Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$77,291
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$25,009
24.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$76,215
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
$102,300
Kept after tax
$77,291
Worth in national money
$76,215
State rank
5
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Rhode Island pays this job a middle wage of $102,300, ranking 5 of 49 states and sitting about 20.89% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Rhode Island. It ranks 71 out of 452 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $102,300 the take-home is $77,291, which is worth about $76,215 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $105,470, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Rhode Island's median for biological science teachers, postsecondary is $102,300, about 20.89% above the national figure and 5 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Rhode Island, biological science teachers, postsecondary ranks 71 of 452 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Rhode Island's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for biological science teachers, postsecondary on its $102,300 median: $77,291 retained after tax becomes $76,215 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $105,470 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $102,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $166,050 |
| This salary | $102,300 |
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 | $77,291 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,798 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,932 |
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 | $97,315 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,575 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $102,300 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $60,950 and the ninetieth is $166,050 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $77,291 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $102,300. 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 71 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $76,215 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 71.
- The Rhode Island median of $102,300 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $60,950 to $166,050. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $77,291, from $102,300, 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 71 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 5 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $76,215, worked from $102,300, 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 71 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 $105,470 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 $60,950 and the top tenth $166,050 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $76,215 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Rhode Island's own levy, $77,291 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 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 $105,470. 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 ($60,950) and the ninetieth ($166,050) 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 $76,215 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 $77,291 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.