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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Chief Executives Salary: Rhode Island vs Wisconsin

Chief Executives earn a median of $211,810 in Rhode Island and $209,090 in Wisconsin. That is a nominal gap of $2,720 (+1.3%), with Rhode Island paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$211,810
Rhode Island median
$207,088 after COL
$209,090
Wisconsin median
$222,212 after COL
+1.3%
Nominal gap
Rhode Island leads
-6.8%
Adjusted gap
Wisconsin leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Rhode Island pays $2,720 more per year than Wisconsin for chief executives, a gap of +1.3%.

After adjusting for cost of living, the picture flips. Wisconsin actually offers more purchasing power, effectively paying $15,123 more in national-price-level terms (a +6.8% real gap). The higher nominal wage in the other location is eaten up by higher local prices.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for chief executives in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Chief Executives

Rhode Island

Median salary
$211,810
Mean salary
$290,840
Employment
N/A
Location quotient
N/A
Jobs per 1,000
N/A
COL-adjusted median
$207,088
Regional Price Parity
102.3%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Chief Executives page for Rhode Island →

Chief Executives

Wisconsin

Median salary
$209,090
Mean salary
$284,090
Employment
4,440
Location quotient
1.10
Jobs per 1,000
1.5
COL-adjusted median
$222,212
Regional Price Parity
94.1%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Chief Executives page for Wisconsin →

Related pages

Keep digging into chief executives from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.