Surveying and Mapping Technicians in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,805
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$11,515
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,126
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
$60,320
Kept after tax
$48,805
Worth in national money
$48,126
State rank
10
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Rhode Island is one of the better-paying states for surveying and mapping technicians. The middle earner takes $60,320, which ranks 10 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 11.21% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Rhode Island, this sits in the middle: 250 of 452 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $60,320 the take-home is $48,805, which is worth about $48,126 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $66,230, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Rhode Island ranks 10 of 50 states publishing a median for surveying and mapping technicians, at $60,320 — about 11.21% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Surveying and mapping technicians ranks 250 of 452 occupations in Rhode Island by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Rhode Island's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for surveying and mapping technicians on its $60,320 median: $48,805 retained after tax becomes $48,126 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $66,230 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Surveying and Mapping Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,980 |
| This salary | $60,320 |
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 | $48,805 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,647 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,994 |
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 | $58,028 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,830 |
| 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 surveying and mapping technicians in Rhode Island earn under $60,320 and half over. The published range runs $46,160 at the tenth percentile to $92,980 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $48,805 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $60,320. 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 250 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,126 uses one figure for the whole of Rhode Island. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 452 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 250.
- Figures are distribution medians for surveying and mapping technicians in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,160 to $92,980; 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 $48,805, from $60,320, 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 250 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 10 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,126, worked from $60,320, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Rhode Island address, on work sitting at 250 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 $66,230, 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 $46,160, the highest tenth $92,980, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $48,126 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Rhode Island adds its own income tax on top — which is why $48,805 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $66,230. 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 ($46,160) and the ninetieth ($92,980) 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 $48,126 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 $48,805 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.