Security Guards in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,896
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$6,044
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,466
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
$36,940
Kept after tax
$30,896
Worth in national money
$30,466
State rank
35
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Rhode Island is among the lower-paying states for security guards. The middle earner takes $36,940, ranking 35 of 51 states — about 2.84% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Rhode Island, this one sits low: 415 of 452 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $36,940 the take-home is $30,896, which is worth about $30,466 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $40,320, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Rhode Island ranks 35 of 51 for security guards, with a median of $36,940 — about 2.84% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Security guards occupies position 415 of 452 in Rhode Island's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Rhode Island's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for security guards on its $36,940 median: $30,896 retained after tax becomes $30,466 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $40,320 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Security Guards
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,520 |
| This salary | $36,940 |
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 | $30,896 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,861 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,322 |
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 | $35,739 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,808 |
| 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 $36,940. The published range is $31,200 up to $48,520, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Rhode Island's $30,896, worked from $36,940. 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 415 of 452.
- Two cautions on $30,466, the adjusted value of that $36,940 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Rhode Island. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 415 of 452 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for security guards in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,200 to $48,520. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Rhode Island take-home of $30,896, on $36,940 for work ranking 415 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 415 of 452 in the state.
- This $30,466 adjusted figure, worked from $36,940, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 415 of 452 in the state. The occupation ranks 415 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 $40,320, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,200 and the top tenth $48,520, 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 $30,466 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Rhode Island's own levy, $30,896 remains.
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 $40,320. 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 $48,520) 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 $30,466 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 $30,896 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.