Counter and Rental Clerks in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,112
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$8,248
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,581
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
$46,360
Kept after tax
$38,112
Worth in national money
$37,581
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Rhode Island is one of the better-paying states for counter and rental clerks. The middle earner takes $46,360, which ranks 7 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 12.25% above the national middle.
- Against 452 occupations Rhode Island publishes, counter and rental clerks lands at 350. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $46,360, tax leaves $38,112, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $37,581 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $48,440, since top earners drag the number up.
- Rhode Island ranks 7 of 51 states publishing a median for counter and rental clerks, at $46,360 — about 12.25% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Rhode Island, this work ranks 350 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 counter and rental clerks — median $46,360 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $38,112 retained, $37,581 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $48,440 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Counter and Rental Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,900 |
| This salary | $46,360 |
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 | $38,112 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,430 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,995 |
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 | $44,719 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,623 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of counter and rental clerks in Rhode Island earn under $46,360 and half over. The published range runs $35,270 at the tenth percentile to $64,900 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Rhode Island's $38,112, worked from $46,360. 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 350 of 452.
- Two cautions on $37,581, the adjusted value of that $46,360 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 350 of 452 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for counter and rental clerks in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,270 to $64,900; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Rhode Island take-home of $38,112, on $46,360 for work ranking 350 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 350 of 452 in the state.
- This $37,581 adjusted figure, worked from $46,360, 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 350 of 452 in the state. The occupation ranks 350 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 $48,440 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $35,270 at the tenth percentile, $64,900 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 $37,581 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Rhode Island then takes its own share, leaving $38,112.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $48,440. 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 ($35,270 to $64,900) 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 $37,581 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 $38,112 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.