Advertising Sales Agents in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,399
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$8,641
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,850
Rhode Island costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Rhode Island — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$48,040
Kept after tax
$39,399
Worth in national money
$38,850
State rank
41
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for advertising sales agents is on the low side in Rhode Island. The middle earner gets $48,040. That is 41 of 48 states, and about 25.89% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Advertising sales agents ranks 330 among 452 occupations Rhode Island publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Rhode Island costs about what the country costs, so from $48,040, take-home of $39,399 is worth roughly $38,850 in national money. The average comes to $64,380, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For advertising sales agents, Rhode Island sits in the lower band at $48,040, ranking 41 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 25.89%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 330 of 452 in Rhode Island places advertising sales agents in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Price parity in Rhode Island is near the national base, so for advertising sales agents, whose median is $48,040, the adjusted figure of $38,850 differs little from $39,399 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $64,380 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Advertising Sales Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,550 |
| This salary | $48,040 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Rhode Island | $39,399 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,780 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,116 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $46,321 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,768 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of advertising sales agents in Rhode Island earn under $48,040 and half over. The published range runs $39,470 at the tenth percentile to $104,550 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $39,399 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $48,040. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 330 of 452.
- One number stands for prices across all of Rhode Island, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $38,850, the adjusted value of that $48,040 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 330 of 452 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for advertising sales agents in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,470 to $104,550; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $39,399, from $48,040, assumes a single Rhode Island filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 330 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $38,850 — the adjusted value of that $48,040 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 330 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $64,380 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $39,470 and the top tenth $104,550 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Rhode Island costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $38,850 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Rhode Island then takes its own share, leaving $39,399.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Rhode Island is $64,380. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($39,470) and the ninetieth ($104,550) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Rhode Island's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $38,850 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $39,399 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Rhode Island income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.