Painters, Construction and Maintenance in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,458
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$7,132
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,978
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
$41,590
Kept after tax
$34,458
Worth in national money
$33,978
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Rhode Island pays painters, construction and maintenance a middle wage of $41,590, 49 of 51 states and about 15.81% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Rhode Island this is lower-paid work. Of 452 occupations the state publishes figures for, painters, construction and maintenance ranks 387. 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 $41,590, take-home of $34,458 is worth roughly $33,978 in national money. The average comes to $48,150, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Rhode Island's $41,590 median for painters, construction and maintenance places it 49 of 51 states, about 15.81% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Rhode Island reports, painters, construction and maintenance ranks 387 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 painters, construction and maintenance, whose median is $41,590, the adjusted figure of $33,978 differs little from $34,458 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $48,150 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: Painters, Construction and Maintenance
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,410 |
| This salary | $41,590 |
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 | $34,458 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,598 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,654 |
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 | $40,172 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,210 |
| 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 painters, construction and maintenance in Rhode Island earn under $41,590 and half over. The published range runs $31,200 at the tenth percentile to $64,410 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Rhode Island the take-home figure of $34,458, from $41,590, 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 387 of 452 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Rhode Island, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $33,978, the adjusted value of that $41,590 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 387 of 452 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for painters, construction and maintenance in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,200 to $64,410; 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 $34,458 from $41,590. 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 387 of 452 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $33,978 — the adjusted value of that $41,590 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 387 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $48,150, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $31,200 and the top tenth $64,410 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $33,978 — 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 $34,458 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 $48,150. 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 ($64,410) 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 $33,978 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 $34,458 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.