Special Education Teachers, Middle School in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$71,827
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$22,143
23.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,827
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
$93,970
Kept after tax
$71,827
Worth in national money
$70,827
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Rhode Island pays this job a middle wage of $93,970, ranking 3 of 51 states and sitting about 40.65% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 452 occupations Rhode Island reports, this job comes in at 106 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $93,970, tax leaves $71,827, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $70,827 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $83,910.
- Rhode Island's median for special education teachers, middle school is $93,970, about 40.65% above the national figure and 3 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Special education teachers, middle school ranks 106 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 special education teachers, middle school — median $93,970 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $71,827 retained, $70,827 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $83,910 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Middle School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $93,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $97,450 |
| This salary | $93,970 |
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 | $71,827 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $74,938 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,290 |
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 | $89,548 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,688 |
| 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 special education teachers, middle school in Rhode Island earn under $93,970 and half over. The published range runs $48,830 at the tenth percentile to $97,450 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $71,827 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $93,970. 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 106 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 $70,827, the adjusted value of that $93,970 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 106 of 452 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for special education teachers, middle school in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,830 to $97,450; 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.
- Retained pay of $71,827, from $93,970, 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 106 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $70,827 — the adjusted value of that $93,970 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 106 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 $83,910 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 $48,830 at the bottom tenth to $97,450 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $70,827 of national purchasing power.
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 $71,827.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $83,910. 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 ($48,830 to $97,450) 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 $70,827 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 $71,827 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.