Dental Laboratory Technicians in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,545
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$6,955
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,782
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
$38,500
Kept after tax
$31,545
Worth in national money
$31,782
State rank
44
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Delaware is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $38,500, ranking 44 of 46 states — about 22.39% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Delaware, this one sits low: 373 of 445 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $38,500 the take-home is $31,545, which is worth about $31,782 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $43,600, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Delaware ranks 44 of 46 for dental laboratory technicians, with a median of $38,500 — about 22.39% 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.
- Dental laboratory technicians occupies position 373 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 dental laboratory technicians on its $38,500 median: $31,545 retained after tax becomes $31,782 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $43,600 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Dental Laboratory Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,200 |
| This salary | $38,500 |
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 | $31,545 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,115 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,295 |
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 | $36,546 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,776 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Delaware earn less than $38,500. The published range is $38,410 up to $61,200, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $31,545 take-home in Delaware comes from $38,500. 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 373 of 445.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,782 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 373.
- Reported values are medians; for dental laboratory technicians in Delaware the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,410 to $61,200. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $31,545, from $38,500, 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 373 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 46 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,782, worked from $38,500, 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 373 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 $43,600 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $38,410 and the top tenth $61,200, so most people doing this work in Delaware sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $31,782 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Delaware's own levy, $31,545 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $43,600. 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 ($38,410 to $61,200) 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 $31,782 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 $31,545 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.