Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,873
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$12,147
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,165
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
$63,020
Kept after tax
$50,873
Worth in national money
$50,165
State rank
7
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Rhode Island's middle earner gets $63,020, putting the state 7 of 50 — about 13.41% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Rhode Island, this sits in the middle: 232 of 452 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Rhode Island costs about what the country costs, so from $63,020, take-home of $50,873 is worth roughly $50,165 in national money. The average comes to $63,670, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For legal secretaries and administrative assistants, Rhode Island sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $63,020, ranking 7 of 50 and running about 13.41% 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.
- Legal secretaries and administrative assistants ranks 232 of 452 occupations in Rhode Island by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Price parity in Rhode Island is near the national base, so for legal secretaries and administrative assistants, whose median is $63,020, the adjusted figure of $50,165 differs little from $50,873 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $63,670 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $93,560 |
| This salary | $63,020 |
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 | $50,873 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,817 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,187 |
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 | $60,602 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,064 |
| 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 legal secretaries and administrative assistants in Rhode Island earn under $63,020 and half over. The published range runs $42,580 at the tenth percentile to $93,560 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $50,873 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $63,020. 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 232 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 $50,165, the adjusted value of that $63,020 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 232 of 452 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for legal secretaries and administrative assistants in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,580 to $93,560; 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 $50,873, from $63,020, 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 232 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $50,165 — the adjusted value of that $63,020 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 232 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $42,580, the highest tenth $93,560, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $50,165 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 $50,873.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($42,580) and the ninetieth ($93,560) 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 $50,165 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 $50,873 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.