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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll And Timekeeping Salary: Massachusetts vs Rhode Island

Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll And Timekeeping earn a median of $54,790 in Massachusetts and $53,230 in Rhode Island. That is a nominal gap of $1,560 (+2.9%), with Massachusetts 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.

$54,790
Massachusetts median
$51,807 after COL
$53,230
Rhode Island median
$52,043 after COL
+2.9%
Nominal gap
Massachusetts leads
-0.5%
Adjusted gap
Rhode Island leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Massachusetts pays $1,560 more per year than Rhode Island for human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping, a gap of +2.9%.

After adjusting for cost of living, the picture flips. Rhode Island actually offers more purchasing power, effectively paying $236 more in national-price-level terms (a +0.5% 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 human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll And Timekeeping

Massachusetts

Median salary
$54,790
Mean salary
$56,280
Employment
1,000
Location quotient
0.46
Jobs per 1,000
0.3
COL-adjusted median
$51,807
Regional Price Parity
105.8%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll And Timekeeping page for Massachusetts →

Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll And Timekeeping

Rhode Island

Median salary
$53,230
Mean salary
$54,730
Employment
190
Location quotient
0.63
Jobs per 1,000
0.4
COL-adjusted median
$52,043
Regional Price Parity
102.3%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll And Timekeeping page for Rhode Island →

Related pages

Keep digging into human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping 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.