Environmental Engineers in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,530
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$24,610
24.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$75,465
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
$101,140
Kept after tax
$76,530
Worth in national money
$75,465
State rank
28
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Rhode Island sits in the middle of the pack for environmental engineers. The median is $101,140, ranking 28 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Within Rhode Island this is well-paid work. Of 452 occupations with published figures in the state, environmental engineers ranks 78 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $101,140 the take-home is $76,530, which is worth about $75,465 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $105,720, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Rhode Island occupies the middle band for environmental engineers: a median of $101,140, ranking 28 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Ranked against every occupation Rhode Island publishes a median for, environmental engineers sits 78 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 environmental engineers on its $101,140 median: $76,530 retained after tax becomes $75,465 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $105,720 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Environmental Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $83,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $135,800 |
| This salary | $101,140 |
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 | $76,530 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,982 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,842 |
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 | $96,234 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,451 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $101,140 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $83,980 and the ninetieth is $135,800 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Rhode Island's $76,530, worked from $101,140. 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 78 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $75,465 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 78.
- The Rhode Island median of $101,140 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $83,980 to $135,800. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Rhode Island take-home of $76,530, on $101,140 for work ranking 78 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 78 of 452 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $75,465, worked from $101,140, 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 78 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 $105,720, 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 $83,980 and the top tenth $135,800, 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?
The number and the value are different things. Rhode Island costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $75,465 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, $76,530 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $105,720. 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 ($83,980 to $135,800) 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 $75,465 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 $76,530 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.