Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,686
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$8,424
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,148
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
$47,110
Kept after tax
$38,686
Worth in national money
$38,148
State rank
40
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Rhode Island pays drywall and ceiling tile installers a middle wage of $47,110, 40 of 49 states and about 20.06% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Rhode Island this is lower-paid work. Of 452 occupations the state publishes figures for, drywall and ceiling tile installers ranks 340. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Rhode Island costs about what the country costs, so from $47,110, take-home of $38,686 is worth roughly $38,148 in national money. The average comes to $57,360, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Rhode Island's $47,110 median for drywall and ceiling tile installers places it 40 of 49 states, about 20.06% 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.
- Against every occupation Rhode Island reports, drywall and ceiling tile installers ranks 340 of 452, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Rhode Island is near the national base, so for drywall and ceiling tile installers, whose median is $47,110, the adjusted figure of $38,148 differs little from $38,686 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $57,360 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,510 |
| This salary | $47,110 |
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 | $38,686 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,033 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,049 |
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 | $45,434 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,688 |
| 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 drywall and ceiling tile installers in Rhode Island earn under $47,110 and half over. The published range runs $38,090 at the tenth percentile to $79,510 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 $38,686, worked from $47,110. 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 340 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 $38,148, the adjusted value of that $47,110 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 340 of 452 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for drywall and ceiling tile installers in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,090 to $79,510; 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 $38,686, on $47,110 for work ranking 340 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 340 of 452 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $38,148 — the adjusted value of that $47,110 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 340 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $57,360, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $38,090 and the top tenth $79,510 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $38,148 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 $38,686.
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 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $57,360. 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 ($38,090) and the ninetieth ($79,510) 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 $38,148 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 $38,686 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.