Light Truck Drivers in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,576
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$8,084
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,052
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
$45,660
Kept after tax
$37,576
Worth in national money
$37,052
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Rhode Island is 19 of 51 states for light truck drivers, with a middle wage of $45,660. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Rhode Island this is lower-paid work. Of 452 occupations the state publishes figures for, light truck drivers ranks 357. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Rhode Island costs about what the country costs, so from $45,660, take-home of $37,576 is worth roughly $37,052 in national money. The average comes to $49,580, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Rhode Island ranks 19 of 51 for light truck drivers at $45,660. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Rhode Island reports, light truck drivers ranks 357 of 452, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Rhode Island is near the national base, so for light truck drivers, whose median is $45,660, the adjusted figure of $37,052 differs little from $37,576 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $49,580 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Light Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,810 |
| This salary | $45,660 |
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 | $37,576 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,868 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,945 |
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 | $44,052 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,562 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $45,660 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,200 and the ninetieth is $72,810 — 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 $37,576, worked from $45,660. 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 357 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $37,052 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 357.
- The Rhode Island median of $45,660 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,200 to $72,810. 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 $37,576, on $45,660 for work ranking 357 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 357 of 452 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $37,052, worked from $45,660, 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 357 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $49,580 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $31,200, the highest tenth $72,810, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $37,052 of national purchasing power.
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, $37,576 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 $49,580. 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 ($31,200) and the ninetieth ($72,810) 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 $37,052 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 $37,576 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.