Slaughterers and Meat Packers in Rhode Island

Machined metal parts and a CNC machine in a clean manufacturing workshop.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$31,379

after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax

Tax takes

$6,191

16.5% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$30,942

Rhode Island costs more than average

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

$37,570

Kept after tax

$31,379

Worth in national money

$30,942

State rank

33

of 47 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Rhode Island is among the lower-paying states for slaughterers and meat packers. The middle earner takes $37,570, ranking 33 of 47 states — about 6.38% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
  • Within Rhode Island this is lower-paid work. Of 452 occupations the state publishes figures for, slaughterers and meat packers ranks 405. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
  • Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $37,570 the take-home is $31,379, which is worth about $30,942 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $41,030, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • Rhode Island ranks 33 of 47 for slaughterers and meat packers, with a median of $37,570 — about 6.38% 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.
  • Against every occupation Rhode Island reports, slaughterers and meat packers ranks 405 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.
  • Rhode Island's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for slaughterers and meat packers on its $37,570 median: $31,379 retained after tax becomes $30,942 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $41,030 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

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Pay band: Slaughterers and Meat Packers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$36,640
Half earn under$37,570
Top tenth earn over$51,190
This salary$37,570

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

Compare with
+$989take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Rhode Island$31,379
Take-home in Texas$32,367
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$2,367

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

Moving to
$0now · $37,570$34,708
$34,708in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$36,339
You could take a cut of−$2,862
Prices in Texas97 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 $37,570. The published range is $36,640 up to $51,190, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • That $31,379 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $37,570. 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 405 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 $30,942, the adjusted value of that $37,570 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 405 of 452 in the state.
  • Reported values are medians; for slaughterers and meat packers in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,640 to $51,190. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • Retained pay of $31,379, from $37,570, 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 405 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 33 of 47 for it.
  • Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $30,942 — the adjusted value of that $37,570 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 405 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 $41,030 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 $36,640 at the bottom tenth to $51,190 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.

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 $30,942 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 $31,379.

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 47 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 $41,030. 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 ($36,640 to $51,190) 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 $30,942 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 $31,379 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.