Best member of the clergy programs in Louisiana, ranked by enrollment
Conduct religious worship and perform other spiritual functions associated with beliefs and practices of religious faith or denomination.
6 schools in Louisiana run programs that feed this job, graduating 336 people a year. The job pays a median of $54,140 in Louisiana across about 400 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Louisiana that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
4 programs in Louisiana that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Louisiana (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 Louisiana page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Divinity/Ministrymain feeder CIP 39.0602In Louisiana → | 124 | 36.9% | 2 | $32,202 | $25,375 |
| 2 | Theological and Ministerial Studies, Othermain feeder CIP 39.0699In Louisiana → | 121 | 36.0% | 2 | $32,202 | $25,375 |
| 3 | Theology/Theological Studiesmain feeder CIP 39.0601In Louisiana → | 62 | 18.5% | 4 | $32,202 | $25,375 |
| 4 | Pastoral Studies/Counselingmain feeder CIP 39.0701In Louisiana → | 29 | 8.6% | 1 | $32,226 | $26,000 |
Top 6 schools in Louisiana
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 6 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary New Orleans, LA Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 292 | Divinity/Ministry | — | 74% | — | — |
| 2 | Loyola University New Orleans New Orleans, LA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 33 | Theological and Ministerial Studies, Other | — | 59% | $22,906 | 93% |
| 3 | University of Holy Cross New Orleans, LA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Theology/Theological Studies | — | 49% | $16,691 | 74% |
| 4 | Xavier University of Louisiana New Orleans, LA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Theology/Theological Studies | — | 49% | $19,760 | 69% |
| 5 | Louisiana Christian University Pineville, LA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Divinity/Ministry | — | 44% | $16,971 | 77% |
| 6 | Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University Baton Rouge, LA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Theology/Theological Studies | — | 45% | $17,925 | 99% |
All 6 schools in Louisiana
Every school in Louisiana 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.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary | New Orleans | Private not-for-profit | 292 | 4 |
| Loyola University New Orleans | New Orleans | Private not-for-profit | 33 | 1 |
| University of Holy Cross | New Orleans | Private not-for-profit | 4 | 1 |
| Xavier University of Louisiana | New Orleans | Private not-for-profit | 4 | 1 |
| Louisiana Christian University | Pineville | Private not-for-profit | 2 | 1 |
| Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University | Baton Rouge | Private not-for-profit | 1 | 1 |
What clergy earn in Louisiana
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $60,810. Louisiana pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Louisiana
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
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
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Louisiana
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 Louisiana.
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 124 degrees in Louisiana in 2024-25, 36.9% 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 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Theological and Ministerial Studies, Pastoral Counseling and Specialized Ministries. Together they graduate about 336 people a year in Louisiana.
How much do clergy earn in Louisiana?+
The median is $54,140 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 11.0% below 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 Louisiana?+
6 institutions in Louisiana reported graduates from at least one of the 4 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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, 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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