Maintenance Technicians in the Providence area earn a median of $50,690 a year, 5% above the typical U.S. metro. That ranks #127 of 393 metros for maintenance technician pay nationwide.
Within driving distance, the same work pays more in Norwich and Worcester.
It's the only Rhode Island metro with published pay for this trade; see statewide maintenance technician pay, including rural areas.
Maintenance Technician pay in Providence at a glance
- Maintenance technicians in the Providence, RI metro earn a median $50,690 a year ($24.37 an hour), #127 of 393 U.S. metros (BLS, May 2025).
- The middle 80% earn between $36,440 and $75,630.
- After local prices, that median buys what $49,807 would in a typical U.S. place (BEA, 2024).
- A typical 1-bedroom rents for $1,529 a month, 36% of the median pay (HUD, FY2027).
Check your pay here
Enter a rate to see where it falls among maintenance technicians in Providence.
Comparing two real offers with overtime and commutes? Use the job offer checker.
What this means Our calculation
Pay for maintenance technicians here is above average compared with other U.S. metros, but high local prices take back much of it: on buying power it's below average. For the wider job market, unemployment is higher than in most metros (4.7%) and the population is growing at a typical pace (+2.1% since 2020).
Providence scorecard for maintenance technicians Our calculation
Grades compare Providence with every other U.S. metro for this trade (A = top 20%).
Pay Government data
Pay range
Shaded: the middle half of workers. Grey line: typical U.S. metro ($48,330).
Compared with nearby metros
What the pay is really worth in Providence Our calculation
Prices in Providence run 2% above the U.S. average. Adjusted for that, a median paycheck here buys what $49,807 would in a typical place, ranking #262 of 387 on real pay.
Real pay or rent burden?
Real pay already accounts for housing, because the price index includes rent. Rent burden shows what share of pay a typical 1-bedroom takes. Use either one, not both together.
Want the full picture? Build a monthly budget for Providence from this pay, local rent and prices.
What maintenance technicians do
Perform work involving the skills of two or more maintenance or craft occupations to keep machines, mechanical equipment, or the structure of a building in repair. Duties may involve pipe fitting; HVAC maintenance; insulating; welding; machining; carpentry; repairing electrical or mechanical equipment; installing, aligning, and balancing new equipment; and repairing buildings, floors, or stairs.
Most important day-to-day tasks
- Perform routine maintenance, such as inspecting drives, motors, or belts, checking fluid levels, replacing filters, or doing other preventive maintenance actions.
- Inspect, operate, or test machinery or equipment to diagnose machine malfunctions.
- Adjust functional parts of devices or control instruments, using hand tools, levels, plumb bobs, or straightedges.
- Repair machines, equipment, or structures, using tools such as hammers, hoists, saws, drills, wrenches, or equipment such as precision measuring instruments or electrical or electronic testing devices.
- Order parts, supplies, or equipment from catalogs or suppliers.
Outlook & getting started
Nationally, maintenance technician jobs are projected to grow 4.2% from 2025 to 2035 (all jobs: 3.5%), with about 148,700 openings a year. About 1% are self-employed.
What the work is like Government data
How often maintenance technicians deal with each condition, from surveys of workers in the job.
Getting started usually takes medium preparation (vocational training or an apprenticeship, often 1–2+ years).
O*NET 31.0 Work Context and Job Zones (U.S. Department of Labor), national.
Licensing in Rhode Island Official source
The main state licensing office in Rhode Island is the Rhode Island Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board. It can point you to the right license for maintenance technicians.
Official Rhode Island licensing site ↗
Requirements for maintenance technicians vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
On-the-job safety Government data
Nationally, maintenance technicians have 212 injuries or illnesses serious enough to miss work per 10,000 full-time workers, 2.5× the rate for all jobs (87). The most common cause is being struck by or caught in objects and equipment.
BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 2023–2024 (national, cases with days away from work).
How much work is there? Government data
Local job market
The Providence area's unemployment rate was 4.7% in 2025 (all workers, not just maintenance technicians), above the typical U.S. metro's 4.1%. It was 5.7% in 2021.
BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics, annual averages 2021–2025 (2025 preliminary).
Getting to work
The average commute in the Providence area is 28 minutes each way, longer than the typical metro (24 min). 19% of commuters spend 45 minutes or more. 72% drive alone, 2% take transit and 11% work from home (all workers, not just trades).
Census American Community Survey, 2024 1-year estimates (table S0801).
Population
The Providence area's population grew 2.1% from 2020 to 2025 (1,673,210 → 1,708,161), ranking #214 of 387 metros for growth (typical metro +2.5%). People moving in (net +40,279) account for more than all of the change.
Census Bureau population estimates, July 1 of each year, 2020–2025.
New construction
New-home permits in Providence are up 28% from 2021 to 2025 (2,258 → 2,894).
In 2025 the Providence area approved permits for 2,894 new homes (1,169 single-family), or 1.7 per 1,000 residents, ranking #318 of 393 metros.
Employee vs. working for yourself Your scenario
A model, not a market rate. It shows the break-even rate to match a $50,690 employee salary once you cover what an employer normally pays for (including the employer half of Social Security and Medicare, 7.65%), then adds your profit margin. Change any number.
Break-even rate
With your profit margin
How this calculator works. Weighing a contractor job against a W-2 one? Try the 1099 vs. W-2 comparison. Billable hours are hours you can charge a customer. Driving, quoting, paperwork and slow weeks aren't billable, which is why 1,400 is a common starting point versus 2,080 paid hours as an employee.
Get maintenance technician pricing & estimate templates →Compare Providence with another city →
Keep exploring
Could this trade pay more somewhere else?
ToolBest cities for maintenance techniciansRank every metro on pay, buying power, rent and jobs.Is a job offer here any good?
ToolCheck an offer in ProvidenceSee where it falls among local maintenance technicians, after the commute.Could you afford to live here?
ToolProvidence budgetMonthly take-home, HUD rent and local prices on this pay.About this data
Local to the Providence metro: pay (BLS, May 2025) and pay over time (2020–2025, CPI-adjusted), prices (BEA, 2024), rent (HUD, FY2027), new construction, housing, population and commuting (Census), unemployment (BLS) and business counts (Census, by industry). National: job outlook and training (BLS projections), injury rates (BLS) and duties (O*NET). Jobs are employment estimates, not open positions; grades rank Providence against every other metro for maintenance technicians. Every source, year and formula is on our data page.
Report a data issue on this page
The Census doesn't publish one-person business or competition figures for maintenance technicians as a separate industry, so that section is left out.