Cooks, Restaurant in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,051
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$6,789
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,285
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
$37,840
Kept after tax
$31,051
Worth in national money
$31,285
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Delaware sits in the middle of the pack for cooks, restaurant. The median is $37,840, ranking 19 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Delaware, this one sits low: 381 of 445 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $37,840 the take-home is $31,051, which is worth about $31,285 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $39,190, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Delaware occupies the middle band for cooks, restaurant: a median of $37,840, ranking 19 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Cooks, restaurant occupies position 381 of 445 in Delaware's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Delaware's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for cooks, restaurant on its $37,840 median: $31,051 retained after tax becomes $31,285 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $39,190 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Cooks, Restaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,940 |
| This salary | $37,840 |
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 | $31,051 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,584 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,247 |
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 | $35,932 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,717 |
| 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, restaurant in Delaware earn under $37,840 and half over. The published range runs $31,250 at the tenth percentile to $46,940 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 $31,051, worked from $37,840. 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 381 of 445.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,285 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 381.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, restaurant in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,250 to $46,940; 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 $31,051, on $37,840 for work ranking 381 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 381 of 445 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,285, worked from $37,840, 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 381 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 $39,190 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 — $31,250 at the tenth percentile, $46,940 at the ninetieth.
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 $31,285 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 $31,051.
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 $39,190. 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 ($31,250 to $46,940) 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 $31,285 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 $31,051 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.