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Allied health

Chaplain salary

Open chaplain jobs post a median of $34 an hour, with the middle half paying $29–$38.25: about $70,700 a year full time. Measured from 89 jobs at 58 employers that state their pay, read from each employer's own job board.

$34
Median posted /hr
$29–$38
Middle half /hr
$70,700
A year, full time
estimate, 2,080 hours
$29.24
BLS median /hr
May 2025

The jobs themselves: Chaplain jobs

What chaplains are paid

Each bar counts the open jobs posting an hourly rate in its step of pay (a range at its midpoint). The middle half of employers' rates is in the darker color.

Posted hourly rates of 89 open jobs. The chart spans the 2nd to the 98th percentile; the lowest rate posted is $17.50, the highest $65.32.

Posted on open jobs

$29–$38.25/hr

Middle half of 75 employer rates (each employer's advertised range once), median $34. 28% of the 322 open chaplain jobs state an hourly rate.

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Chaplain: new openings every week

Every week we gather the newest Chaplain openings from the hospitals, clinics and care employers we follow, straight from their careers sites. Free, stop anytime.

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Chaplain pay by employer

What each employer posts for chaplains, the employers with the most jobs stating pay first. An employer with at least 5 such jobs has a page of its own with every range it posts.

EmployerMedian postedPosted rangeJobs stating pay
Providence$38.25$23.84–$54.438
CommonSpirit Health$36.50$20.86–$48.175
Endeavor Health$34$27.14–$40.714
Northwestern Medicine$34$28–$39.154
Beth Israel Lahey Health$35.25$30–$423
Samaritan Health Services$31.50$25.48–$45.633
UW Health$30.25$24.19–$37.603
Sharp HealthCare$45$36.83–$53.972
Allina Health$36.75$31.07–$42.592
Fairview Health Services$36.25$29.29–$43.402
UMass Memorial Health$36.25$25.35–$47.632
Moments Hospice$30.50$28–$332
Avera Health$30.25$24–$36.502
BJC HealthCare$27.25$20.70–$33.702
Care Hospice$26$23–$292
Lifted Healthcare Group$62.50$60–$651
Sutter Health$56$46.66–$65.321
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center$51.75$41.36–$62.031
UCSF Health$47.50$47.521
Seattle Children's$45.25$36.16–$54.241
Alameda Health System$44.75$40.30–$49.181
Stanford Health Care$44.75$38.95–$50.621
Eisenhower Health$42.50$33.73–$51.241
Brown University Health$41$31–$51.161
Atlantic Health$40$30.21–$49.871
UChicago Medicine$40$401
Kaiser Permanente$39.25$34.13–$44.151
Southcoast Health System$39.25$39.321
AdventHealth$38.50$26.89–$50.011
Mayo Clinic$36$28.80–$43.251
Advocate Health$35.75$28.55–$42.851
Catholic Health (Long Island)$35$351
Lighthouse Hospice Care$34$32–$361
Inova$33.75$25.61–$41.741
Capital Caring Health$33.25$26.72–$39.781
Lee Health$33$29.62–$36.461
UW Medicine$32.75$32.781
Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago$31.50$24–$39.241
Blessing Hospital$31$24.85–$37.281
Providence Life Services$31$28–$341

Median of each employer's own jobs (a range at its midpoint), and the lowest and highest rate it posts. Jobs stating pay link to the employer's open jobs.

Chaplain pay by state

States where at least 8 open jobs from 3 employers state an hourly rate, highest median first. Each opens the state's own page, with its towns and employers.

StateMedian postedMiddle halfBLS medianJobs
California$41$37.25–$44.75$37.36 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)15
Illinois$31.50$29.25–$34$29.72 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)16

Median and middle half of employers' rates in the state. BLS medians are for the occupation's main SOC code in the state (May 2025).

Chaplain jobs that state a yearly salary

Some jobs state a salary for the year instead of an hourly rate. They are measured on their own here, never converted.

25 open jobs from 19 employers state a yearly salary: a median of $67,800, the middle half $64,200 to $80,900, from $40,050 to $106,413 posted.

Best-paid open chaplain jobs

The open jobs posting the highest hourly rates tonight, at most two from one employer.

Every open job: Chaplain jobs

What BLS measures

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys what people employed in the occupation earn, at every level of experience. A posting advertises what a new hire is offered, so the two measure different things.

Hourly wages, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Each figure opens its BLS page.
BLS occupation10th pct25th pctMedian75th pct90th pctEmployed
Clergy (21-2011)$18.20 (source: BLS OEWS, Clergy, opens in a new tab)$23.20 (source: BLS OEWS, Clergy, opens in a new tab)$29.24 (source: BLS OEWS, Clergy, opens in a new tab)$36.85 (source: BLS OEWS, Clergy, opens in a new tab)$47.54 (source: BLS OEWS, Clergy, opens in a new tab)57,200 (source: BLS OEWS, Clergy, opens in a new tab)

The posted median ($34) is $4.76 above the BLS median ($29.24 (source: BLS OEWS May 2025, Clergy, opens in a new tab)). Posted ranges run from a new hire's rate to an experienced one's, and their midpoint is counted here.

Chaplain salary: common questions

How much does a chaplain make an hour?

Open chaplain jobs on CareJobs.Now that state an hourly rate post a median of $34, with the middle half between $29–$38.25 (89 jobs from 58 employers, each employer's advertised range counted once). Postings advertise a base rate, usually before shift differentials and bonuses. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics measured a median of $29.24/hr ($60,810 a year) for clergy in May 2025.

How much does a chaplain make a year?

At the posted median of $34 an hour, full time (2,080 hours a year) comes to about $70,700, and the middle half to $60,300 to $79,600. That is arithmetic on the hourly rate, not a salary any job states. 25 open jobs state a yearly salary instead, a median of $67,800.

Where do these figures come from?

From the pay CareJobs.Now's open jobs state, read every night from each employer's own job board: 89 of 322 open chaplain jobs (28%) state an hourly rate. No pay is estimated for a job that states none, "up to" ceilings and weekly travel rates are left out, and each employer's advertised range counts once in the median, so no single employer sets it.

More pay by job: Allied health

Chaplain jobs →Every healthcare salary →Pay explorer →

Sources and method

Only pay a job states is used: a plain hourly or yearly figure or range in US dollars, read from the job's own posting. A range counts at its midpoint. In the median and the middle half each employer's advertised range counts once, so an employer posting one range in many towns does not set the figure; an employer's own figures count its jobs one by one. "Up to" ceilings, weekly travel rates and rates under a third or over three times the occupation's median are left out. The yearly estimate is the hourly rate times 2,080 hours (40 a week). A job counts under its occupation and every occupation above it, and under every state it is open in. A page exists while at least 8 jobs from 3 employers state a rate. BLS figures are as published.
  1. CareJobs.Now job board: the pay open jobs state, read nightly from each employer's own careers site, published October 24, 2026
  2. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: Clergy (SOC 21-2011), published May 15, 2026
  3. BLS OEWS May 2025: Clergy by state, published May 15, 2026
  4. BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035: Clergy, published August 27, 2026

Cite this page

CareJobs.Now. (2026). Chaplain salary. Data as of October 24, 2026. https://carejobs.now/salaries/chaplain

How the board counts