Commercial Pilots in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,008
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$23,812
24.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,964
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
$98,820
Kept after tax
$75,008
Worth in national money
$73,964
State rank
43
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Rhode Island pays commercial pilots a middle wage of $98,820, 43 of 48 states and about 19.8% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 452 occupations Rhode Island reports, commercial pilots comes in at 89 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $98,820 the take-home is $75,008, which is worth about $73,964 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $131,970, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Rhode Island's $98,820 median for commercial pilots places it 43 of 48 states, about 19.8% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Commercial pilots ranks 89 of 452 occupations by median in Rhode Island, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Rhode Island's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for commercial pilots on its $98,820 median: $75,008 retained after tax becomes $73,964 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $131,970 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Commercial Pilots
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $98,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $273,060 |
| This salary | $98,820 |
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 | $75,008 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $78,350 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,664 |
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 | $94,070 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,204 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $98,820 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $51,360 and the ninetieth is $273,060 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Rhode Island the take-home figure of $75,008, from $98,820, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 89 of 452 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $73,964, the adjusted value of that $98,820 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Rhode Island. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 89 of 452 locally.
- The Rhode Island median of $98,820 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $51,360 to $273,060. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Rhode Island is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $75,008 from $98,820. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 89 of 452 locally.
- This $73,964 adjusted figure, worked from $98,820, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 89 of 452 in the state. The occupation ranks 89 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 $131,970, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $51,360 at the bottom tenth to $273,060 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $73,964 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Rhode Island adds its own income tax on top — which is why $75,008 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 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 $131,970. 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 ($51,360) and the ninetieth ($273,060) 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 $73,964 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 $75,008 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.