- The middle half earn between $36.89 and $58.71 an hour.
- Only 6 states pay construction supervisors more at the median.
- Rhode Island pays more than both neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 2,060 construction supervisors on payrolls in Rhode Island.
- At the state median wage, a contracting business needs to bill about $153.83 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Construction Supervisor pay in Rhode Island, bottom to top
BLS calls this group first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers: the foremen and crew leads who run the work on site.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $28.00 | $58,240 | $25.62 |
| 25th percentile | $36.89 | $76,730 | $30.48 |
| Median | $47.40 | $98,590 | $38.42 |
| 75th percentile | $58.71 | $122,110 | $48.78 |
| 90th percentile | $63.41 | $131,890 | $61.66 |
| Average (mean) | $46.90 | $97,550 | $41.56 |
From the bottom tenth ($28.00) to the top tenth ($63.41), the top of the scale pays about 2.3 times the bottom in Rhode Island, close to the 2.4 times spread for construction supervisors nationwide.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $28.00 against $25.62 at the bottom tenth, and $63.41 against $61.66 at the top.
The average wage ($46.90) is a little under the median, so the low end of the range stretches further than the high end in Rhode Island.
How Rhode Island compares with other states
Over a full year, the Rhode Island median of $98,590 is $18,670 more than the national $79,920.
In the state ranking, Rhode Island sits 7th, between Alaska ($49.10) and Massachusetts ($47.04). The range runs from $29.44 in Arkansas to $52.68 in Washington.
Rhode Island pays construction supervisors more than any of its neighboring states, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Someone working near the border can earn more by taking work on this side of it.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in Rhode Island. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Rhode Island |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island | $47.40 | $98,590 | |
| Connecticut | $44.36 | $92,260 | −$3.04 an hour |
| Massachusetts | $47.04 | $97,850 | −$0.36 an hour |
How many construction supervisors work in Rhode Island
Rhode Island has one of the smaller workforces in the trade: 2,060 construction supervisors on payrolls, 0.3% of the 812,210 nationwide.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 4.1 per 1,000 jobs, 0.79 times the national share.
What a contracting business in Rhode Island should charge
Higher wages in Rhode Island go straight into the price. Take a contracting business in Rhode Island paying the state median of $47.40 and run it through the labor rate calculator with its starting numbers (40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit).
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $47.40 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $106,134 |
| Break-even rate | ($106,134 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $130.76 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $130.76 ÷ 0.85 | $153.83 |
That is $153.83 per billable hour, 3.2 times the wage, and $15.77 more than the $138.06 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $58.71 in Rhode Island, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $173.69.
At this wage the pay itself is the biggest part of the price, so every raise shows up in the rate: a dollar more an hour adds about $1.76 per billed hour.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 47-1011, first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: construction supervisor salary by state.