Prices, pay, taxes, homes and family budgets, county by county, from the same official data the site's calculators use.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures price levels in every state against a national average of 100. Rhode Island scores 102.3 overall, so a $75,000 salary at average US prices buys what $76,710 buys here. Compare any salary with another state.
| Price level | Rhode Island (US = 100) | Rank, most expensive first |
|---|---|---|
| Everything | 102.3 | 15th of 51 |
| Rents | 105.6 | 18th of 51 |
| Goods | 97.2 | — |
| Other services | 102.8 | — |
Home electricity averaged 28.65 cents a kilowatt-hour in 2024, against 17.06 across all states. A gallon of regular gas cost $4.12 at the end of August 2026, against $4.12.
Across all 501,340 jobs the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts in Rhode Island, the median pay is $56,780 a year, or $27.30 an hour; that ranks 13th of the 50 states and DC. One worker in ten earns less than $32,470 and one in ten more than $128,120.
Rhode Island taxes wages in brackets, with a top rate of 5.99%. The brackets in Rhode Island. A single filer on the median $56,780, with no retirement or health deductions, takes home about $45,673 a year, or $1,757 every two weeks, after $4,634 of federal income tax, $4,344 of Social Security and Medicare and $2,129 of state income tax. Work out your own paycheck in Rhode Island.
The five occupations employing the most people, with their median annual pay:
| Occupation | Jobs | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 13,310 | $31,490 |
| Retail Salespersons | 12,830 | $34,860 |
| Nursing Assistants | 10,220 | $46,440 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | 10,160 | $35,420 |
| Registered Nurses | 10,090 | $100,640 |
Of the 20 largest occupations, the best paid are software developers ($130,590), general and operations managers ($117,380), registered nurses ($100,640). See what common jobs pay in every state.
Across the 5 Rhode Island counties with their own Zillow home value, the median typical home is worth $655,997, and across the 5 with their own rent figure the median typical rent is $2,464 a month. A typical home costs 4.76 years of the county's median family income, at the median county.
With 10% down at 7.03%, the average 30-year rate on September 24, 2026, that home costs about $5,052 a month with tax, insurance and mortgage insurance, which takes $216,507 a year of income under the usual 28% guideline. The median family can afford its own county's typical home in 0.0% of Rhode Island's counties, against 44.9% of counties nationally. Try it with your own income.
At the median county, home values changed +4.1% over the past year and +35.0% over five years, and rents +3.7% over the past year.
The Economic Policy Institute prices what a modest but adequate standard of living costs in every county: housing, food, transport, healthcare, childcare, other necessities and taxes. In the median Rhode Island county, that comes to $54,254 a year for one adult and $123,038 for two adults and two children, of which $25,823 is childcare. The national averages are $47,367 and $101,771. Median family income in the median county is $128,241.
| Two adults, two children | Per year, median county | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | $19,587 | $1,632 |
| Food | $14,153 | $1,179 |
| Transportation | $17,448 | $1,454 |
| Healthcare | $14,216 | $1,185 |
| Childcare | $25,823 | $2,152 |
| Other necessities | $10,475 | $873 |
| Taxes | $19,546 | $1,629 |
Each line is its own median across counties, so the lines do not add up exactly to the total.
The Department of Education's College Scorecard lists 23 colleges in Rhode Island, 3 of them public. The median public college reports a cost of attendance of $17,454 a year, covering tuition, housing, books and other expenses. Ten years after enrolling, the median school's former students earn $53,085. Compare degrees and schools.
| Bristol County | $655,997 | +2.1% | $2,482 | $137,813 | $124,645 |
| Kent County | $448,736 | +4.1% | $2,212 | $114,721 | $116,792 |
| Newport County | $788,245 | +5.3% | $3,097 | $133,248 | $146,892 |
| Providence County | $460,038 | +1.9% | $2,120 | $98,747 | $114,706 |
| Washington County | $691,862 | +5.5% | $2,464 | $128,241 | $123,038 |
A dash means the source publishes no figure for that county. Home values and rents are Zillow's own county figures only; counties Zillow does not cover are left blank rather than filled with a state average.
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Cost of living · Income tax · Child care costs
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County figures are medians across Rhode Island's counties, each counting once, so they describe the spread of places rather than of people. Property tax and insurance vary widely; the calculators let you use your own.