What Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers earn in Bristol County, RI
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $60,610: the median annual pay for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Bristol County, RI. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $29.14 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $60,270, which is 0.6% below the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 7,030 people working in this occupation across the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Bristol County, RI has roughly 50,490 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $45,560 a year ($21.90 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $74,970 or more ($36.04 an hour). That is a gap of $29,410 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $52,030 at the 25th percentile and $64,910 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $29.14 an hour or $60,610 a year at the median for Bristol County, RI. Before any deductions, that is $5,051 a month, $2,331 every two weeks and $1,166 each week. After taxes the same job pays $23.63 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers this way: "Drive a tractor-trailer combination or a truck with a capacity of at least 26,001 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). May be required to unload truck. Requires commercial drivers' license. Includes tow truck drivers."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Check vehicles to ensure that mechanical, safety, and emergency equipment is in good working order"; "Maintain logs of working hours or of vehicle service or repair status, following applicable state and federal regulations"; "Obtain receipts or signatures for delivered goods and collect payment for services when required"; "Maneuver trucks into loading or unloading positions, following signals from loading crew and checking that vehicle and loading equipment are properly positioned".
Job outlook for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 2,221,200 jobs in 2025 to 2,305,000 in 2035, a change of +3.8%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 214,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.7% of current employment each year. About 7.3% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $58,640 for this occupation; the Bristol County, RI median of $60,610 is 3.4% above it.
How pay in Bristol County, RI compares
Compared with the Rhode Island average
Pay for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Bristol County, RI is in line with the statewide figure: $60,610 locally against an employment-weighted Rhode Island average of $60,610, a difference of only $0 (0.0%). Within Rhode Island, Bristol County, RI already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers is $57,851 across the contiguous United States. At $60,610, Bristol County, RI pays $2,759 more, which is 4.8% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Bristol County, RI
Among the 512 occupations with published wages in Bristol County, RI, Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers ranks number 279 by median pay, ahead of about 46% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $110,360 a year, which is $49,750 more than the median for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers earning the Bristol County, RI median of $60,610, they add up to $11,454. The result is $49,156 of take-home pay a year ($4,096 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $19 goes to taxes and $81 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 18.9%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $44,860. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $5,145, an effective 8.5% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,758 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $879. FICA totals $4,637, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Rhode Island
Rhode Island income tax on this salary is $1,673 a year, or 2.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 33% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $139 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Bristol County, RI
IRS Statistics of Income data for Bristol County, RI show an average adjusted gross income of $135,478 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 17.4% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 8.1%, compared with the 8.5% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Bristol County, RI
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Bristol County, RI: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $49,156 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Bristol County, RI, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,509 a month ($18,108 a year), and at $1,879 for two bedrooms. For Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers, a one-bedroom absorbs 36.8% of take-home pay and 29.9% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 5.7% of gross pay for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Bristol County, RI. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Rhode Island residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $3,027 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $859, for $3,886 in total. Gasoline in Rhode Island averages $3.34 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,546.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $26,976 a year in Bristol County, RI. Subtract that from $49,156 of take-home pay and $22,180 remains, which is $1,848 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 36.6% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Bristol County, RI
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Bristol County, RI: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Bristol County, RI, set beside the Rhode Island and national medians.
Property taxes in Bristol County, RI
Homeowners in Bristol County, RI pay a median of $6,648 a year in real estate taxes, 36% above the Rhode Island median of $4,900 and 113% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $513,800, the median tax bill is 1.29% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers median of $60,610, a tax bill of that size would equal 11.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Bristol County, RI
Renters in Bristol County, RI pay a median gross rent of $1,528 a month in the Census survey, 14% above the Rhode Island median of $1,342. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,509 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $513,800, 27% above the Rhode Island median of $404,200. Median household income is $114,490, 30% above the Rhode Island median of $87,796, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 15.8% of that income.
Commuting in Bristol County, RI
Workers in Bristol County, RI who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.4 minutes each way, 4% above the Rhode Island average of 25.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.4 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 15.6% of workers in Bristol County, RI work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers afford to live in Bristol County, RI?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $60,610 that ceiling is $1,515 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,509 is $6 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.02 an hour; the median for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers is $29.14, which is 0% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $23.63 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 14.7 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,879 a month means $940 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,834 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $29,014.
How fast you can save
At $1,848 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 6 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 12 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers pay in Bristol County, RI
How much do Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers make per hour in Bristol County, RI?
The median is $29.14 per hour, based on $60,610 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $21.90 at the 10th percentile to $36.04 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers take home after taxes in Bristol County, RI?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $60,610 becomes $49,156 a year. That is $4,096 a month, $1,891 every two weeks or $945 a week.
How much tax do Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers pay in Bristol County, RI?
Total taxes are $11,454 a year, an effective rate of 18.9%: $5,145 federal income tax, $4,637 FICA and $1,673 Rhode Island income tax.
Do Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers earn more in Bristol County, RI than elsewhere in Rhode Island?
It is about the same. The local median of $60,610 is within 0.0% of the Rhode Island average of $60,610.
Can Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Bristol County, RI?
A one-bedroom costs $1,509 a month against take-home pay of $4,096, which is 36.8% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,515 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Bristol County, RI?
About $1,848 a month ($22,180 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $26,976 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Bristol County, RI at the 30% guideline?
$29.02 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,108 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers is $29.14.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Rhode Island rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.