Arizona·Community and Social Service Occupations·SOC 21-2011

Best member of the clergy programs in Arizona, ranked by enrollment

Conduct religious worship and perform other spiritual functions associated with beliefs and practices of religious faith or denomination.

5 schools in Arizona run programs that feed this job, graduating 107 people a year. The job pays a median of $61,900 in Arizona across about 1,070 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledPastorPriestRectorMinisterImamPopeElderMohel
Graduates / yr
107
in Arizona
Median pay · Arizona
$61,900
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
1,070
people employed
Schools
5
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
47%
across those schools
Median net price
$16,828
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Arizona that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

5 programs in Arizona that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Arizona (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Arizona page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 39.0602In Arizona
76
71.0%
3$32,202$25,375
2
CIP 39.0604In Arizona
20
18.7%
1$32,202$25,375
3
CIP 39.0699In Arizona
9
8.4%
2$32,202$25,375
4
CIP 39.0601In Arizona
1
0.9%
1$32,202$25,375
5
CIP 39.0701In Arizona
1
0.9%
1$32,226$26,000

Top 5 schools in Arizona

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 5 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Grand Canyon University
Phoenix, AZ Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
77Divinity/Ministry43%$21,53579%
2Phoenix Seminary
Scottsdale, AZ Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
21Divinity/Ministry
3International Baptist College and Seminary
Chandler, AZ Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
7Theological and Ministerial Studies, Other88%$16,828
4American InterContinental University System
Chandler, AZ Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Pastoral Studies/Counseling9%$15,785
5Justice University
Chandler, AZ Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Theology/Theological Studies

All 5 schools in Arizona

Every school in Arizona with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Arizona that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Grand Canyon UniversityPhoenixPrivate not-for-profit772
Phoenix SeminaryScottsdalePrivate not-for-profit212
International Baptist College and SeminaryChandlerPrivate not-for-profit72
American InterContinental University SystemChandlerPrivate for-profit11
Justice UniversityChandlerPrivate not-for-profit11

What clergy earn in Arizona

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Arizona
$61,900
Mean annual
$68,350
Jobs in state
1,070
What the range looks like
10th pct$44,440Median$61,90090th pct$102,290
Versus the national median
+1.8%

U.S. median $60,810. Arizona pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
0.90×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Arizona

Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ
$63,000median
890 jobs
Tucson, AZ
$62,400median
70 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+1.0%
Little or no change
Openings per year
23,000
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
2,600
262,000 → 264,600
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Clergy page.

How to become a member of the clergy

Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Top skills

SpeakingActive ListeningReading ComprehensionWritingActive LearningCritical Thinking

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Arizona

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 9 majors mapped to Clergy9 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 39.0601Theology/Theological Studies
  • 39.0602Divinity/Ministry
  • 39.0604Pre-Theology/Pre-Ministerial Studies
  • 39.0605Rabbinical Studies
  • 39.0699Theological and Ministerial Studies, Other
  • 39.0701Pastoral Studies/Counseling
  • 39.0702Youth Ministry
  • 39.0706Chaplain/Chaplaincy Studies
  • 51.1506Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling

Common questions

Answers for people weighing clergy programs in Arizona.

What degree do you need to become a member of the clergy?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Divinity/Ministry, which awarded 76 degrees in Arizona in 2024-25, 71.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a member of the clergy?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 5 programs to this occupation. The largest are Theological and Ministerial Studies, Pastoral Counseling and Specialized Ministries. Together they graduate about 107 people a year in Arizona.

How much do clergy earn in Arizona?+

The median is $61,900 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 1.8% above the U.S. median of $60,810. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for clergy growing?+

BLS projects a +1.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 23,000 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Arizona?+

5 institutions in Arizona reported graduates from at least one of the 5 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do clergy work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Pastor, Priest, Rector, Minister among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 21-2011.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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