How Rhode Island taxes a paycheck
Rhode Island simplified its income tax in 2011 to three brackets: for 2026, 3.75% on the first $82,050 of taxable income, 4.75% to $186,450 and 5.99% above, with the same thresholds for single and married filers. The brackets, the $11,200 single and $22,400 married standard deduction and the $5,250 personal and dependent exemption are all indexed for inflation. Deductions and exemptions phase out above about $260,000 of AGI, which is not modelled.
Rhode Island's temporary disability insurance, which also funds paid family leave, takes 1.2% of wages from employees up to an annual cap (about $91,000 of wages); it is a separate payroll line not included here. There are no local income taxes.
How much taxes are taken out of paychecks in Rhode Island?
On a $60,000 salary in 2026, a single filer in Rhode Island pays about $5,020 in federal income tax, $4,590 in Social Security and Medicare, and about $1,630 in Rhode Island income tax, leaving roughly $48,760 a year or $1,875 every two weeks. TDI would take a further $720. The state share is 2.7% of gross.
At $150,000 the tax is about $5,520, an effective rate of 3.7%, since the 4.75% bracket applies above $82,050.
Rhode Island compared with its neighbours
Rhode Island's two neighbours both charge more on a $60,000 single salary: Massachusetts about $2,780 and Connecticut about $2,550 against Rhode Island's $1,630. That advantage comes from the standard deduction and exemption, which together shelter $16,450, more than Massachusetts's $4,400 exemption or Connecticut's phased-out $15,000.
The Providence metro reaches into Massachusetts, and the comparison along Route 95 is about $1,150 a year in Rhode Island's favour at $60,000, narrowing to a few hundred dollars at $150,000 where Rhode Island's 4.75% bracket and Massachusetts's flat 5% converge.
Withholding forms and filing status in Rhode Island
Rhode Island employers withhold from Form RI W-4, which asks for allowances; the tables apply the three brackets after the standard deduction. Because the brackets are the same for single and joint filers, a two-earner couple reaches the 4.75% rate on a combined $82,050 of taxable income, and the joint return's advantage is the doubled deduction ($22,400) and exemption ($10,500). A one-earner couple on $60,000 pays about $1,020 against a single filer's $1,630.
Rhode Island's Form RI-1040 is due 15 April, and the deduction and exemption phase-out above about $260,000 of AGI is applied on that return rather than through withholding. Rhode Island has no reciprocal agreements. Massachusetts and Connecticut residents working in Rhode Island pay Rhode Island tax on those wages and credit it at home; Rhode Island residents working in Boston do the reverse. TDI is withheld on all wages earned in Rhode Island up to the annual cap regardless of residence.