Registered Nurses in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,202
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$24,438
24.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$75,141
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
$100,640
Kept after tax
$76,202
Worth in national money
$75,141
State rank
13
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for registered nurses is strong here. Rhode Island's middle earner gets $100,640, putting the state 13 of 51 — about 3.17% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Rhode Island this is well-paid work. Of 452 occupations with published figures in the state, registered nurses ranks 82 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $100,640, tax leaves $76,202, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $75,141 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $101,260, since top earners drag the number up.
- For registered nurses, Rhode Island sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $100,640, ranking 13 of 51 and running about 3.17% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation Rhode Island publishes a median for, registered nurses sits 82 of 452 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Because Rhode Island sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for registered nurses — median $100,640 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $76,202 retained, $75,141 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $101,260 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Registered Nurses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $77,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $129,840 |
| This salary | $100,640 |
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 | $76,202 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,630 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,804 |
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 | $95,767 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,398 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $100,640 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $77,410 and the ninetieth is $129,840 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Rhode Island the take-home figure of $76,202, from $100,640, 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 82 of 452 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $75,141 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 82.
- The Rhode Island median of $100,640 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $77,410 to $129,840. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Rhode Island is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $76,202 from $100,640. 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 82 of 452 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $75,141, worked from $100,640, 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 82 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $77,410 and the top tenth $129,840, 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 $75,141 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 $76,202 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($77,410 to $129,840) 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 $75,141 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 $76,202 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.