Church Compensation Review Tool

Enter what you know about a role and the person in it, and get a recommended pay range plus talking points — grounded in Anchor Church's compensation philosophy.

Confidentiality reminder: individual compensation is never disclosed to other employees without their consent. Treat anything you enter or print here as private to the reviewing supervisor / decision-maker — don't leave it open on a shared screen or save it somewhere the whole staff can browse.

Our compensation philosophy

Every employment arrangement is unique, with mutually agreed compensation. These six factors are always weighed together — this tool structures that conversation, it doesn't replace it:

Level of responsibility at Anchor Church
Relevant previous experience and skills
Local cost of living
Current financial situation of the church
Macroeconomic conditions
Prevailing market salary ranges for similar roles

Compensation is reviewed at least annually, and any employee can request a review conversation with their supervisor at any time.

Where these estimates come from

The pay ranges built into this tool are general estimates, not pulled from a live survey — nobody has queried an actual report to produce these exact numbers. They reflect typical patterns for U.S. church/ministry roles. When you pick a role below, you'll see the kinds of sources that type of role is normally benchmarked against — treat that as a pointer for where to verify, not as a citation for the number shown. Check a current published survey before relying on this for a real decision.

Review details

Role & scope

Role Pick the closest match, or "Other / custom" to enter your own range.

Current church size (average weekly attendance)

Employee name (optional — kept only in your browser, never sent anywhere) Leave blank if you'd rather just get a role-level benchmark.

The person in the role

Level of responsibility at Anchor, vs. typical for this title Does their actual scope here exceed or fall short of the title's usual market scope?

Relevant experience & skills Compared to a typical hire for this role.

Current performance Based on how they're actually doing in the role today, not their resume.

Local cost of living & macro conditions

City / metro area Start typing a city — if it's in our reference list (~120 major U.S. metros), its cost-of-living adjustment is applied automatically. Include the state if the city name is shared by multiple states (e.g. "Portland, OR").

U.S. inflation / cost-of-living increase, trailing 12 months (%) Pre-filled with a general estimate of recent U.S. CPI inflation — check the current 12-month figure at bls.gov/cpi and overwrite this if it's moved.

The 3% default is a general estimate of trailing 12-month U.S. CPI inflation, not a live feed — inflation moves month to month, so treat this as a placeholder. Estimated as of ; verify the current figure at bls.gov/cpi (or another current source) before relying on this for a real decision.

The church's situation

Church's current financial situation

This employee's current base pay ($/yr)

Why now?

Reason for this review

Recommendation

Researched range (adjusted)
Recommended target point
Current pay

Factor-by-factor read

Talking points for the conversation

Editable — adjust in your own words before the conversation.