Cashiers in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,303
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$5,557
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,895
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
$34,860
Kept after tax
$29,303
Worth in national money
$28,895
State rank
13
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Rhode Island pays cashiers a middle wage of $34,860, ranking 13 of 51 states and sitting about 6.02% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Rhode Island, this one sits low: 437 of 452 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $34,860, tax leaves $29,303, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $28,895 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $36,640, since top earners drag the number up.
- Rhode Island's median for cashiers is $34,860, about 6.02% above the national figure and 13 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Cashiers occupies position 437 of 452 in Rhode Island's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Rhode Island sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for cashiers — median $34,860 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $29,303 retained, $28,895 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $36,640 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Cashiers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,420 |
| This salary | $34,860 |
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 | $29,303 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,190 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,173 |
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 | $33,756 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,628 |
| 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 $34,860. The published range is $31,200 up to $47,420, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $29,303 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $34,860. 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 437 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 $28,895, the adjusted value of that $34,860 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 437 of 452 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for cashiers in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,200 to $47,420. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $29,303, from $34,860, 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 437 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $28,895 — the adjusted value of that $34,860 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 437 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 $36,640, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,200 at the bottom tenth to $47,420 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $28,895 — 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, $29,303 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $36,640. 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 ($31,200 to $47,420) 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 $28,895 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 $29,303 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.