Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,495
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$8,365
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,959
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
$46,860
Kept after tax
$38,495
Worth in national money
$37,959
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 this job, with a middle wage of $46,860. 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, this job ranks 342. 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 $46,860, take-home of $38,495 is worth roughly $37,959 in national money. The average comes to $49,820, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Rhode Island ranks 19 of 51 for medical secretaries and administrative assistants at $46,860. 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, medical secretaries and administrative assistants ranks 342 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 medical secretaries and administrative assistants, whose median is $46,860, the adjusted figure of $37,959 differs little from $38,495 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $49,820 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,330 |
| This salary | $46,860 |
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 | $38,495 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,832 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,031 |
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 | $45,196 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,666 |
| 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 medical secretaries and administrative assistants in Rhode Island earn under $46,860 and half over. The published range runs $40,630 at the tenth percentile to $61,330 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Rhode Island the take-home figure of $38,495, from $46,860, 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 342 of 452 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $37,959, the adjusted value of that $46,860 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Rhode Island. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 342 of 452 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for medical secretaries and administrative assistants in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,630 to $61,330; 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.
- Take-home for Rhode Island is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,495 from $46,860. 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 342 of 452 locally.
- This $37,959 adjusted figure, worked from $46,860, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 342 of 452 in the state. The occupation ranks 342 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 $49,820, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $40,630 at the tenth percentile, $61,330 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Rhode Island run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $37,959 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $38,495 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $49,820. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($40,630 to $61,330) 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 $37,959 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 $38,495 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.