Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,040
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$9,480
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,334
Delaware costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Delaware — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$48,520
Kept after tax
$39,040
Worth in national money
$39,334
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Delaware is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $48,520, ranking 44 of 51 states — about 18.52% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Delaware, this sits in the middle: 297 of 445 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $48,520 the take-home is $39,040, which is worth about $39,334 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $54,650, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Delaware ranks 44 of 51 for child, family, and school social workers, with a median of $48,520 — about 18.52% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Child, family, and school social workers ranks 297 of 445 occupations in Delaware by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Delaware's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for child, family, and school social workers on its $48,520 median: $39,040 retained after tax becomes $39,334 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $54,650 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Child, Family, and School Social Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $73,580 |
| This salary | $48,520 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Delaware | $39,040 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,166 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,029 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $45,874 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,663 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of child, family, and school social workers in Delaware earn under $48,520 and half over. The published range runs $44,440 at the tenth percentile to $73,580 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Delaware's $39,040, worked from $48,520. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 297 of 445.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $39,334 uses one figure for the whole of Delaware. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 445 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 297.
- Figures are distribution medians for child, family, and school social workers in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $44,440 to $73,580; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Delaware take-home of $39,040, on $48,520 for work ranking 297 of 445 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 297 of 445 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $39,334, worked from $48,520, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Delaware address, on work sitting at 297 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $54,650, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $44,440 at the tenth percentile, $73,580 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Delaware is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $39,334 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Delaware adds its own income tax on top — which is why $39,040 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Delaware is $54,650. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($44,440 to $73,580) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Delaware rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Delaware's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $39,334 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $39,040 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Delaware income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.