Rhode Island / Executive Director
Role across Rhode Island
Executive Director
Lead staff and operations — set priorities, allocate resources, and oversee program delivery.
15 people hold the Executive Director role across 8 departments in Rhode Island, with a median total compensation of $32,386. Among 16 jurisdictions where this role is reported, Rhode Island ranks #14 by median pay.
- Employees
- 15
- Median pay
- $32,386
- Departments
- 8
- Cross-jurisdiction
- #14 of 16
Compared with the local labor market
Executive Director pay vs. Rhode Island
Across all employers in Rhode Island, the median wage for Chief Executives — about 460 people — is $235,360. Rhode Island pays a median base salary of $32,453 for this role, 86% below that figure — below the 10th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Rhode Island sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for Chief Executives across every employer in Rhode Island, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Rhode Island’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Chief Executives — about 204,350 people — is $213,990. Rhode Island’s median base salary is 85% below that national figure, below the 10th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Rhode Island range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 14 of 15 people in this role paid at least $25,000 in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at Rhode Island is $32,386, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
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.
Compare jurisdictions
Executive Director pay in other jurisdictions
Where Executive Directors are paid most
Median total compensation for comparable Executive Director roles in other jurisdictions (highest first). Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not by identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for this role.
Within Rhode Island
Departments with this role
Largest Rhode Island departments for this role
Departments in Rhode Island employing the most people in this role. Each bar links to that department’s page for the role.