Veterinarians in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$93,117
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$33,453
26.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$91,821
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
$126,570
Kept after tax
$93,117
Worth in national money
$91,821
State rank
25
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Rhode Island pays veterinarians around $126,570 at the midpoint, 25 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 452 occupations Rhode Island reports, veterinarians comes in at 30 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $126,570, tax leaves $93,117, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $91,821 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $133,850, since top earners drag the number up.
- For veterinarians the Rhode Island median is $126,570, ranking 25 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Veterinarians ranks 30 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 veterinarians — median $126,570 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $93,117 retained, $91,821 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $133,850 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Veterinarians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $106,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $126,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $196,300 |
| This salary | $126,570 |
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 | $93,117 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $97,777 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,799 |
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 | $119,811 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,289 |
| 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 veterinarians in Rhode Island earn under $126,570 and half over. The published range runs $106,730 at the tenth percentile to $196,300 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $93,117 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $126,570. 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 30 of 452.
- Two cautions on $91,821, the adjusted value of that $126,570 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 30 of 452 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for veterinarians in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $106,730 to $196,300; 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 $93,117, from $126,570, 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 30 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 49 for it.
- This $91,821 adjusted figure, worked from $126,570, 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 30 of 452 in the state. The occupation ranks 30 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 $133,850, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $106,730 at the tenth percentile, $196,300 at the ninetieth.
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 $91,821 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $93,117.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $133,850. 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 ($106,730 to $196,300) 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 $91,821 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 $93,117 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.