This occupation -- which is separate from clergy -- includes workers for religious organizations and schools. Directors of education programs, marital counselors and choir directors are some of the jobs included in this category.
It's a small field, with only about 33,000 full-time workers.
Among them, women earned a median $41,000 in 2011, about 91 cents to their male counterparts.
Measuring the pay gap for this profession can be a bit tricky though. That's because income can sometimes be shared across a family. In the case of a missionary family that receives a church stipend, for example, there would be no discrepancy between a husband and a wife's reported income.
Also, many religious workers have to raise their own salaries by soliciting contributions, and in those cases, contributions have nothing to do with the gender of the worker.
