Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,000
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$5,770
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,582
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
$35,770
Kept after tax
$30,000
Worth in national money
$29,582
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Rhode Island is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $35,770, which ranks 10 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 6.52% above the national middle.
- Against 452 occupations Rhode Island publishes, this job lands at 431. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $35,770, tax leaves $30,000, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $29,582 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $36,150, since top earners drag the number up.
- Rhode Island ranks 10 of 51 states publishing a median for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers, at $35,770 — about 6.52% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Rhode Island, this work ranks 431 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.
- Because Rhode Island sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers — median $35,770 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $30,000 retained, $29,582 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $36,150 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $41,490 |
| This salary | $35,770 |
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 | $30,000 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,921 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,238 |
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 | $34,623 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,707 |
| 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 $35,770. The published range is $31,200 up to $41,490, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $30,000 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $35,770. 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 431 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $29,582 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 431.
- Reported values are medians; for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,200 to $41,490. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $30,000, from $35,770, 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 431 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 10 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $29,582, worked from $35,770, 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 431 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,200 at the bottom tenth to $41,490 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 $29,582 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, $30,000 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,200 to $41,490) 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 $29,582 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 $30,000 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.