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Rhode Island’s Road and Bridge Program: High Spending, Heavy Debt, Uneven Results
Spending on bridges and roads represents one of Rhode Island’s most substantial capital commitments, with over $1 billion expended annually in combined state and federal revenues. Launched in 2016, the RhodeWorks program reduced the number of structurally deficient bridges in the state by nearly half through targeted spending. However, this concentrated focus came with trade-offs: ...
Rhode Island Police and Fire Spending Very High and Growing
Rhode Island spends substantially more on police and fire protection than most states. Funded largely through local revenues, these expenditures are key drivers of the property tax burden of Rhode Island residents and businesses. The taxpayer burden varies considerably across communities, reflecting differences in how these services are delivered and wide variations in staffing, compensation, ...
Rhode Island Labor Market Weakens in Q2 2026
PROVIDENCE, RI – – Rhode Island’s labor market weakened in the second quarter of 2026, with a sharp decline in labor force participation and a substantial drop in the number of employed Rhode Islanders, according to the Rhode Island Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Quarterly Briefing released by the Center for Global and Regional Economic Studies ...
Rhode Island’s Medicaid Trajectory
State Policy and Rising Health Care Costs Push Spending Past Revenues Despite Declining Enrollments Under New Federal Restrictions Rhode Island’s Medicaid program represents the state’s largest public investment, representing over one-third of total state budget spending. Medicaid provides a critical safety net for nearly three in ten Rhode Islanders and fuels the state’s healthcare sector. However, sustaining this massive program poses a critical fiscal challenge. RIPEC’s comprehensive ...
Rhode Island’s K-12 System: High But Uneven Spending, Middling Results
Rhode Island’s large investment ($3.66 billion) in elementary and secondary education has not yielded correspondingly high levels of student outcomes. Analyzing Rhode Island’s K-12 spending and outcomes, RIPEC’s new report finds that the Ocean State’s per pupil spending levels are 8th highest in the nation. The report also finds wide variation in spending and outcomes across the ...
Rhode Island Property Taxes in FY 2026: Higher Increases and Growing Tax Shifts
Rhode Island Property Tax Update Higher Tax Increases in FY 2026 Burdens Continue to Shift to Businesses and Renters In FY 2026, about one in five municipalities exceeded the state-mandated 4.0 percent levy cap, andoverall property tax increases were higher than at any point in the last decade. As these increasestake hold, landlords, renters, and ...
Rhode Island’s Housing Strategy: High Costs, High Subsidies, Low Returns
Rhode Island’s Housing Strategy Rhode Island’s housing policies are in transition, moving from fragmented governance and historical underinvestment to a centralized strategy backed by record levels of capital directed toward housing production and preservation. Despite these historic outlays, policies that drive up production costs and subsidies have resulted in the production of relatively few housing ...
Rhode Island Labor Market Continues to Soften Despite Strong Consumer Demand in Q1 2026
PROVIDENCE, RI – Despite positive consumer demand, several of Rhode Island’s key economic indicators weakened in the first quarter of 2026, according to the Rhode Island Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Quarterly Briefing released today by the Center for Global and Regional Economic Studies at Bryant University and the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC). Employment—reflecting ...
The Economic Risks of Rhode Island’s Millionaire’s Tax Proposal
Rhode Island’s Millionaire’s Tax Proposal The Economic Risks of Becoming Less Competitive and Losing Taxpayers Governor Daniel J. McKee has proposed adding a fourth income tax bracket in his FY 2027 budget, which would tax income over $1.0 million at 8.99 percent—a 50 percent increase over the current 5.99 percent top rate. RIPEC’s analysis finds ...
Rhode Island’s Economic Prosperity Scorecard
Rhode Island’s Economic Prosperity Scorecard Rhode Island’s Economic Prosperity Scorecard provides a data-driven snapshot of the financial well-being of the state’s residents and the health of its economy. Utilizing a set of widely used federal economic data, the Scorecard compares Rhode Island to the U.S. overall and to other states, with a particular focus on neighboring ...
Chronic Absenteeism in Rhode Island: Significant Gains but Uneven Results
Chronic Absenteeism in Rhode Island Attendance Matters RI appears to have helped drive a sharp improvement in student attendance, reducing chronic absenteeism from its post-pandemic peak and producing one of the largest declines nationwide. However, absenteeism remains a serious concern, with 22.1% of students chronically absent in 2024–25 and rates exceeding 40% in some district, ...
Mixed Performance for Rhode Island Economy in Q4 2025
PROVIDENCE, RI – Rhode Island’s economy experienced mixed performance in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the Rhode Island Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Quarterly Briefing, released by the Center for Global and Regional Economic Studies at Bryant University and RIPEC. Employment—reflecting the number of employed Rhode Islanders—continued a positive trajectory for a second consecutive ...
Highlights on the Governor’s FY 2027 Budget Proposal
RIPEC Brief Finds Governor’s FY 2027 Budget Holds State Spending in Check as Key Tax and Borrowing Decisions Await General Assembly On January 15, 2026, Rhode Island Governor Daniel J. McKee released his proposed state budget for fiscal year (FY) 2027, which begins on July 1, 2026, along with budget revisions for the current fiscal ...
Rhode Island Economic Indicators for Q3 2025 Signal Stability Amid Softening Growth
PROVIDENCE, RI – Reflecting resilience amid slower underlying growth, Rhode Island’s economic signals in the third quarter of 2025 were mixed, according to the Rhode Island Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Quarterly Briefing, released today by The Center for Global and Regional Economic Studies at Bryant University and the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC). In ...
RIPEC Analyzes November Revenue and Caseload Estimates
Despite Steady Revenue Growth and Drop in Medicaid Enrollment, Structural Deficit Still Looms Over Rhode Island Rhode Island’s Revenue and Caseload Estimating Conferences play a central role in the state budget process by setting the available general revenues and the expected expenditures for Medicaid and other public assistance programs. The November 2025 Conferences provided updated ...
How Rhode Island Taxing and Spending Compares
How Rhode Island Compares: State and Local Taxing and Spending How Rhode Island Compares uses the most recent available state and local revenue and expenditure data—for fiscal year (FY) 2023—to compare taxing and spending in the Ocean State to the United States and the New England region. Across 31 revenue and spending categories, this report ...
RIPEC Analyzes FY 2026 Spending in State Budget
Austerity Deferred Despite Softening Revenues and Federal Uncertainty After a period of extraordinary growth in state revenues and expenditures, Rhode Island continues to expand spending at a relatively high rate despite slowing general revenues and the uncertainty of future federal funding. Much of the increased spending in the FY 2026 budget is supported by one-time ...
Q2 2025 KPI Briefing Shows Concerning Trends for Rhode Island Economy
PROVIDENCE, RI – Rhode Island’s economy showed concerning trends across several key indicators in the second quarter of 2025, according to the Rhode Island Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Quarterly Briefing, released today by The Center for Global and Regional Economic Studies at Bryant University and the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC). Rhode Island’s labor ...