Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,409
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$6,201
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,972
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
$37,610
Kept after tax
$31,409
Worth in national money
$30,972
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Rhode Island. The middle earner gets $37,610. That is 38 of 51 states, and about 4.52% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 452 occupations Rhode Island publishes, this job lands at 404. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $37,610, tax leaves $31,409, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $30,972 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $43,990, since top earners drag the number up.
- For merchandise displayers and window trimmers, Rhode Island sits in the lower band at $37,610, ranking 38 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 4.52%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Rhode Island, this work ranks 404 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 merchandise displayers and window trimmers — median $37,610 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $31,409 retained, $30,972 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $43,990 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,260 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,610 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,330 |
| This salary | $37,610 |
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 | $31,409 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,400 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,370 |
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 | $36,377 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,866 |
| 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 $37,610. The published range is $31,260 up to $62,330, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $31,409 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $37,610. 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 404 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $30,972 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 404.
- Reported values are medians; for merchandise displayers and window trimmers in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,260 to $62,330. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $31,409, from $37,610, 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 404 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $30,972, worked from $37,610, 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 404 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 $43,990 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $31,260 at the bottom tenth to $62,330 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $30,972 of national purchasing power.
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 $31,409.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $43,990. 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 ($31,260) and the ninetieth ($62,330) 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 $30,972 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 $31,409 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.