Community and Social Service · Holland code SEA

Clergy

Conduct religious worship and perform other spiritual functions associated with beliefs and practices of religious faith or denomination. Provide spiritual and moral guidance and assistance to members.

Also called: Minister, Pastor, Priest, Rector, Bishop, Chaplain, Children's Minister, Imam.

O*NET 21-2011.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $60,810; Middle half earn $48,260 to $76,640. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Master's Degree; 48% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 5 of 5; Extensive preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Pray and promote spirituality.
Prepare and deliver sermons or other talks.
Read from sacred texts, such as the Bible, Torah, or Koran.
Organize and lead regular religious services.
Instruct people who seek conversion to a particular faith.
Share information about religious issues by writing articles, giving speeches, or teaching.
Counsel individuals or groups concerning their spiritual, emotional, or personal needs.
Administer religious rites or ordinances.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Speaking4.8 / 5
Active Listening4.3 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5
Writing3.9 / 5
Critical Thinking3.8 / 5
Active Learning3.8 / 5

Knowledge areas

Philosophy and Theology4.7 / 5
English Language4.2 / 5
Administration and Management4.1 / 5
Customer and Personal Service4.0 / 5
Education and Training3.8 / 5
Therapy and Counseling3.8 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic18
Investigative18
Artistic41
Social82
Enterprising53
Conventional32

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

religious studies lecturer · DE Hochschullehrkraft für Religionswissenschaft · FR enseignant-chercheur en théologie/enseignante-chercheuse en théologie
chaplain · DE Seelsorger/Seelsorgerin · FR aumônier/aumônière
minister of religion · DE Geistlicher/Geistliche · FR ministre du culte
missionary · DE Missionar/Missionarin · FR missionnaire
religion scientific researcher · DE Religionswissenschaftler/Religionswissenschaftlerin · FR théologien/théologienne
monk/nun · DE Mönch/Nonne · FR moine/moniale

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Secondary education teaching professionals (2313)504,100 employed
Caretakers (6232)53,500 employed
Higher education teaching professionals (2311)258,500 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “宗教家”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥311,700; Middle half earn ¥245,200 to ¥441,500 a month.
Workers in the category: 7,540; Regular employees in firms of ten or more.

Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.28. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (21-2011).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test