Education Administrators, Postsecondary in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$80,060
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$26,460
24.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$78,945
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
$106,520
Kept after tax
$80,060
Worth in national money
$78,945
State rank
21
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Rhode Island is 21 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $106,520. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Rhode Island this is well-paid work. Of 452 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 48 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $106,520 the take-home is $80,060, which is worth about $78,945 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $133,990, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Rhode Island ranks 21 of 51 for education administrators, postsecondary at $106,520. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Ranked against every occupation Rhode Island publishes a median for, education administrators, postsecondary sits 48 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.
- Rhode Island's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for education administrators, postsecondary on its $106,520 median: $80,060 retained after tax becomes $78,945 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $133,990 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $75,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $106,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $216,270 |
| This salary | $106,520 |
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 | $80,060 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $83,767 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,257 |
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 | $101,250 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,024 |
| 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 education administrators, postsecondary in Rhode Island earn under $106,520 and half over. The published range runs $75,370 at the tenth percentile to $216,270 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $80,060 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $106,520. 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 48 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $78,945 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 48.
- Figures are distribution medians for education administrators, postsecondary in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $75,370 to $216,270; 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.
- Retained pay of $80,060, from $106,520, 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 48 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 21 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $78,945, worked from $106,520, 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 48 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 $133,990, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $75,370 and the top tenth $216,270 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Rhode Island run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $78,945 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $80,060 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 $133,990. 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 ($75,370) and the ninetieth ($216,270) 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 $78,945 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 $80,060 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.