Jobs and pay in Rhode Island

The highest-paying occupations in Rhode Island

Sorted by median annual wage — the midpoint of what people in the occupation are paid in this state, not what a newcomer earns. Occupations BLS did not release a wage for are absent rather than shown as zero.

1 further occupation is paid more than every figure below, but BLS publishes it only as $239,200 or more, its reporting cap: anesthesiologists. They cannot be ranked against each other, so they are named here rather than listed as identical rows.

1. Emergency medicine physicians$512,730
2. Family medicine physicians$467,160
3. Ophthalmologists, except pediatric$450,370
4. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons$414,060
5. Cardiologists$395,610
6. General internal medicine physicians$379,490
7. Physicians, pathologists$322,950
8. Psychiatrists$287,610
9. Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates$239,760
10. Chief executives$235,360
11. Physicians, all other$228,590
12. Pediatricians, general$218,080
13. Surgeons, all other$199,990
14. Architectural and engineering managers$175,910
15. Computer and information systems managers$167,270
16. Human resources managers$167,110
17. Financial managers$166,940
18. Obstetricians and gynecologists$166,390
19. Managers, all other$165,900
20. Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers$164,880
21. Dentists, general$161,560
22. Podiatrists$159,760
23. Advertising and promotions managers$157,890
24. Public relations managers$156,080
25. Fundraising managers$155,970

Where the jobs actually are in Rhode Island

The same list sorted by how many people are employed in each occupation, which is a different question from what it pays and usually a more useful one. High pay in an occupation employing 400 people statewide is a narrower opportunity than it looks.

1. Fast food and counter workers13,310 employed
2. Retail salespersons12,830 employed
3. Nursing assistants10,220 employed
4. Waiters and waitresses10,160 employed
5. Registered nurses10,090 employed
6. Cashiers9,260 employed
7. General and operations managers9,150 employed
8. Customer service representatives7,890 employed
9. Office clerks, general7,700 employed
10. Home health and personal care aides7,490 employed
11. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners7,270 employed
12. Cooks, restaurant6,950 employed
13. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand6,760 employed
14. Stockers and order fillers6,660 employed
15. Accountants and auditors6,570 employed
16. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive5,200 employed
17. Teaching assistants, except postsecondary5,200 employed
18. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers5,090 employed
19. Software developers5,070 employed
20. Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education4,910 employed
21. Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products4,870 employed
22. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks4,570 employed
23. Maintenance and repair workers, general4,500 employed
24. Receptionists and information clerks4,270 employed
25. Management analysts4,100 employed

The best-paid Rhode Island work that typically needs no bachelor's degree

Occupations BLS reports as typically entered with an associate's degree, a postsecondary certificate, some college, a high-school diploma, or no formal credential — sorted by what they pay here. Typical is not a requirement, individual employers set their own, and many of these carry state licensing that the national figure does not capture.

1. Commercial divers$126,320 · Postsecondary nondegree award
2. Air traffic controllers$126,300 · Associate's degree
3. Funeral home managers$122,150 · Associate's degree
4. Ship engineers$119,330 · Postsecondary nondegree award
5. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$117,600 · High school diploma or equivalent
6. Control and valve installers and repairers, except mechanical door$110,900 · High school diploma or equivalent
7. Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay$107,980 · Postsecondary nondegree award
8. Lodging managers$106,630 · High school diploma or equivalent
9. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$105,060 · Associate's degree
10. Electrical power-line installers and repairers$104,620 · High school diploma or equivalent
11. Crane and tower operators$104,340 · High school diploma or equivalent
12. Cardiovascular technologists and technicians$104,000 · Associate's degree
13. Nuclear medicine technologists$104,000 · Associate's degree
14. Telecommunications line installers and repairers$103,810 · High school diploma or equivalent
15. Postmasters and mail superintendents$99,900 · High school diploma or equivalent
16. Commercial pilots$98,820 · Postsecondary nondegree award
17. Electrical and electronic engineering technologists and technicians$98,600 · Associate's degree
18. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers$98,590 · High school diploma or equivalent
19. Structural iron and steel workers$98,320 · High school diploma or equivalent
20. Power plant operators$98,050 · High school diploma or equivalent
21. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$97,690 · High school diploma or equivalent
22. Engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, all other$94,570 · Associate's degree
23. Diagnostic medical sonographers$92,820 · Associate's degree
24. Court reporters and simultaneous captioners$92,250 · Postsecondary nondegree award
25. First-line supervisors of protective service workers, all other$89,320 · High school diploma or equivalent

A certificate is a different credential from a degree, not a lesser one. CampusPin publishes the national picture of pay by entry education and which fields are actually awarded as certificates rather than degrees.

What Rhode Island does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of Rhode Island employment divided by its share of U.S. employment. 2.0 means twice as concentrated here as nationally. It describes where the work IS — not what it pays, and not how easy it is to be hired. Limited to occupations employing at least 500 people in the state, so a tiny base cannot manufacture a large ratio.

Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

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