Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,380
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$8,330
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,845
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
$46,710
Kept after tax
$38,380
Worth in national money
$37,845
State rank
45
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Rhode Island pays this job a middle wage of $46,710, 45 of 50 states and about 9.49% 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, this job ranks 343. 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 $46,710, take-home of $38,380 is worth roughly $37,845 in national money. The average comes to $50,250, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Rhode Island's $46,710 median for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders places it 45 of 50 states, about 9.49% 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, separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 343 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 separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders, whose median is $46,710, the adjusted figure of $37,845 differs little from $38,380 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $50,250 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $71,130 |
| This salary | $46,710 |
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 | $38,380 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,711 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,020 |
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 | $45,053 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,653 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,710 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,060 and the ninetieth is $71,130 — 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 $38,380, worked from $46,710. 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 343 of 452.
- Two cautions on $37,845, the adjusted value of that $46,710 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 343 of 452 locally.
- The Rhode Island median of $46,710 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,060 to $71,130. 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 $38,380, on $46,710 for work ranking 343 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 343 of 452 in the state.
- This $37,845 adjusted figure, worked from $46,710, 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 343 of 452 in the state. The occupation ranks 343 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 $50,250, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $37,060, the highest tenth $71,130, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $37,845 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Rhode Island then takes its own share, leaving $38,380.
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 $50,250. 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 ($37,060) and the ninetieth ($71,130) 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 $37,845 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 $38,380 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.