Nonprofit CEO / Executive Director Salary in the Human Services Sector
See how CEO / Executive Director pay compares across Human Services nonprofits — by budget size. Built from IRS Form 990 filings across 186,890 nonprofits.
CEO / Executive Director pay in Human Services
In Human Services, a CEO / Executive Director at a $1M – $5M nonprofit is paid a median of $127,934. Pay tracks organization size closely: the median is $60,600 at Under $500K organizations and $199,440 at $5M+ ones. Figures are medians of what organizations reported on their IRS Form 990 filings — half of comparable leaders are paid less, half more.
| Annual budget | Median pay | Filings |
|---|---|---|
| Under $500K | $60,600 | 2,493 |
| $1M – $5M | $127,934 | 2,372 |
| $5M+ | $199,440 | 1,641 |
Source: IRS Form 990 Part VII, as filed. Kindora does not audit, verify, or certify any figure.
How Human Services compares
A CEO / Executive Director in Human Services is paid a median of $127,934 at $1M – $5M organizations, which ranks 4 of 8 we publish for this role and budget size.
| Rank | Place | Median pay | Filings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Education | $138,979 | 2,155 |
| 3 | Religion-Related | $132,803 | 315 |
| 4 | Human Services | $127,934 | 2,372 |
| 5 | Community Improvement | $121,555 | 914 |
| 6 | Arts, Culture & Humanities | $110,106 | 1,899 |
Other roles in Human Services
Median pay for other leadership positions in Human Services, from the same IRS Form 990 filings.
Every number here summarizes what nonprofits reported on their public IRS Form 990 filings. Filings can contain errors and we don't certify any figure — for a decision that matters, check the organization's actual 990. How we build these benchmarks →
What you get
Free, interactive nonprofit pay benchmarks from public IRS filings.
Built from the public IRS Form 990 Part VII filings as the IRS publishes them.
How we built these benchmarks
- Source: IRS Form 990 Part VII filings (the public disclosure of nonprofit officer pay).
- Positions classified by an AI model into 14 standard nonprofit leadership roles.
- Peer cells require at least 5 filings; smaller samples are suppressed.
- Latest data: September 2026.
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