Art Directors in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,568
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$14,982
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,767
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
$72,550
Kept after tax
$57,568
Worth in national money
$56,767
State rank
40
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Rhode Island is among the lower-paying states for art directors. The middle earner takes $72,550, ranking 40 of 46 states — about 36.83% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Rhode Island, this sits in the middle: 190 of 452 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $72,550 the take-home is $57,568, which is worth about $56,767 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $95,580, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Rhode Island ranks 40 of 46 for art directors, with a median of $72,550 — about 36.83% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Art directors ranks 190 of 452 occupations in Rhode Island by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Rhode Island's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for art directors on its $72,550 median: $57,568 retained after tax becomes $56,767 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $95,580 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Art Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $72,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $194,000 |
| This salary | $72,550 |
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 | $57,568 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $59,869 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,843 |
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 | $69,280 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,610 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Rhode Island earn less than $72,550. The published range is $56,730 up to $194,000, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $57,568 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $72,550. 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 190 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $56,767 uses one figure for the whole of Rhode Island. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 452 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 190.
- Reported values are medians; for art directors in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $56,730 to $194,000. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $57,568, from $72,550, 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 190 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 46 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $56,767, worked from $72,550, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Rhode Island address, on work sitting at 190 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $95,580, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $56,730, the highest tenth $194,000, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Rhode Island run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $56,767 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $57,568.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $95,580. 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 ($56,730) and the ninetieth ($194,000) 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 $56,767 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 $57,568 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.