Clergy
Conduct religious worship and perform other spiritual functions associated with beliefs and practices of religious faith or denomination. Provide spiritual and moral guidance and assistance to members.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Social Perceptiveness
- Instructing
- Service Orientation
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing
- Persuasion
Key knowledge
- Philosophy and Theology
- English Language
- Administration and Management
- Customer and Personal Service
- Education and Training
- Therapy and Counseling
- Communications and Media
- Psychology
What the work involves
- Pray and promote spirituality.
- Read from sacred texts, such as the Bible, Torah, or Koran.
- Prepare and deliver sermons or other talks.
- Organize and lead regular religious services.
- Share information about religious issues by writing articles, giving speeches, or teaching.
- Instruct people who seek conversion to a particular faith.
- Counsel individuals or groups concerning their spiritual, emotional, or personal needs.
- Visit people in homes, hospitals, or prisons to provide them with comfort and support.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Enterprising, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Master's Degree (47.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (47.4%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (30.8%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Clergy is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 68% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 64% of occupations compared | 52% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Lower on teamwork than 54% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 81% of occupations compared | 72% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Higher on time pressure than 50% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 81% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 55% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 62% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 7.92%
- Contact with others most of the time: 25.4%
- Constant contact with others: 66.68%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2023
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 7.82%
- Important: 23.97%
- Very important: 52.35%
- Extremely important: 15.86%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2023
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 15.54%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: 39.03%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2023
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 6.76%
- Limited freedom: 7.72%
- Some freedom: 13.19%
- A lot of freedom: 72.33%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2023
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 7.92%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 20.91%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 47.8%
- Every day: 23.37%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2023
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.31%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 60.08%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 37.75%
- Every day: 1.86%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2023
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 50.8%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 11.55%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 37.65%
- Every day: 0%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2023
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 30.17%
- Fairly serious: 17.6%
- Serious: 16.11%
- Very serious: 20.68%
- Extremely serious: 15.43%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2023
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O*NET-SOC 21-2011.00 · SOC 21-2011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8