South Carolina·Community and Social Service Occupations·SOC 21-2021

Best Director programs in South Carolina, ranked by enrollment

Coordinate or design programs and conduct outreach to promote the religious education or activities of a denominational group.

6 schools in South Carolina run programs that feed this job, graduating 183 people a year. The job pays a median of $36,120 in South Carolina across about 170 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledYouth PastorChristian Education DirectorReligious Education DirectorChildren's Ministries DirectorRectorYouth DirectorProgram DirectorWorship Director
Graduates / yr
183
in South Carolina
Median pay · South Carolina
$36,120
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
170
people employed
Schools
6
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
54%
across those schools
Median net price
$21,534
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in South Carolina that lead to this job

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

6 programs in South Carolina that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in South Carolina (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 South Carolina page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
177
42.1%
4$28,103$17,318
276
41.5%
5$33,182$25,000
312
6.6%
3$32,226$26,000
410
5.5%
2$32,351$25,937
55
2.7%
1$32,226$26,000
63
1.6%
1$30,092$27,000

Top 6 schools in South Carolina

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 6 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Columbia International University
Columbia, SC Private not-for-profit · 5 feeder programs
108Missions/Missionary Studies47%$21,36194%
2Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
27Bible/Biblical Studies65%$18,053
3North Greenville University
Tigerville, SC Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
26Bible/Biblical Studies55%$20,32767%
4Erskine College
Due West, SC Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
8Religious Education45%$21,53463%
5Anderson University
Anderson, SC Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
7Bible/Biblical Studies66%$24,81255%
6Charleston Southern University
Charleston, SC Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
7Youth Ministry47%$21,84896%

All 6 schools in South Carolina

Every school in South Carolina 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 South Carolina that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Columbia International UniversityColumbiaPrivate not-for-profit1085
Bob Jones UniversityGreenvillePrivate not-for-profit272
North Greenville UniversityTigervillePrivate not-for-profit263
Erskine CollegeDue WestPrivate not-for-profit82
Anderson UniversityAndersonPrivate not-for-profit72
Charleston Southern UniversityCharlestonPrivate not-for-profit72

What directors, religious activities and education earn in South Carolina

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

Median annual in South Carolina
$36,120
Mean annual
$51,680
Jobs in state
170
What the range looks like
10th pct$27,040Median$36,12090th pct$91,990
Versus the national median
-30.7%

U.S. median $52,100. South Carolina pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.52×

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

Metro areas in South Carolina

Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC
$36,020median
30 jobs
Columbia, SC
$39,210median
40 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+2.1%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
13,800
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
2,900
138,900 → 141,800
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

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 Directors, Religious Activities and Education page.

How to become a Director

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Work experience needed
Less than 5 years

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

SpeakingActive ListeningReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingActive LearningLearning Strategies

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in South Carolina

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 16 majors mapped to Directors, Religious Activities and Education16 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 30.2502Contemplative Studies/Inquiry
  • 30.5301Thanatology
  • 39.0201Bible/Biblical Studies
  • 39.0301Missions/Missionary Studies
  • 39.0401Religious Education
  • 39.0502Worship Ministry
  • 39.0599Religious Music and Worship, Other
  • 39.0701Pastoral Studies/Counseling
  • 39.0702Youth Ministry
  • 39.0703Urban Ministry
  • 39.0704Women's Ministry
  • 39.0705Lay Ministry
  • 39.0706Chaplain/Chaplaincy Studies
  • 39.0799Pastoral Counseling and Specialized Ministries, Other
  • 51.1506Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling
  • 51.3201Bioethics/Medical Ethics

Common questions

Answers for people weighing directors, religious activities and education programs in South Carolina.

What degree do you need to become a Director?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Missions/Missionary Studies, which awarded 77 degrees in South Carolina in 2024-25, 42.1% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Director?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 6 programs to this occupation. The largest are Missions/Missionary Studies and Missiology, Bible/Biblical Studies, Pastoral Counseling and Specialized Ministries, Religious Education, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 183 people a year in South Carolina.

How much do directors, religious activities and education earn in South Carolina?+

The median is $36,120 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 30.7% below the U.S. median of $52,100. 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 directors, religious activities and education growing?+

BLS projects a +2.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 13,800 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in South Carolina?+

6 institutions in South Carolina reported graduates from at least one of the 6 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 directors, religious activities and education work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Youth Pastor, Christian Education Director, Religious Education Director, Children's Ministries Director among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 21-2021.

Directors, Religious Activities and Education in other statesVirginiaNew YorkTexasIllinoisCaliforniaMissouriPennsylvaniaOhio

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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