U.S. Nonprofit Executive Director Salary by State:
2024 Benchmarks
Nonprofit Executive Director salaries vary significantly by state — from a median of $168,974 in Washington D.C. to $65,900 in Arkansas. Based on IRS Form 990 data across 36 states, here is what nonprofit Executive Directors actually earn by location.
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Highest Median (DC)
$168,974
Lowest Median (AR)
$65,900
California Median
$103,994
States with Data
36 states
Data covers nonprofit Executive Directors only. For CEO benchmarks, see the Nonprofit CEO Salary by State insight. All data from IRS Form 990 filings, tax year 2024.
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Nonprofit Executive Director Salary by State
Median, 25th, and 75th percentile total compensation for nonprofit Executive Directors by state. One record per organization (highest-compensated ED). States with fewer than 50 records excluded. Sourced from IRS Form 990 Part VII, tax year 2024.
| State | Median | 25th Pctl | 75th Pctl | # Orgs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington D.C. | $168,974 | $104,581 | $252,075 | 1,226 |
| Massachusetts | $113,700 | $69,134 | $167,434 | 1,615 |
| New York | $110,309 | $63,880 | $188,069 | 4,165 |
| California | $103,994 | $60,000 | $164,123 | 4,970 |
| New Jersey | $103,998 | $58,120 | $159,534 | 1,107 |
| Connecticut | $99,162 | $60,000 | $153,475 | 649 |
| Washington | $95,004 | $61,111 | $140,059 | 2,027 |
| Virginia | $91,270 | $52,897 | $152,717 | 1,577 |
| Illinois | $91,660 | $54,000 | $147,494 | 2,041 |
| Maryland | $93,310 | $53,838 | $154,700 | 1,089 |
| Colorado | $88,166 | $53,591 | $129,310 | 1,872 |
| Minnesota | $85,792 | $51,195 | $128,637 | 1,759 |
| Nebraska | $85,000 | $52,854 | $131,292 | 491 |
| Oregon | $84,430 | $52,090 | $134,251 | 1,332 |
| Missouri | $83,935 | $51,240 | $127,895 | 1,079 |
| Wisconsin | $82,553 | $53,607 | $119,455 | 1,480 |
| Arizona | $82,149 | $50,000 | $125,569 | 659 |
| Pennsylvania | $81,873 | $49,026 | $125,638 | 2,353 |
| Florida | $81,771 | $47,145 | $125,131 | 1,802 |
| Louisiana | $81,317 | $49,184 | $130,000 | 606 |
| Georgia | $80,655 | $46,150 | $130,150 | 1,368 |
| Texas | $80,208 | $45,119 | $127,279 | 3,083 |
| Utah | $79,809 | $38,708 | $128,680 | 402 |
| Ohio | $78,157 | $45,000 | $123,012 | 2,209 |
| Iowa | $74,512 | $51,549 | $121,292 | 611 |
| Kansas | $73,978 | $47,881 | $111,172 | 679 |
| Michigan | $73,948 | $43,001 | $117,704 | 1,466 |
| Kentucky | $73,666 | $47,336 | $117,694 | 575 |
| Tennessee | $73,563 | $44,894 | $113,461 | 1,096 |
| Oklahoma | $73,472 | $43,744 | $112,009 | 520 |
| Montana | $72,717 | $44,561 | $101,770 | 566 |
| North Carolina | $72,640 | $40,364 | $107,670 | 1,946 |
| Indiana | $72,923 | $44,449 | $107,229 | 1,377 |
| South Carolina | $72,000 | $43,650 | $107,571 | 727 |
| Alabama | $71,959 | $41,572 | $111,467 | 608 |
| Arkansas | $65,900 | $41,924 | $111,612 | 399 |
| Total | 51,531 |
Source: IRS Form 990 electronically filed returns, Tax year 2024. States with 50+ Executive Director records shown.. 36 categories shown.
Get more data →Why Nonprofit Executive Director Salaries Vary by State
Geography, org size, and sector mix all drive significant pay differences.
Nonprofit Executive Director salaries reflect the local labor market, cost of living, and the types of organizations active in each state. D.C.'s high median is driven by large national advocacy organizations; Arkansas's lower median reflects a higher proportion of small community-based nonprofits.
Organization Size
Executive Directors typically lead smaller organizations than CEOs. States with more mid-size nonprofits (NY, MA, CA) show higher ED medians than states dominated by very small community orgs.
Cost of Living
Northeast and West Coast states push compensation upward. California's ED median of $103,994 reflects both cost of living and a large base of well-funded community organizations.
Sector Mix
States with concentrations of healthcare, education, and advocacy nonprofits (DC, MA, MN) show higher ED compensation than states where human services and faith-based organizations dominate.
Funding Sources
Government-grant-heavy states tend to have more standardized, lower ED pay scales. Philanthropy-rich states (NY, MA, CA) support higher compensation through private foundation funding.
California is an Exception
Despite its high cost of living, California's ED median of $103,994 ranks 4th nationally — not 1st. This reflects the enormous number of very small nonprofits in the state pulling the median down. California has nearly 5,000 ED records, the largest dataset of any state.
How to Use This Data for Compensation Decisions
State benchmarks are a starting point, not a final answer.
IRS Section 4958 requires nonprofit boards to establish executive compensation using 'comparability data' — and geography is a required dimension of that comparison. State-level benchmarks from Form 990 data satisfy this requirement when combined with budget size and sector filters.
Start with your state
Use the median and interquartile range for your state as your baseline range.
Filter by budget size
An ED at a $500K nonprofit should benchmark against similar-sized organizations, not the full state median.
Consider your sector
Human services and community orgs trend lower; healthcare, advocacy, and education orgs trend higher.
Document everything
Boards need a written record of the comparability data used. Form 990-based state benchmarks with percentile ranges provide a defensible foundation.
Safe Harbor Protection
The IRS safe harbor under Reg. 53.4958-6 protects boards that use a qualified independent body, obtain appropriate comparability data, and document their process. State-level 990 benchmarks are explicitly recognized as valid comparability data.
How This Data Is Calculated
Transparency in methodology builds trust.
Sample Size
36 states, 50,000+ organizations
Data Source
IRS Form 990 electronically filed returns
Period
Tax year 2024
One record per organization (highest-compensated ED) with normalized_title = 'Executive Director' and total_compensation > 0. States with 50+ records included. Values are total compensation (reportable comp from org + other compensation). Stored in cents, divided by 100 for display.
Title Normalization
Raw titles from Form 990 Part VII (e.g., 'Exec. Dir.', 'Executive Dir', 'Exec Director') are standardized to 'Executive Director' during data processing.
One Record Per Organization
Where an organization reports multiple Executive Director records (e.g., co-EDs or mid-year transitions), we use the highest-compensated individual. This deduplication ensures each organization is counted once and prevents double-counting from inflating state medians.
Compensation Metric
Total compensation includes reportable compensation from the organization plus other compensation (benefits, deferred comp, nontaxable fringe). This matches what the IRS evaluates under Section 4958 and what boards need for comparability purposes.
State Assignment
State is assigned based on the organization's primary address as reported on the 990. Organizations may have programs in multiple states but are counted in their filing state.
Minimum Sample Threshold
States with fewer than 50 Executive Director records are excluded to ensure percentile statistics are statistically meaningful.
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