Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,719
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$8,361
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,988
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
$44,080
Kept after tax
$35,719
Worth in national money
$35,988
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Delaware pays this job a middle wage of $44,080, ranking 14 of 51 states and sitting about 17.7% above the national middle.
- Within Delaware this is lower-paid work. Of 445 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 345. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Delaware costs about what the country costs, so from $44,080, take-home of $35,719 is worth roughly $35,988 in national money. The average lands at $42,720, below the middle of the range.
- Delaware's median for cooks, institution and cafeteria is $44,080, about 17.7% above the national figure and 14 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Against every occupation Delaware reports, cooks, institution and cafeteria ranks 345 of 445, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Delaware is near the national base, so for cooks, institution and cafeteria, whose median is $44,080, the adjusted figure of $35,988 differs little from $35,719 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $42,720 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,560 |
| This salary | $44,080 |
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 | $35,719 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,598 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,704 |
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 | $41,741 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,270 |
| 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 cooks, institution and cafeteria in Delaware earn under $44,080 and half over. The published range runs $35,870 at the tenth percentile to $47,560 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $35,719 take-home in Delaware comes from $44,080. 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 345 of 445.
- One number stands for prices across all of Delaware, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,988, the adjusted value of that $44,080 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 345 of 445 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, institution and cafeteria in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,870 to $47,560; 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.
- Retained pay of $35,719, from $44,080, 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 345 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Delaware, so $35,988 — the adjusted value of that $44,080 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 345 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $42,720 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $35,870 at the tenth percentile, $47,560 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 $35,988 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 $35,719 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 $42,720. 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 ($35,870 to $47,560) 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 $35,988 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 $35,719 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.