Highway Maintenance Workers in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,990
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$10,960
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,335
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
$57,950
Kept after tax
$46,990
Worth in national money
$46,335
State rank
13
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Rhode Island pays highway maintenance workers a middle wage of $57,950, ranking 13 of 49 states and sitting about 15.3% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Highway maintenance workers ranks 272 among 452 occupations Rhode Island publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $57,950 the take-home is $46,990, which is worth about $46,335 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $56,390, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Rhode Island's median for highway maintenance workers is $57,950, about 15.3% above the national figure and 13 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 272 of 452 in Rhode Island places highway maintenance workers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Rhode Island's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for highway maintenance workers on its $57,950 median: $46,990 retained after tax becomes $46,335 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $56,390 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Highway Maintenance Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,480 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,910 |
| This salary | $57,950 |
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 | $46,990 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,743 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,824 |
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 | $55,768 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,625 |
| 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 highway maintenance workers in Rhode Island earn under $57,950 and half over. The published range runs $46,480 at the tenth percentile to $63,910 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $46,990 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $57,950. 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 272 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $46,335 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 272.
- Figures are distribution medians for highway maintenance workers in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,480 to $63,910; 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 $46,990, from $57,950, 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 272 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $46,335, worked from $57,950, 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 272 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $46,480 at the bottom tenth to $63,910 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $46,335 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 $46,990.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($46,480 to $63,910) 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 $46,335 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 $46,990 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.