Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers in Rhode Island

Wrenches, screwdrivers and gloves on an organized repair workbench.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$78,282

after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax

Tax takes

$25,528

24.6% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$77,192

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

$103,810

Kept after tax

$78,282

Worth in national money

$77,192

State rank

1

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Rhode Island is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $103,810, which ranks 1 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 39.66% above the national middle.
  • Locally, this pays well. Among 452 occupations Rhode Island reports, this job comes in at 63 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
  • No great distortion either way. Rhode Island costs about what the country costs, so from $103,810, take-home of $78,282 is worth roughly $77,192 in national money. The average lands at $97,780, below the middle of the range.
  • Rhode Island ranks 1 of 51 states publishing a median for telecommunications line installers and repairers, at $103,810 — about 39.66% 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.
  • Telecommunications line installers and repairers ranks 63 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.
  • Price parity in Rhode Island is near the national base, so for telecommunications line installers and repairers, whose median is $103,810, the adjusted figure of $77,192 differs little from $78,282 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $97,780 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.

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Pay band: Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$81,260
Half earn under$103,810
Top tenth earn over$105,930
This salary$103,810

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
+$3,578take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Rhode Island$78,282
Take-home in Texas$81,860
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$7,048

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 · $103,810$94,074
$94,074in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$98,723
You could take a cut of−$9,736
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 $103,810. The published range is $81,260 up to $105,930, 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 $78,282, worked from $103,810. 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 63 of 452.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $77,192 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 63.
  • Reported values are medians; for telecommunications line installers and repairers in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $81,260 to $105,930. 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 $78,282, on $103,810 for work ranking 63 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 63 of 452 in the state.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $77,192, worked from $103,810, 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 63 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 $97,780 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $81,260 and the top tenth $105,930, 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 $77,192 — 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, $78,282 remains.

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 $97,780. 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 ($81,260 to $105,930) 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 $77,192 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 $78,282 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.