Study: Southern pastors garner top salaries

Large churches in the South tend to pay their senior pastors the highest salaries, a new survey finds.

That’s one of the conclusions on churches and finances released in September by Leadership Network, a Dallas-based church think tank, and the Vanderbloemen Search Group, a Houston-based search firm for churches and ministries.

Warren Bird, research director at Leadership Network, said pastors have long held a lofty place of authority in the South, and that may be why they are paid more. Northeastern churches are the second-highest paying, followed by the West and the Midwest. The lowest-paying part of North America is Canada.