Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Delaware

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,245
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$8,875
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,525
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
$46,120
Kept after tax
$37,245
Worth in national money
$37,525
State rank
43
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Delaware. The middle earner gets $46,120. That is 43 of 50 states, and about 4.41% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Delaware, this sits in the middle: 328 of 445 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Delaware costs about what the country costs, so from $46,120, take-home of $37,245 is worth roughly $37,525 in national money. The average comes to $50,430, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders, Delaware sits in the lower band at $46,120, ranking 43 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 4.41%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 328 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.
- Price parity in Delaware is near the national base, so for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders, whose median is $46,120, the adjusted figure of $37,525 differs little from $37,245 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $50,430 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: Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,550 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,780 |
| This salary | $46,120 |
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 | $37,245 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,237 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,853 |
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 | $43,640 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,451 |
| 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 coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in Delaware earn under $46,120 and half over. The published range runs $31,550 at the tenth percentile to $75,780 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Delaware the take-home figure of $37,245, from $46,120, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 328 of 445 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $37,525 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 328.
- Figures are distribution medians for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,550 to $75,780; 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.
- Take-home for Delaware is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $37,245 from $46,120. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 328 of 445 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $37,525, worked from $46,120, 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 328 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 $50,430, 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 $31,550, the highest tenth $75,780, 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 $37,525 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 $37,245.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $50,430. 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 ($31,550) and the ninetieth ($75,780) 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 $37,525 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 $37,245 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.