Insurance Underwriters in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,674
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$19,046
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,759
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
$84,720
Kept after tax
$65,674
Worth in national money
$64,759
State rank
15
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for insurance underwriters is strong here. Rhode Island's middle earner gets $84,720, putting the state 15 of 49 — about 4.12% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 452 occupations Rhode Island reports figures for, this is number 133.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $84,720 the take-home is $65,674, which is worth about $64,759 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $91,620, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For insurance underwriters, Rhode Island sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $84,720, ranking 15 of 49 and running about 4.12% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In Rhode Island's occupational distribution, insurance underwriters sits at 133 of 452 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Rhode Island's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for insurance underwriters on its $84,720 median: $65,674 retained after tax becomes $64,759 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $91,620 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Insurance Underwriters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $138,930 |
| This salary | $84,720 |
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 | $65,674 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,431 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,661 |
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 | $80,801 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,819 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $84,720 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,240 and the ninetieth is $138,930 — 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 $65,674, worked from $84,720. 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 133 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $64,759 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 133.
- The Rhode Island median of $84,720 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,240 to $138,930. 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 $65,674, on $84,720 for work ranking 133 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 133 of 452 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $64,759, worked from $84,720, 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 133 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 $91,620, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $50,240 at the bottom tenth to $138,930 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $64,759 rather than its face figure.
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 $65,674 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $91,620. 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 ($50,240) and the ninetieth ($138,930) 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 $64,759 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 $65,674 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.