Fast Food and Counter Workers in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,721
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$4,769
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,349
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
$31,490
Kept after tax
$26,721
Worth in national money
$26,349
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Rhode Island pays fast food and counter workers around $31,490 at the midpoint, 19 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 452 occupations Rhode Island publishes, fast food and counter workers lands at 446. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Rhode Island costs about what the country costs, so from $31,490, take-home of $26,721 is worth roughly $26,349 in national money. The average comes to $34,040, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For fast food and counter workers the Rhode Island median is $31,490, ranking 19 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.
- Within Rhode Island, this work ranks 446 of 452 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Price parity in Rhode Island is near the national base, so for fast food and counter workers, whose median is $31,490, the adjusted figure of $26,349 differs little from $26,721 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $34,040 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Fast Food and Counter Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $36,540 |
| This salary | $31,490 |
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 | $26,721 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,482 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,932 |
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 | $30,543 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,336 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Rhode Island earn less than $31,490. The published range is $31,200 up to $36,540, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $26,721 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $31,490. 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 446 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 $26,349, the adjusted value of that $31,490 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 446 of 452 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for fast food and counter workers in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,200 to $36,540. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $26,721, from $31,490, 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 446 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $26,349 — the adjusted value of that $31,490 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 446 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 $34,040, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,200 and the top tenth $36,540, 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 $26,349 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, $26,721 remains.
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 $34,040. 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 ($31,200 to $36,540) 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 $26,349 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 $26,721 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.