Truck Driver Pay in Rhode Island (2026)

Key numbers at a glance

Truck driver pay in Rhode Island: the numbers

Figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, May 2025 release. Rhode Island employs only about 3,620 of them — the smallest pool of any state in this series, so treat each percentile as a read on a compact market rather than a big statistical machine. The state pays a mean of $28.68 an hour, within cents of the $28.71 national mean. Annual figures assume 2,080 hours.

The interesting wrinkle is that Rhode Island's median ($60,190) beats its own mean and the national median — in a tiny market, the middle of the distribution holds up well because there is little rock-bottom through-freight work to drag the floor down, but the ceiling compresses too: the 75th and 90th percentiles trail national cuts, because the highest-paying specialized and private-fleet seats sit just over the border in Massachusetts, Connecticut and the New York orbit. Practical translation: Rhode Island is a solid median market, not a lottery ticket. BLS does not track CPM; Northeast regional positions commonly advertise roughly $0.62-$0.80 per mile, and local work usually pays hourly — confirm with carriers.

How miles and freight shape pay in Rhode Island

Rhode Island's freight economy is distribution-plus-ports in miniature. The Providence metro is the consumption base: grocery chains, foodservice, beverage, building materials and retail distribution hubs serve the state and spill into southeastern Massachusetts, mostly on hourly local and short-regional runs. The waterfront matters more than the state's size suggests: the Quonset-Davisville port facility in North Kingstown is an established auto-import terminal — vehicles roll off by the tens of thousands in a strong year (hedge: volume swings with carrier contracts) — generating car-hauler, drayage and lot-shuttle work, while ProvPort in Providence handles bulk and project cargo. And because the whole state sits on I-95, every Rhode Island driver is about an hour from Boston freight and under three hours from the New York orbit, so regional Northeast runs — consumer goods up and down the corridor — are a staple. It is a market where you are never far from a load and never far from home.

Structurally, local and regional work dominate (hedged): metro distribution and port moves on hourly or per-move pay, I-95 regional runs on mileage, and little true coast-to-coast OTR basing — most long-haul freight touching Rhode Island is handled by carriers headquartered elsewhere, with New England-based regional fleets doing the heavy lifting. For owner-operators, the play is Northeast density: short hops, tight deadhead, high dock-time frequency — so price detention honestly in the load profit calculator and verify the fuel surcharge treatment on short legs where surcharges pegged to long-haul baselines underpay. Compare other states on the truck driver pay by state hub.

The tax angle in Rhode Island

Rhode Island runs a graduated state income tax from 3.75% up to a 5.99% top rate, and a $59,660 mean wage commonly sits in the 3.75% bracket — a moderate state take by Northeast standards, far lighter than New York's or Oregon's top-end exposure. There is no local income tax on wages. The real cost-of-living pressure in Rhode Island is housing and utilities, not the income tax itself; drivers who live in the state but run Boston or New York lanes effectively import big-market wages at small-market tax rates, which is one of the better deals in the region. Owner-operators should still work the trucking tax deductions list, especially per diem on regional overnights. Verify current brackets with the Rhode Island Division of Taxation.