Childcare Workers in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,896
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$6,044
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,466
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
$36,940
Kept after tax
$30,896
Worth in national money
$30,466
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Rhode Island pays childcare workers a middle wage of $36,940, ranking 11 of 51 states and sitting about 5.6% above the national middle.
- Against 452 occupations Rhode Island publishes, childcare workers lands at 416. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $36,940, tax leaves $30,896, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $30,466 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $36,530.
- Rhode Island's median for childcare workers is $36,940, about 5.6% above the national figure and 11 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.
- Within Rhode Island, this work ranks 416 of 452 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Rhode Island sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for childcare workers — median $36,940 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $30,896 retained, $30,466 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $36,530 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Childcare Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,140 |
| This salary | $36,940 |
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 | $30,896 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,861 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,322 |
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 | $35,739 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,808 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,940 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,410 and the ninetieth is $45,140 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $30,896 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $36,940. 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 416 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 $30,466, the adjusted value of that $36,940 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 416 of 452 in the state.
- The Rhode Island median of $36,940 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,410 to $45,140. 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 $30,896, from $36,940, 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 416 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $30,466 — the adjusted value of that $36,940 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 416 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,410 at the tenth percentile, $45,140 at the ninetieth.
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 $30,466 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, $30,896 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,410 to $45,140) 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 $30,466 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 $30,896 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.