Civil Engineers in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$73,951
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$26,269
26.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,508
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
$100,220
Kept after tax
$73,951
Worth in national money
$74,508
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Delaware is 20 of 51 states for civil engineers, with a middle wage of $100,220. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Delaware. It ranks 78 out of 445 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- No great distortion either way. Delaware costs about what the country costs, so from $100,220, take-home of $73,951 is worth roughly $74,508 in national money. The average comes to $107,650, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Delaware ranks 20 of 51 for civil engineers at $100,220. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Within Delaware, civil engineers ranks 78 of 445 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Price parity in Delaware is near the national base, so for civil engineers, whose median is $100,220, the adjusted figure of $74,508 differs little from $73,951 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $107,650 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Civil Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $74,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,220 |
| Top tenth earn over | $153,100 |
| This salary | $100,220 |
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 | $73,951 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,335 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,133 |
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 | $92,568 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,853 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $100,220 as a midpoint for Delaware, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $74,560 and the ninetieth is $153,100 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $73,951 take-home in Delaware comes from $100,220. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 78 of 445.
- Two cautions on $74,508, the adjusted value of that $100,220 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Delaware. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 78 of 445 locally.
- The Delaware median of $100,220 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $74,560 to $153,100. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $73,951, from $100,220, assumes a single Delaware filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 78 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 51 for it.
- This $74,508 adjusted figure, worked from $100,220, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 78 of 445 in the state. The occupation ranks 78 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 $107,650, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $74,560, the highest tenth $153,100, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Delaware sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $74,508 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Delaware then takes its own share, leaving $73,951.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $107,650. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($74,560) and the ninetieth ($153,100) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $74,508 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 $73,951 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.