Physical Therapist Aides in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,499
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$4,701
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,130
Rhode Island costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the bottom tenth 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
$31,200
Kept after tax
$26,499
Worth in national money
$26,130
State rank
35
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Rhode Island pays physical therapist aides a middle wage of $31,200, 35 of 50 states and about 11.46% 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, physical therapist aides ranks 449. 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 $31,200, take-home of $26,499 is worth roughly $26,130 in national money. The average comes to $35,310, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Rhode Island's $31,200 median for physical therapist aides places it 35 of 50 states, about 11.46% 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, physical therapist aides ranks 449 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 physical therapist aides, whose median is $31,200, the adjusted figure of $26,130 differs little from $26,499 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $35,310 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Physical Therapist Aides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $43,480 |
| This salary | $31,200 |
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 | $26,499 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,249 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,911 |
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 | $30,267 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,311 |
| 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 $31,200. The published range is $31,200 up to $43,480, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $26,499 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $31,200. 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 449 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 $26,130, the adjusted value of that $31,200 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 449 of 452 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for physical therapist aides in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,200 to $43,480. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $26,499, from $31,200, 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 449 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 35 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $26,130 — the adjusted value of that $31,200 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 449 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 $35,310 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,200 at the bottom tenth to $43,480 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $26,130 of national purchasing power.
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 $26,499 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $35,310. 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 ($31,200 to $43,480) 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 $26,130 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 $26,499 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.