Rhode Island Paycheck Calculator 2026

How this calculator works

Rhode Island withholds at three rates, from 3.75% to 5.99%, a shorter ladder than New Mexico’s six. The state prints its withholding tables once, for all filing status types: a single filer, a married filer and a head of household all read the same rows. Rhode Island also takes a second deduction that has nothing to do with income tax, a temporary disability insurance premium that employees pay.

The calculator applies five deductions, in this order:

• Federal income tax. Your gross pay minus the federal standard deduction for your filing status, run through the 2026 federal brackets.
• Social Security at 6.2% of gross wages, up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500.
• Medicare at 1.45% of all wages, with no cap, plus the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on wages above $200,000.
• Rhode Island income tax: your wages minus one $1,000 allowance, then 3.75% on the first $82,050, 4.75% up to $186,450, and 5.99% above that.
• Rhode Island TDI: 1.1% of your gross wages up to $100,000.

The state layer follows the state’s own withholding method. Rates come from the agencies that set them: the IRS for the federal brackets, the standard deduction and FICA, cross-checked against the Social Security Administration for the wage base; and for the state layer, the Rhode Island Division of Taxation’s 2026 Employer’s Income Tax Withholding Tables and the Department of Labor and Training’s 2026 rate announcement for TDI, dated December 18, 2025. Both agencies’ websites refuse automated requests, so we read their documents from Internet Archive snapshots, linked in the sources below. Our full sourcing is on the methodology page.

Withholding is an estimate, not your final bill. The state describes a pay-as-you-earn system: each year the employee works out the actual Rhode Island liability, pays any balance due, or gets a refund if more was withheld. So a withholding calculator shows what an employer should take from each check, and what you owe or get back when you file can differ.

What the calculator deliberately does not do: it claims one $1,000 allowance, yours, and does not add allowances for dependents; it does not model Married Filing Separately, multiple jobs, the state’s separate rules for bonuses and other supplemental wages, or health insurance premiums and other employer benefit deductions.

Where each Rhode Island rate starts

The table below is the state’s annual withholding schedule. Because the same rows apply to every filing status, there is one set of thresholds. The state subtracts the allowance first, so each band is shown twice: as taxable wages, and as the annual wages that reach it with one $1,000 allowance.

Rhode Island hourly paycheck: what your rate is worth after tax

Why we ask your hours instead of assuming 2,080

Many hourly calculators multiply your rate by 2,080 and call it a year. That is 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, which describes a full-time schedule, not every hourly job. If you work 32 hours a week, or 45 with overtime, the assumed figure is wrong before any tax is applied. The calculator above asks for your hours and uses them.

What $20 an hour comes to in Rhode Island

At 40 hours a week, $20 an hour is $41,600 a year gross. After federal tax, Social Security, Medicare, Rhode Island income tax and TDI, that leaves about $33,626 a year, or $2,802.13 a month. Your real hourly rate — what an hour of work actually puts in your account — is $16.17. Rhode Island’s share is $1,522.50 of income tax and $457.60 of TDI for the year.

What $25 and $30 an hour come to

$25 an hour is $52,000 gross and about $41,478 after tax, a real rate of $19.94. $30 an hour is $62,400 gross and about $49,330 after tax, a real rate of $23.72. All three wages sit inside the lowest Rhode Island band, so the state takes 3.75% of everything above the allowance and 1.1% of the whole wage for TDI: $2,988.90 in total at $30 an hour, against $2,484.50 at $25.

What the minimum wage comes to

The Department of Labor and Training’s own 2026 example is a full-time worker earning the $16.00 minimum wage, who pays $366.08 in TDI contributions. This calculator gives $366.08 for $33,280 a year (2,080 hours), the same figure to the cent.

Overtime

The state’s booklet lists overtime pay among supplemental wages. Paid with regular wages, it is withheld as if the total were one payment for the pay period; paid separately, your employer follows a separate method the booklet describes. The calculator multiplies your rate by the hours you enter and adds no overtime premium, and it does not model the separate-payment method. If you work variable hours, enter the average you expect for the year.

Rhode Island take-home pay by hourly rate

Single filer, 40 hours a week (2,080 hours a year), 2026 rates.

What this calculator does not cover

This tool models federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and the payroll programs your state actually runs — nothing more. It deliberately leaves out:

• Itemized deductions and federal tax credits — the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, education credits. The engine always applies the standard deduction; there is no itemizing path.
• A second job, self-employment income or 1099 pay. Every dollar you enter is treated as one employer’s W-2 wages, taxed at the employee share of Social Security and Medicare — not the self-employment tax a 1099 worker actually owes.
• Pre-tax benefits other than the 401(k) field — health insurance premiums, an HSA or FSA, commuter benefits. The only amount taken out before tax is the percentage you enter for a 401(k).
• Local taxes — city income tax, county tax, or a school-district tax. Where a state levies one, our methodology page says so by name; this calculator does not add that line, with two exceptions: the Indiana and Maryland calculators add the local income tax for the county you choose.
• Overtime premiums. An hourly rate is multiplied by the hours you enter; it does not add a time-and-a-half rate for hours worked past 40 in a week.
• Wage garnishments or court-ordered deductions — child support, a wage levy. Your result assumes none exist.
• The Additional Medicare Tax, at the single-filer threshold. The 0.9% surtax above $200,000 is applied at that one figure for every filing status, the way an employer actually withholds it — not the higher threshold a married couple filing jointly may end up owing at tax return time.
• Married filing separately, or a qualifying surviving spouse. The calculator only offers single, married filing jointly, and head of household.

None of these are in the estimate. Some of them change what you owe or get back when you file, and a calculator cannot ask for everything they depend on. See why your pay stub will differ for the details.

Key facts that affect your take-home pay in Rhode Island

One withholding table for every filing status

The state’s tables are headed “for all filing status types,” and the annual table has three lines: 3.75% up to $82,050 of taxable wages, 4.75% from there to $186,450, and 5.99% above. On the same $75,000, Rhode Island takes $2,775.00 from a single filer, $2,775.00 from a head of household and $2,775.00 from a married couple filing jointly. Your filing status still matters for federal tax; it just changes nothing on the state line.

A $1,000 allowance that disappears above $290,800

Before the rates apply, the state subtracts $1,000 for each allowance you claim on your Rhode Island W-4. The calculator claims one. At the 3.75% rate each extra allowance is worth $37.50 a year. But when annual wages are more than $290,800, the state’s table sets the allowance to $0. The state’s W-4 instructions call this being “phased out,” but the table shows no partial value in between, so it works as a cliff: at exactly $290,800 this calculator withholds $14,226.54, and at $290,801 it withholds $14,286.50, about $60 more for one more dollar of pay. Few paychecks are near that line, and withholding is settled against your actual liability when you file.

TDI takes 1.1% of your first $100,000

Temporary Disability Insurance covers wage loss from a non-work-related illness or injury, and the state’s Department of Labor and Training says it is “paid by employees, not employers, through a payroll tax.” Temporary Caregiver Insurance, which covers time off to bond with a new child or care for a seriously ill family member, is part of the same program, so there is one deduction, not two. For 2026 the rate is 1.1% on the first $100,000 of wages, and the department gives the ceiling itself: a maximum of $1,100.00. We do not state how many weeks of caregiver leave the program pays, because the department’s own pages give two different numbers.

TDI stops at $100,000, so it matters most on modest pay

On $75,000 the deduction is $825.00, or 1.1% of pay. On $100,000 it reaches the $1,100.00 ceiling, and on $250,000 it is still $1,100.00, which is only 0.44% of gross pay. The same $75,000 salary carries a heavier disability-insurance burden than the same $250,000 one, measured as a share of income.

We found no local income tax in Rhode Island

The state’s withholding booklet has a single set of tables for each pay period and no local, city or town tables. We found nothing to add on top of the state tax, and we say so rather than claim we checked every municipality one by one.

Unemployment insurance is not deducted from your pay

The Department of Labor and Training says unemployment benefits are “funded entirely from state and federal UI taxes paid by Rhode Island employers,” and sets the 2026 taxable wage base for most employers at $30,800. Nothing for it is deducted from your check. The contrast with TDI is the point: in Rhode Island the employee pays for disability coverage and the employer pays for unemployment coverage.

You do not have to live in Rhode Island

The withholding booklet says Rhode Island employers are required to withhold Rhode Island income tax from employees who are residents of other states, insofar as they receive compensation for employment in Rhode Island. A Massachusetts or Connecticut resident working in Providence should expect the state line on the pay stub. This calculator shows that Rhode Island withholding; it does not model what your home state does with it on your return.

Your 401(k) contribution and the state tax

The calculator takes your 401(k) contribution out before it applies the state table, the same order it uses for federal tax. The state’s booklet does not address retirement contributions, so this is a modeling choice, not a quotation. On $75,000 with 6% going in, Rhode Island income tax falls by $168.75 a year. TDI is applied to gross pay, so it does not change.

Social Security stops, Medicare does not

Social Security is withheld at 6.2% until your wages reach $184,500 in 2026, then stops for the rest of the year. Medicare has no ceiling at all: 1.45% on every dollar, plus an extra 0.9% on wages above $200,000. This is why take-home pay rises unevenly through the year for high earners — the paycheck after you cross the Social Security wage base is visibly larger.

Common mistakes people make

Applying the top rate to your whole paycheck

The 5.99% rate is the last step of the ladder, not the price of every dollar. It applies only to taxable wages above $186,450; on $75,000 the state’s effective income tax rate is 3.70%, and on $250,000 it is 4.71%.

Reading the TDI line as income tax

TDI is an insurance premium with its own rate and its own ceiling. It does not appear in the state’s income tax table, and it is 1.1% whatever your filing status. On $75,000 it is $825, about 30% of the $2,775 of income tax.

Expecting your filing status to change the state number

It will not: single, married and head of household read the same table. What changes the state figure is the number of allowances on your Rhode Island W-4, not the box you tick on the federal form.

Applying your usual rate to a bonus

The state’s booklet says: “The Supplemental withholding rate is 5.99%.” A bonus, commission or back-pay check falls under the state’s supplemental wage rules, even if your ordinary pay sits in the lowest band. How the rate is applied depends on whether the payment comes with regular wages or separately. This calculator does not model bonuses.

Reading withholding as the tax you owe

Withholding is settled against your actual liability when you file. A large refund or a balance due does not mean the withholding table was applied wrongly.

Expecting the calculator to match the pay stub to the dollar

It will not, and no calculator can. Health insurance premiums and other pre-tax benefit deductions come out before tax and are not modeled here, a second job changes the federal withholding picture, and your employer withholds from the Rhode Island W-4 you actually filled out — the state no longer accepts the federal W-4 for its own withholding. Read why your pay stub will differ for the rest.

Example calculation

A single filer earning $75,000 in Rhode Island in 2026, with no retirement contribution and one allowance:

• Federal taxable income: $75,000 − federal standard deduction of $16,100 = $58,900
• Federal income tax: $7,670.00
• Social Security: $75,000 × 6.2% = $4,650.00
• Medicare: $75,000 × 1.45% = $1,087.50
• Rhode Island taxable wages: $75,000 − the $1,000 allowance = $74,000
• $74,000 × 3.75% = $2,775.00
• Rhode Island income tax: $2,775.00. The same figure from the state’s printed first line, wages up to $82,050: $0.00 + 3.75% × $74,000 = $2,775.00
• Rhode Island TDI: $75,000 × 1.1% = $825.00
• Total withheld: $17,007.50
• Take-home pay: $57,992.50 a year, or $4,832.71 a month
• Effective tax rate: 22.7%

Frequently asked questions

Compare with other states

The same $75,000 salary, single filer, 2026 rates. Rhode Island’s neighbor Connecticut is not published on this site yet, while Massachusetts has its own page. The table lines it up against three states we do have: one that taxes wages at a flat rate, one with no income tax, and one whose paychecks still carry state payroll programs.

New Hampshire withholds nothing at state level, so a New Hampshire worker keeps $3,600.00 more than a Rhode Islander on the same salary. Pennsylvania takes a flat 3.07% plus a small unemployment-insurance deduction, $2,355.00 in all, which leaves a Pennsylvanian $1,245.00 ahead. Washington has no income tax, but its Paid Family and Medical Leave and WA Cares premiums still take $1,040.37, against $3,600.00 for Rhode Island’s income tax and TDI together. A state with no income tax is not the same as a state with nothing withheld.

Sources

Every figure on this page is read from an official document and dated, not taken from another calculator — the federal ones from the IRS and the Social Security Administration, the Rhode Island ones from the state’s own documents below. Each one carries the date we last checked that it still answers. If one of our numbers disagrees with one of theirs, they are right and we have a defect to fix — tell us.

The documents these figures are read from

• Rhode Island Division of Taxation — 2026 Employer’s Income Tax Withholding Tables (PDF, Internet Archive snapshot of August 4, 2026) — the annual withholding table (3.75%, 4.75% and 5.99%, the same for every filing status) and the $1,000 exemption that disappears above $290,800 of annual wages; the division’s own site refuses automated requests, so we link the archived copy.
• Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training — 2026 Tax Rates for Unemployment Insurance and Temporary Disability Insurance (Internet Archive snapshot of April 15, 2026) — the 1.1% TDI rate on the first $100,000 of wages, the statement that TDI is paid by employees, and the statement that unemployment benefits are funded by employers; the department’s site also refuses automated requests, so we link the archived copy.
• Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training — TDI / TCI For Employers (Internet Archive snapshot of August 9, 2026) — the “1.1% employee wage deduction” on a $100,000 taxable wage base for 2026; archived copy, for the same reason.
• IRS — 2026 inflation adjustments (Rev. Proc. 2025-32) — the federal brackets and the $16,100 standard deduction.
• IRS — Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates — the 6.2% and 1.45% rates and the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax.
• SSA — Contribution and benefit base — the $184,500 Social Security wage base.

All links checked September 30, 2026.

Related reading

• Paycheck calculators by state — the full index, including which states have no income tax at all.
• New Hampshire paycheck calculator — the only other New England state published so far, with no tax on wages.
• Methodology — the exact formula, every 2026 figure with its official source, and what these calculators deliberately do not model.
• Why your pay stub will differ — pre-tax deductions, credits and W-4 settings, and how much difference is normal.