Technical Writers in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$77,331
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$25,029
24.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$76,254
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
$102,360
Kept after tax
$77,331
Worth in national money
$76,254
State rank
6
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Rhode Island is one of the better-paying states for technical writers. The middle earner takes $102,360, which ranks 6 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 13.24% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 452 occupations Rhode Island reports, technical writers comes in at 70 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $102,360, tax leaves $77,331, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $76,254 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $97,050.
- Rhode Island ranks 6 of 45 states publishing a median for technical writers, at $102,360 — about 13.24% 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.
- Technical writers ranks 70 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 technical writers — median $102,360 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $77,331 retained, $76,254 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $97,050 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Technical Writers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $77,480 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $102,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $115,380 |
| This salary | $102,360 |
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 | $77,331 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,840 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,936 |
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 | $97,371 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,581 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 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 $102,360. The published range is $77,480 up to $115,380, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Rhode Island's $77,331, worked from $102,360. 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 70 of 452.
- Two cautions on $76,254, the adjusted value of that $102,360 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 70 of 452 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for technical writers in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $77,480 to $115,380. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Rhode Island take-home of $77,331, on $102,360 for work ranking 70 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 70 of 452 in the state.
- This $76,254 adjusted figure, worked from $102,360, 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 70 of 452 in the state. The occupation ranks 70 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 $97,050, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $77,480 and the top tenth $115,380, so most people doing this work in Rhode Island sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Rhode Island run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $76,254 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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, $77,331 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 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 $97,050. 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 ($77,480 to $115,380) 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 $76,254 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 $77,331 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.