Diagnostic Medical Sonographers in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$71,068
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$21,752
23.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,079
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
$92,820
Kept after tax
$71,068
Worth in national money
$70,079
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Rhode Island pays this job around $92,820 at the midpoint, 29 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Within Rhode Island this is well-paid work. Of 452 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 108 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $92,820, tax leaves $71,068, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $70,079 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $98,390, since top earners drag the number up.
- For diagnostic medical sonographers the Rhode Island median is $92,820, ranking 29 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Ranked against every occupation Rhode Island publishes a median for, diagnostic medical sonographers sits 108 of 452 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Because Rhode Island sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for diagnostic medical sonographers — median $92,820 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $71,068 retained, $70,079 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $98,390 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Diagnostic Medical Sonographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $83,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $92,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $129,690 |
| This salary | $92,820 |
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 | $71,068 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $74,129 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,205 |
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 | $88,469 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,571 |
| 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 diagnostic medical sonographers in Rhode Island earn under $92,820 and half over. The published range runs $83,690 at the tenth percentile to $129,690 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Rhode Island the take-home figure of $71,068, from $92,820, 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 108 of 452 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Rhode Island, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $70,079, the adjusted value of that $92,820 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 108 of 452 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for diagnostic medical sonographers in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $83,690 to $129,690; 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.
- Take-home for Rhode Island is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $71,068 from $92,820. 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 108 of 452 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $70,079 — the adjusted value of that $92,820 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 108 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 $98,390, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $83,690 and the top tenth $129,690, so most people doing this work in Rhode Island sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $70,079 of national purchasing power.
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 $71,068 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $98,390. 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 ($83,690 to $129,690) 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 $70,079 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 $71,068 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.