What Fast Food and Counter Workers earn in Providence County, RI
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $33,700: the median annual pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Providence County, RI. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $16.20 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 $34,070, which is 1.1% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 21,530 people working in this occupation across the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Providence County, RI has roughly 664,854 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $31,200 a year ($15.00 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $36,700 or more ($17.64 an hour). That is a gap of $5,500 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $31,200 at the 25th percentile and $35,200 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.2 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Providence County, RI is $16.20. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $33,700, and the same salary is $2,808 a month before taxes or about $1,296 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $13.72 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Providence County, RI compares
Compared with the Rhode Island average
Pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Providence County, RI is in line with the statewide figure: $33,700 locally against an employment-weighted Rhode Island average of $33,700, a difference of only $0 (0.0%).
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $31,431 across the contiguous United States. At $33,700, Providence County, RI pays $2,269 more, which is 7.2% 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 Providence County, RI
Among the 512 occupations with published wages in Providence County, RI, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks number 508 by median pay, ahead of about 1% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $110,360 a year, which is $76,660 more than the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $33,700 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $5,157 a year, which leaves $28,543, or $2,379 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $15 goes to taxes and $85 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $17,950. 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 $1,916, an effective 5.7% 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 $2,089 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $489. FICA totals $2,578, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Rhode Island
Rhode Island income tax on this salary is $664 a year, or 2.0% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 35% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $55 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 Providence County, RI
IRS Statistics of Income data for Providence County, RI show an average adjusted gross income of $72,802 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.2% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.1%, compared with the 5.7% 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 Providence County, RI
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Providence County, RI: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $28,543 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Providence County, RI is $1,509 a month, or $18,108 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,879 a month. For Fast Food and Counter Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 63.4% of take-home pay and 53.7% 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 10.2% of gross pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Providence 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
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $26,976 a year, 95% of take-home pay. That leaves $1,567 a year, or $131 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 4.6% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Can Fast Food and Counter Workers afford to live in Providence 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 $33,700 that ceiling is $843 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,509 is $667 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.02 an hour; the median for Fast Food and Counter Workers is $16.20, which is 44% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $13.72 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 25.4 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 $8,401.
How fast you can save
At $131 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 77 months (6.4 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 154 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Fast Food and Counter Workers pay in Providence County, RI
What is the hourly wage for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Providence County, RI?
The median is $16.20 per hour, based on $33,700 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $15.00 at the 10th percentile to $17.64 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Providence County, RI?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $33,700 becomes $28,543 a year. That is $2,379 a month, $1,098 every two weeks or $549 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Providence County, RI?
Total taxes are $5,157 a year, an effective rate of 15.3%: $1,916 federal income tax, $2,578 FICA and $664 Rhode Island income tax.
Is pay for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Providence County, RI above the Rhode Island average?
It is about the same. The local median of $33,700 is within 0.0% of the Rhode Island average of $33,700.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Fast Food and Counter Workers salary in Providence County, RI?
A one-bedroom costs $1,509 a month against take-home pay of $2,379, which is 63.4% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $843 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Fast Food and Counter Workers in Providence County, RI?
About $131 a month ($1,567 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 Providence 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 Fast Food and Counter Workers is $16.20.
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.