Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,957
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$24,833
24.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$75,885
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
$101,790
Kept after tax
$76,957
Worth in national money
$75,885
State rank
19
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Rhode Island sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $101,790, ranking 19 of 46 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 452 occupations Rhode Island reports, this job comes in at 73 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $101,790, tax leaves $76,957, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $75,885 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $108,720, since top earners drag the number up.
- Rhode Island occupies the middle band for software quality assurance analysts and testers: a median of $101,790, ranking 19 of 46. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Software quality assurance analysts and testers ranks 73 of 452 occupations by median in Rhode Island, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Because Rhode Island sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for software quality assurance analysts and testers — median $101,790 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $76,957 retained, $75,885 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $108,720 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $80,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $136,590 |
| This salary | $101,790 |
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 | $76,957 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,439 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,893 |
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 | $96,840 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,521 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of software quality assurance analysts and testers in Rhode Island earn under $101,790 and half over. The published range runs $80,220 at the tenth percentile to $136,590 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Rhode Island the take-home figure of $76,957, from $101,790, 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 73 of 452 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Rhode Island, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $75,885, the adjusted value of that $101,790 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 73 of 452 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for software quality assurance analysts and testers in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $80,220 to $136,590; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Rhode Island is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $76,957 from $101,790. 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 73 of 452 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $75,885 — the adjusted value of that $101,790 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 73 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $108,720, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $80,220 at the tenth percentile, $136,590 at the ninetieth.
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 $75,885 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, $76,957 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $108,720. 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 ($80,220 to $136,590) 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 $75,885 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 $76,957 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.