Where the middle 50% lands.
Half earn between $49k and $151k. That band is the interquartile range. The 90th percentile sits at $241k, roughly 2.7 times the median. That upper tail is where the largest organizations cluster.
| Percentile | Total comp | Means |
|---|---|---|
| 90th | $241,292 | Top 10% of earners |
| 75th | $151,012 | 25% earn more than this |
| 50th · median | $89,744 | The typical executive |
| 25th | $49,000 | 25% earn less than this |
| 10th | $20,929 | 10% of executives earn less than this |
How the package is built.
The typical pay structure across 4,695 organizations with full Schedule J reporting (25% of the 18,696 orgs in this slice). Each share is the average across orgs of the fraction of total comp that goes to this component, so the bar fills 100%.
The number in context.
Every row links to its own dedicated benchmark page.
All figures are median total reported compensation · IRS Form 990, Schedule J
Pay varies by state.
District of Columbia pays $47,722 more than the median Executive Director compensation in human services nationally.
The ten highest-paid human services Executive Directors by filing.
| # | Organization | Location | Total compensation | Filing year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Scan Group | Long Beach, CA | $5,866,440 | 2024 |
| 02 | Allied Health Care Services | Clarks Summit, PA | $3,340,050 | 2023 |
| 03 | Mather | Evanston, IL | $2,531,605 | 2023 |
| 04 | Community Options Inc | Princeton, NJ | $2,420,283 | 2023 |
| 05 | Young Men'S Christian Association Of Greater New York | New York, NY | $2,132,309 | 2024 |
| 06 | National Youth Advocate Program Inc | Columbus, OH | $1,915,057 | 2024 |
| 07 | Eskaton Properties Inc | Carmichael, CA | $1,857,341 | 2023 |
| 08 | Samaritan Health Services | Corvallis, OR | $1,623,482 | 2023 |
| 09 | Immanuel Caring Ministries Inc | Peoria, AZ | $1,606,252 | 2023 |
| 10 | Humangood Socal | Duarte, CA | $1,566,593 | 2024 |
Total includes base, bonus, other reportable, and deferred/retirement compensation per Schedule J.
What does a $X org pay?
Adjust the slider to your organization's revenue. The median Executive Director compensation for human services nonprofits in that revenue band updates live.
{sector} {role} pay, answered
- How much does a Human Services nonprofit Executive Director make?
- The median total compensation for a Executive Director at a human services nonprofit is $89,744, based on 18,696 organizations in IRS Form 990 filings. The middle 50% fall between $49,000 and $151,012.
- What is the salary range for a Executive Director in Human Services nonprofits?
- Pay ranges from $49,000 at the 25th percentile to $151,012 at the 75th and $241,292 at the 90th. The spread reflects differences in organization size, budget, and region within the sector.
- Is this Human Services compensation data reliable?
- Yes. It comes from IRS Form 990 filings, legal documents filed under penalty of perjury, not self-reported surveys. Figures cover 18,696 human services nonprofits reporting a Executive Director.
- Why does Human Services nonprofit Executive Director pay differ from other sectors?
- Compensation reflects the typical organization size, revenue, and operating complexity of each sector. Larger, better-funded human services organizations pull the upper percentiles higher, while smaller ones anchor the lower end.