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Jurisdiction file

Rhode Island employee compensation

Source file: Rhode Island — State Employee Payroll / ingested Jun 18, 2026

In 2026, Rhode Island reported 16,334 employees across 43 departments, with a total payroll of $348.1M. The highest-paid distinct record was Ryan Miller (U R I) at $1,099,890.

Latest year
2026
Total payroll
$348.1M
Departments
43
Employees
16,334
Top record
$1,099,890

What the records show

Department analytics

Median pay and headcount show where payroll dollars concentrate and which agencies define the jurisdiction’s compensation profile.

Largest departments

The 12 departments employing the most people in 2026. Bar length is headcount. These departments drive most of the payroll and set the overall pay mix.

Highest-paying departments

Departments ranked by median total compensation — the typical employee's pay. High medians usually signal specialized or professional workforces (e.g. medical, legal, or public-safety agencies) rather than across-the-board higher pay.

Compared with the local labor market

Rhode Island pay vs. the surrounding job market

Across 12 roles that match a standard occupation, Rhode Island’s median base salary runs 74% below the median wage for the same work in Rhode Island. 0 of those roles pay above the local median and 12 pay below it.

Roles compared
12
Above local median
0
Below local median
12
Typical gap
−74%

This covers the 116 employees (1% of the workforce) in roles whose job titles map to a standard occupation. Titles that are too generic to match one — broad classification series, and job families the survey reports by academic field — are left out rather than guessed at, so the figure describes the comparable subset, not the entire payroll.

Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.

Trend

Year over year

How Rhode Island's total payroll, headcount, and average pay changed across the 3 published years. Average pay is total payroll divided by employees.

YearTotal payrollEmployeesAverage pay
2024
$1.4B
17,704
$76,722
2025
$1.4B
4.1%
18,009
1.7%
$78,512
2.3%
2026
$348.1M
75.4%
16,334
9.3%
$21,310
72.9%

Department index

Open an agency file

Department pages break down pay distributions, common job titles, and the employees behind the latest published payroll.

43 departments

U R I3,009$17,530
Corrections1,394$26,735
Bhddh1,075$19,574
Human Services986$17,149
Dem924$12,404
R I College841$18,328
Judicial780$18,878
Community College of R I778$16,248
Transportation767$21,340
Children & Families657$22,200
Administration630$23,937
Public Safety596$25,281
Health580$21,848
Legislative532$8,761
Department of Revenue525$18,387
Dlt413$17,299
Education362$23,169
Attorney General277$19,931
Business Regulations220$19,393
Health and Human Services211$26,730
Military Staff112$15,335
Public Defender109$23,153
Treasury98$19,854
Secretary of State77$17,889
Public Utilities53$27,444
Governors Office43$26,336
Higher Education43$19,362
Emergency Management39$20,629
C.R.M.C.31$22,585
Housing26$22,252
Board of Elections22$14,350
Office of Energy20$22,238
Commission Human Rights15$19,854
Historical Preservation13$23,460
R I Ethics Commission12$23,531
Lieutenant Governor12$17,471
Child Advocate12$21,253
RI Council on the Arts10$18,417
Atomic Energy Commission9$21,712
Executive Off of Commerce8$26,865
Comm.On Disabilities5$16,064
Mental Health Advocate4$23,517
Community on Deaf/Hearing4$21,956