wage. However, it is possible that some do not comply with all state and local wage laws. Please be aware of minimum wage law in your area.

Our Recommended Salary Ranges include the clergy housing allowance but exclude benefit costs.

Benefit Costs

Benefit costs are figured separately. Use our Compensation Worksheet (Excel) to determine the cost of benefits.

Part-Time Positions

UUA Recommended Salary Ranges are annual salaries based on a full-time exempt or 40-hour nonexempt workweek for year-round employees.

  • For part-time positions, prorate the recommendations. For a 24-hour (year-round) position, for instance, you would multiply the posted numbers by 24/40.
  • Sometimes it takes a higher pay rate to attract part-time staff, especially if hours are very limited. A higher rate of pay helps those who need to work multiple jobs and/or must purchase their own insurance. These are often positions for which local wage comparisons are important to consider, as well.
  • For an hourly rate, divide our annual wage numbers by 2080 (which is 52 x 40).
  • There is no official definition of full-time. If a 35-hour week is full-time in your setting, consider using our ranges as posted for 35-hour employees and prorate based on that.

Recommended Salary Ranges for 2026-2027

Recommended Salary Ranges for 2025-2026

Note: When referencing salary recommendations for 2025-2026, use the Geo Index Listing for 2025-2026 (PDF) and Congregational Size Profiles (PDF) for 2025-2026.