Rhode Island

Across all occupations in Rhode Island, the median wage is $56,780 a year ($27.30 an hour) and the mean $71,900, May 2025. That median is +11% against the US median of $50,980. BLS counts 501,340 jobs in the state. The highest-paying occupation is emergency medicine physicians; the largest is fast food and counter workers.

All occupations: Rhode Island vs the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in Rhode Island and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
Rhode Island	Hourly	$15.61	$19.12	$27.30	$40.96	$61.60	$34.57	501,340
Rhode Island	Annual	$32,470	$39,780	$56,780	$85,200	$128,120	$71,900	501,340
United States	Hourly	$15.00	$18.07	$24.51	$38.71	$61.81	$33.54	155,495,730
United States	Annual	$31,200	$37,590	$50,980	$80,520	$128,560	$69,770	155,495,730

Annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles across all occupations; the line marks the US median. The same numbers are in the table above.

Minimum wage in Rhode Island

The wage floor is a separate question from these survey figures. See the Rhode Island minimum wage page for the current rate, scheduled increases and tipped rules, verified against the U.S. Department of Labor.

20 highest-paying occupations in Rhode Island

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Emergency Medicine Physicians	$512,730	$246.51	290
2	Family Medicine Physicians	$467,160	$224.60	210
3	Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric	$450,370	$216.52	180
4	Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons	$414,060	$199.07	**
5	Cardiologists	$395,610	$190.20	60
6	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$379,490	$182.45	300
7	Physicians, Pathologists	$322,950	$155.26	**
8	Psychiatrists	$287,610	$138.28	270
9	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$239,760	$115.27	120
10	Chief Executives	$235,360	$113.15	460
11	Physicians, All Other	$228,590	$109.90	1,180
12	Pediatricians, General	$218,080	$104.85	180
13	Surgeons, All Other	$199,990	$96.15	**
14	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$175,910	$84.57	370
15	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$167,270	$80.42	1,210
16	Human Resources Managers	$167,110	$80.34	530
17	Financial Managers	$166,940	$80.26	2,570
18	Obstetricians and Gynecologists	$166,390	$80.00	140
19	Managers, All Other	$165,900	$79.76	790
20	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$164,880	*	40

Ranked by median; an occupation whose median BLS withholds or top-codes cannot appear here, however well it pays.

20 largest occupations in Rhode Island

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Median annual
1	Fast Food and Counter Workers	13,310	26.55	$31,490
2	Retail Salespersons	12,830	25.60	$34,860
3	Nursing Assistants	10,220	20.38	$46,440
4	Waiters and Waitresses	10,160	20.27	$35,420
5	Registered Nurses	10,090	20.13	$100,640
6	Cashiers	9,260	18.46	$34,860
7	General and Operations Managers	9,150	18.24	$117,380
8	Customer Service Representatives	7,890	15.74	$47,550
9	Office Clerks, General	7,700	15.36	$47,830
10	Home Health and Personal Care Aides	7,490	14.93	$43,680
11	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners	7,270	14.51	$37,310
12	Cooks, Restaurant	6,950	13.87	$36,510
13	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand	6,760	13.48	$41,690
14	Stockers and Order Fillers	6,660	13.29	$36,470
15	Accountants and Auditors	6,570	13.10	$95,820
16	Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary	5,200	10.37	$37,220
16	Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive	5,200	10.37	$52,140
18	First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers	5,090	10.15	$76,030
19	Software Developers	5,070	10.12	$130,590
20	Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	4,910	9.80	$92,610

Occupation groups in Rhode Island

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000
Management	$127,940	$147,370	31,890	63.61
Computer and Mathematical	$105,700	$112,970	16,390	32.70
Architecture and Engineering	$105,160	$113,560	9,230	18.41
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$96,900	$114,040	33,680	67.18
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$89,210	$96,790	4,290	8.55
Business and Financial Operations	$86,240	$96,080	39,120	78.03
Legal	$78,520	$107,220	4,450	8.88
Educational Instruction and Library	$65,500	$73,130	35,180	70.17
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$65,090	$75,120	7,650	15.26
Construction and Extraction	$63,050	$70,030	17,900	35.71
Community and Social Service	$60,960	$66,760	11,660	23.25
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$60,920	$63,850	16,090	32.10
Protective Service	$59,520	$61,300	13,000	25.92
Office and Administrative Support	$49,790	$54,440	54,700	109.11
Production	$49,360	$54,610	27,620	55.09
Healthcare Support	$46,180	$46,550	25,570	51.01
Transportation and Material Moving	$44,930	$48,400	31,470	62.77
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$43,410	$43,960	16,130	32.18
Sales and Related	$42,290	$59,190	42,190	84.16
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	$39,350	$44,530	330	0.66
Personal Care and Service	$36,200	$41,980	10,560	21.06
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$34,960	$39,980	52,230	104.19

Metropolitan areas in Rhode Island

1 metropolitan area touches Rhode Island, with the all-occupations median of each. A linked metropolitan area has its own profile; nonmetropolitan areas appear here only.

Area	Type	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	Metropolitan	$53,680	$25.81	714,120

Take-home pay and benefits calculators for Rhode Island

FastCalc, a sister site, has these calculators for Rhode Island. Each takes your own figures; this site computes nothing.

Source and notes

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-05-15. Cross-industry estimates, all ownerships. BLS page: OEWS Rhode Island estimates.

*: Wage estimate not available.
**: Employment estimate not available.

Annual wages assume 2,080 hours a year at the hourly rate; occupations BLS publishes on one basis only show an en dash (–) on the other.
Employment is rounded to the nearest 10 by BLS. Where BLS withholds a cell, nothing is estimated in its place.
Jobs per 1,000 is the occupation's employment per 1,000 jobs in Rhode Island.