Medical Records Specialists in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,593
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$12,367
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,875
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
$63,960
Kept after tax
$51,593
Worth in national money
$50,875
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for medical records specialists is strong here. Rhode Island's middle earner gets $63,960, putting the state 2 of 51 — about 25.07% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Rhode Island, this sits in the middle: 218 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 $63,960, take-home of $51,593 is worth roughly $50,875 in national money. The average lands at $63,150, below the middle of the range.
- For medical records specialists, Rhode Island sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $63,960, ranking 2 of 51 and running about 25.07% 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.
- Medical records specialists ranks 218 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 medical records specialists, whose median is $63,960, the adjusted figure of $50,875 differs little from $51,593 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $63,150 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Medical Records Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,540 |
| This salary | $63,960 |
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 | $51,593 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,572 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,254 |
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 | $61,498 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,145 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $63,960 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $44,650 and the ninetieth is $84,540 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Rhode Island the take-home figure of $51,593, from $63,960, 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 218 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 $50,875 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 218.
- The Rhode Island median of $63,960 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $44,650 to $84,540. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Rhode Island is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $51,593 from $63,960. 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 218 of 452 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $50,875, worked from $63,960, 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 218 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $44,650 and the top tenth $84,540, so most people doing this work in Rhode Island sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $50,875 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 $51,593 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($44,650 to $84,540) 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 $50,875 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 $51,593 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.