Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,739
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$9,051
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,172
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
$49,790
Kept after tax
$40,739
Worth in national money
$40,172
State rank
36
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Rhode Island. The middle earner gets $49,790. That is 36 of 46 states, and about 33.6% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 315 among 452 occupations Rhode Island publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $49,790, tax leaves $40,739, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $40,172 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $55,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- For camera operators, television, video, and film, Rhode Island sits in the lower band at $49,790, ranking 36 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 33.6%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 315 of 452 in Rhode Island places camera operators, television, video, and film 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.
- Because Rhode Island sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for camera operators, television, video, and film — median $49,790 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $40,739 retained, $40,172 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $55,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,500 |
| This salary | $49,790 |
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 | $40,739 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,186 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,241 |
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 | $47,989 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,919 |
| 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 $49,790. The published range is $42,290 up to $76,500, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Rhode Island's $40,739, worked from $49,790. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 315 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $40,172 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 315.
- Reported values are medians; for camera operators, television, video, and film in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $42,290 to $76,500. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Rhode Island take-home of $40,739, on $49,790 for work ranking 315 of 452 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 315 of 452 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $40,172, worked from $49,790, 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 315 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $55,880, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $42,290 and the top tenth $76,500, so most people doing this work in Rhode Island sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $40,172 rather than its face figure.
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, $40,739 remains.
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 46 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 $55,880. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($42,290 to $76,500) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Rhode Island rather than a national figure.
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 $40,172 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 $40,739 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.