Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,424
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$16,916
21.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,569
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
$78,340
Kept after tax
$61,424
Worth in national money
$60,569
State rank
33
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Rhode Island sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $78,340, ranking 33 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 452 occupations Rhode Island reports figures for, this is number 158.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $78,340 the take-home is $61,424, which is worth about $60,569 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $81,060, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Rhode Island occupies the middle band for nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary: a median of $78,340, ranking 33 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In Rhode Island's occupational distribution, nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary sits at 158 of 452 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Rhode Island's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary on its $78,340 median: $61,424 retained after tax becomes $60,569 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $81,060 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $106,220 |
| This salary | $78,340 |
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 | $61,424 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,942 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,232 |
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 | $74,761 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,227 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $78,340 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,890 and the ninetieth is $106,220 — 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 $61,424, worked from $78,340. 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 158 of 452.
- One number stands for prices across all of Rhode Island, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $60,569, the adjusted value of that $78,340 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 158 of 452 in the state.
- The Rhode Island median of $78,340 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,890 to $106,220. 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 $61,424, on $78,340 for work ranking 158 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 158 of 452 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $60,569 — the adjusted value of that $78,340 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 158 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 $81,060 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $50,890 and the top tenth $106,220, 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 $60,569 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 $61,424 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.
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 $81,060. 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 ($50,890 to $106,220) 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 $60,569 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 $61,424 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.