Are the top Mormon leaders paid for their callings as General Authorities? Yes! They receive what they call a “living allowance.”
In a few instances, church leaders admit this, although they also make repeated statements claiming that there are no paid clergy. Gordon B. Hinckley in a moment of honesty admits that General Authorities are paid a living allowance, and even that the funds for this come from the business income of the church and not the tithing. He paints a narrative that these church leaders live on a meager wage that fits their humble hearts dedicated to service. But when looking closer at the details, we see that nothing about this wage is modest, and little of it is honest.
The Church does have substantial assets, for which we are grateful. These assets are primarily in buildings in more than eighty nations. They are in ward and stake meeting facilities. They are in schools and seminaries, colleges and institutes. They are in welfare projects. They are in mission homes and missionary training centers. They are in temples, of which we have substantially more than we have ever had in the past, and they are in genealogical facilities. But it should be recognized that all of these are money-consuming assets and not money-producing assets. They are expensive to build and maintain. They do not produce financial wealth, but they do help to produce and strengthen Latter-day Saints. They are only a means to an end. They are physical facilities to accommodate the programs of the Church in our great responsibility to teach the gospel to the world, to build faith and activity among the living membership, and to carry forward the compelling mandate of the Lord concerning the redemption of the dead.
We have a few income-producing business properties, but the return from these would keep the Church going only for a very short time. Tithing is the Lord’s law of finance. There is no other financial law like it. It is a principle given with a promise spoken by the Lord Himself for the blessing of His children.
When all is said and done, the only real wealth of the Church is the faith of its people.
Essentially, the business assets which the Church has today are an outgrowth of enterprises which were begun in the pioneer era of our history when we were isolated in the valleys of the mountains of western America. For instance, a newspaper was then needed to keep the people advised of what was going on at home and abroad. The result was the Deseret News, which has been published now for 135 years. In the 1920s, government officials encouraged newspapers to set up radio stations. That was in the infancy of the broadcasting industry. One such radio station was established by the Deseret News here in Salt Lake City. From that has grown, by the natural process of development, holdings of a number of broadcasting properties.
As all of you will recognize, the ability and the facilities to communicate are among our great and constant needs. The ownership of these properties, both newspaper and broadcasting facilities, while they are operated as commercial entities, both directly and indirectly helps us in our responsibility to communicate our message and our point of view.
The Church was a pioneer in the sugar beet industry to help our farmers who needed a cash crop. One of our present properties is an outgrowth of that.
A beautiful hotel was constructed adjacent to Temple Square seventy-five years ago to provide a comfortable hostelry for visitors to this city.
Merchandising interests are an outgrowth of the cooperative movement which existed among our people in pioneer times. The Church has maintained certain real estate holdings, particularly those contiguous to Temple Square, to help preserve the beauty and the integrity of the core of the city. All of these commercial properties are tax-paying entities.
I repeat, the combined income from all of these business interests is relatively small and would not keep the work going for longer than a very brief period.
I should like to add, parenthetically for your information, that the living allowances given the General Authorities, which are very modest in comparison with executive compensation in industry and the professions, come from this business income and not from the tithing of the people.
Questions and Answers, President Gordon B. Hinckley (then Second Counselor in the First Presidency), General Conference October 1985
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1985/10/questions-and-answers
Hinckley states that the leaders are provided a living allowance and that the funds come from the business income of the church, and not tithing donations. In 1907, this same mindset was presented by President Joseph F. Smith. He was proud to announce that not one general authority of the church draws even one dollar from the tithes of the people. He explains that the tithing was invested in various business ventures, and the church supports the general authorities living with the dividends from these investments. He concludes, “we do not use one dollar of your tithing” for general authorities’ personal use.
Our enemies have been publishing to the world that the Presidency of the Church and the leading officers are consuming the tithes of the people. Now, I am going to tell you a little secret, and it is this: there is not one of the general authorities in the Church that draws one dollar from the tithes of the people for his own use. Well, you may say, how do they live? I will give you the key: The Church helped to support in its infancy the sugar industry in this country, and it has some means invested in that enterprise. The Church helped to establish Z.C.M.I., and it has a little interest in that, and in some other institutions which pay dividends. In other words, tithing funds were invested in these institutions, which give employment to many, for which the Trustee-in-Trust holds stock certificates, which are worth more today than what was given for them; and the dividends from these investments more than pay for the support of the general authorities of the Church. So we do not use one dollar of your tithing. I thought I would like to tell you that much, so that when you hear men talking about Joseph F. Smith and his associates consuming the tithes of the people you can throw it back into their teeth that they do not use a dollar of the tithing for their support. I would like our “friends,” if I might be permitted to use a vulgar expression, to “put that in their pipe and smoke it.” (Laughter.)
President Joseph F Smith, 77th Annual Conference April 1907, General Conference Opening Remarks
https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1907a/page/n7/mode/1up
What Top Mormon Leaders Get Paid Today?
A Henry Eyring pay stub from 1999 leaked to the internet indicating that he earned $2,211 in two weeks for his “living allowance”. The pay stub also includes over five thousand dollars in reimbursements, a child allowance, and a parsonage. A single paycheck for the Apostle in 1999 was $7,864.
Also, a memo noting a pay increase from $116,400 in 2013 to $120,000 in 2014 was leaked to the internet.
How much have things changed in the 25 and 10 years since? We know the church’s wealth has grown exponentially. They are so wealthy they have taken to illegal methods in an attempt to hide the wealth. They have hundreds of billions of dollars in their “rainy day” fund alone. Educated estimates put the top church leadership compensation up to an annual $178K. They’re doing pretty well for themselves.
Modest Living Allowance
Hinckley stipulates that the General Authority paycheck is m0dest “in comparison with executive compensation.” This is like saying everything is easily affordable when you are very wealthy. Comparing nearly any income to an executive compensation would look modest. Indicating that this pay is modest is a joke because the pay is well into the six figures! Compared to those who earn millions this might be modest, but what about the general membership of the church or the audience to which Hinckley was speaking? What about comparing these GA paychecks to an average American?
While the church is not transparent in how much top leaders are paid, educated estimates put the annual figure (in 2024) at $178K. Church leaders are given this living allowance after they reimburse any expenses they make as part of their church service.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), American workers made a median wage of $1,139 per week in the first quarter of 2024, which would add up to $59,228 per year.
Median pay can vary significantly depending on factors like age, sex, location, and education.
Understanding how your income compares to others’ could empower you to make more informed career decisions.
Fidelity: What is the average salary in the US?
https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/smart-money/average-salary-in-us
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2024 the average income in the US is under 60K per year. So, Mormon leaders pay themselves a “modest” allowance that is 300% 3x, or three times that of the average wages in the US. Modest is not the same as 3 times the average.
Referring to US Census data, we also learn that the median income in the US is less than 38K annually. Using this data, we’d find that the Mormon Apostles pay themselves a whopping 5 times the median income in the US. What about the rest of the world? According to Gallup, the worldwide household income averages 9,733 USD. We don’t even need to do the math to show that this “modest” living allowance amounts to 18 times the world’s average income. So the claim that the church leaders pay themselves modestly so they can focus all of their time on the church feels misleading at best.
Plus remember that General Authorities travel and dine on the church’s dime. They reimburse all expenses related to travel or serving in the church – which is their full-time job. So this pay is largely untouched for living since they can expense nearly everything and be reimbursed, this is similar to the structure the church has for compensating Mission Presidents and hiding their pay behind living expenses. Then they reimburse themselves for many expenses on top of that.
How does it feel to know that the leaders of the church approve their own paychecks, call these paychecks modest when they are triple the income of average Americans, mislead membership that there is “no paid clergy” in the True Church, define paid clergy as priestcraft, and rationalize that their payments come from business income and interest rather than tithing but credible sources show these are treated as the same thing. How is this Christlike, honorable, or even honest? Please share your thoughts in the comments, or if these questions have been on your shelf at one time or contributed to a faith struggle, consider sharing your full “I was a Mormon” story at wasmormon.org.
More reading:
- Do LDS Mission Presidents Get Paid?
- How Much Are Mormon Church Leaders Compensated?
- Are Mormon Church Leaders Paid?
- Donated Tithing Funds vs Earnings on Invested Tithing
- Let’s Go Shopping – City Creek Center and Tithing
- Whistleblowing On the Mormon 100 Billion “Rainy-Day Fund”
- http://widowsmitereport.wordpress.com/comp
- https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/smart-money/average-salary-in-us