Chaplain Skills & Requirements (2026 Data)
Skills, experience and job titles from 1,160 US job postings by 361 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for chaplains: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 1,160 open job postings (October 2026).
- The skills that most set chaplain postings apart are spiritual care, counseling, crisis intervention.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 2 years of experience.
Chaplain job postings in the US, October 2026
- 1,160
- US job postings from 361 employers
- 2 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a chaplain make?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
What is the starting salary for a chaplain?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Skills employers ask for in chaplain job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 26% |
| Interpersonal skills | 15% |
| Counseling | 10% |
| Spiritual care | 9% |
| Microsoft Office | 9% |
| Compassion | 9% |
| Crisis intervention | 7% |
| Pastoral care | 7% |
| Excel | 7% |
| Organizational skills | 7% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set chaplains apart
- Spiritual care1743.4× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Counseling31.4× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Crisis intervention18.7× as often as in all postings · 7%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a chaplain job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a chaplain do?
Employers post these jobs as Hospice Chaplain, Associate Chaplain, Chaplain PRN, Staff Chaplain, Spiritual Care Coordinator and other titles. The largest specializations are Clinical Ethicist (under 1%).
The closest official occupation is Clergy (21-2011.00). Its most important tasks:
- Pray and promote spirituality.
- Prepare and deliver sermons or other talks.
- Read from sacred texts, such as the Bible, Torah, or Koran.
- Organize and lead regular religious services.
- Instruct people who seek conversion to a particular faith.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a chaplain?
Among 341 postings that state a minimum, the median is 2 years. 3% say 0 years and 47% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 341 US chaplain job postings: median 2 years, and 47% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 3% |
| 1 yr | 43% |
| 2 yrs | 23% |
| 3-4 yrs | 16% |
| 5-7 yrs | 13% |
| 8-9 yrs | 0% |
| 10+ yrs | under 1% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Other names for a chaplain: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Chaplain | 207 (57.3%) |
| Hospice Chaplain | 56 (15.5%) |
| Associate Chaplain | 14 (3.9%) |
| Chaplain PRN | 12 (3.3%) |
| Staff Chaplain | 9 (2.5%) |
| Spiritual Care Coordinator | 8 (2.2%) |
| Chaplain I | 8 (2.2%) |
| Spiritual Counselor | 7 (1.9%) |
| Hospice Chaplain PRN | 6 (1.7%) |
| Chaplain Resident | 5 (1.4%) |
| RN Case Manager | 4 (1.1%) |
| Clinical Pastoral Education Resident | 4 (1.1%) |
| Chaplain Associate | 4 (1.1%) |
| Spiritual Care Counselor | 4 (1.1%) |
| Hospital Chaplain | 4 (1.1%) |
| Chaplain -Hospice - PRN | 3 (0.8%) |
| Clinical Chaplain | 3 (0.8%) |
| Chaplain (Hospice) | 3 (0.8%) |
| Per Diem Hospice Chaplain | 3 (0.8%) |
| Priest Chaplain | 3 (0.8%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Chaplain compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chaplain | – | 2 years | 1,160 | – |
| Mental Health Counselor | $73K | 2 years | 14,686 | 13 |
| Social Worker | $78K | 2 years | 7,930 | 15 |
| Mental Health Technician | $20.66/hr | 1 year | 5,443 | 14 |
| Dietitian | $39.00/hr | 1 year | 4,206 | 13 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Mental Health Counselor | 13 | $73K |
| Social Worker | 15 | $78K |
| Mental Health Technician | 14 | $20.66/hr |
| Dietitian | 13 | $39.00/hr |
| School Counselor | 13 | – |
| Psychologist | 12 | $125K |
Applying for chaplain jobs?
- Chaplain resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find chaplain jobs: search open postings
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 19 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 17 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.