Human Resources Specialists in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,905
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$16,655
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,057
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
$77,560
Kept after tax
$60,905
Worth in national money
$60,057
State rank
15
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Rhode Island pays human resources specialists a middle wage of $77,560, ranking 15 of 51 states and sitting about 2.13% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Human resources specialists ranks 166 among 452 occupations Rhode Island publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $77,560, tax leaves $60,905, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $60,057 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $82,250, since top earners drag the number up.
- Rhode Island's median for human resources specialists is $77,560, about 2.13% above the national figure and 15 of 51 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 166 of 452 in Rhode Island places human resources specialists 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.
- Because Rhode Island sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for human resources specialists — median $77,560 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $60,905 retained, $60,057 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $82,250 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Human Resources Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,560 |
| Top tenth earn over | $128,250 |
| This salary | $77,560 |
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 | $60,905 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,393 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,179 |
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 | $74,023 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,154 |
| 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 $77,560. The published range is $51,270 up to $128,250, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Rhode Island the take-home figure of $60,905, from $77,560, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 166 of 452 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $60,057 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 166.
- Reported values are medians; for human resources specialists in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $51,270 to $128,250. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Rhode Island is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $60,905 from $77,560. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 166 of 452 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $60,057, worked from $77,560, 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 166 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 $82,250, 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 $51,270 and the top tenth $128,250 — 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 $60,057 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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, $60,905 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 $82,250. 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 ($51,270) and the ninetieth ($128,250) 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 $60,057 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 $60,905 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.