Dental Hygienists in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$67,132
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$19,778
22.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,197
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
$86,910
Kept after tax
$67,132
Worth in national money
$66,197
State rank
38
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for dental hygienists is on the low side in Rhode Island. The middle earner gets $86,910. That is 38 of 50 states, and about 11.41% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Rhode Island, this sits in the middle: 123 of 452 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $86,910, tax leaves $67,132, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $66,197 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $88,660, since top earners drag the number up.
- For dental hygienists, Rhode Island sits in the lower band at $86,910, ranking 38 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 11.41%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Dental hygienists ranks 123 of 452 occupations in Rhode Island by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Because Rhode Island sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for dental hygienists — median $86,910 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $67,132 retained, $66,197 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $88,660 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Dental Hygienists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $83,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $86,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $100,520 |
| This salary | $86,910 |
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 | $67,132 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,971 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,808 |
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 | $82,874 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,023 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $86,910 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $83,800 and the ninetieth is $100,520 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $67,132 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $86,910. 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 123 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $66,197 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 123.
- The Rhode Island median of $86,910 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $83,800 to $100,520. 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 $67,132, from $86,910, 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 123 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $66,197, worked from $86,910, 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 123 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $83,800 at the bottom tenth to $100,520 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $66,197 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, $67,132 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 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($83,800 to $100,520) 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 $66,197 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 $67,132 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.