Industry group, 8131
Religious Organizations
204,160 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $60,540 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 90 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 45%
- 20%
- 35%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 17% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 20%. Today's estimate: 24%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 88% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clergy | 24,750 | 25% | 13 million | $59K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 14,570 | 43% | 13 million | $44K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 5,610 | 78% | 9.1 million | $48K |
| Office Clerks, General | 7,080 | 54% | 8 million | $39K |
| Receptionists and Information Clerks | 2,860 | 59% | 3.5 million | $35K |
| Self-Enrichment Teachers | 2,840 | 54% | 3.2 million | $59K |
| Directors, Religious Activities and Education | 17,220 | 9% | 3.1 million | $51K |
| General and Operations Managers | 5,210 | 23% | 2.5 million | $88K |
| Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education | 9,020 | 13% | 2.5 million | $46K |
| Childcare Workers | 7,000 | 14% | 2 million | $35K |
| Musicians and Singers | 7,640 | 10% | 1.7 million | $59K |
| Social and Human Service Assistants | 1,710 | 44% | 1.6 million | $42K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 126 smaller jobs (22,360 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 90% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Study and interpret religious laws, doctrines, or traditions.Clergy5.2 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Devise ways in which congregational membership can be expanded.Clergy5 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Prepare and deliver sermons or other talks.Clergy4.9 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Share information about religious issues by writing articles, giving speeches, or teaching.Clergy4.1 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Coordinate conferences, meetings, or special events, such as luncheons or graduation ceremonies.Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive3.2 million hours53% of the task within reach
- Use computers for various applications, such as database management or word processing.Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive2.9 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Set up and manage paper or electronic filing systems, recording information, updating paperwork, or maintaining documents, such as attendance records, correspondence, or other material.Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive2.3 million hours70% of the task within reach
- Implement program plans by ordering needed materials, scheduling speakers, reserving space, or handling other administrative details.Directors, Religious Activities and Education2.2 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Analyze member participation or changes in congregational emphasis to determine needs for religious education.Directors, Religious Activities and Education2.1 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Pray and promote spirituality.Clergy2.1 million hours100% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
Next to this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works