Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,503
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$11,657
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,845
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
$57,160
Kept after tax
$45,503
Worth in national money
$45,845
State rank
34
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for earth drillers, except oil and gas is on the low side in Delaware. The middle earner gets $57,160. That is 34 of 48 states, and about 5.03% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Delaware, this sits in the middle: 250 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 $57,160, take-home of $45,503 is worth roughly $45,845 in national money. The average comes to $58,970, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For earth drillers, except oil and gas, Delaware sits in the lower band at $57,160, ranking 34 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 5.03%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Earth drillers, except oil and gas ranks 250 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 earth drillers, except oil and gas, whose median is $57,160, the adjusted figure of $45,845 differs little from $45,503 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $58,970 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: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,400 |
| This salary | $57,160 |
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 | $45,503 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,108 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,662 |
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 | $53,917 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,428 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $57,160 as a midpoint for Delaware, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $52,760 and the ninetieth is $70,400 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Delaware's $45,503, worked from $57,160. 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 250 of 445.
- One number stands for prices across all of Delaware, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $45,845, the adjusted value of that $57,160 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 250 of 445 in the state.
- The Delaware median of $57,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $52,760 to $70,400. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Delaware take-home of $45,503, on $57,160 for work ranking 250 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 250 of 445 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Delaware, so $45,845 — the adjusted value of that $57,160 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 250 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 $58,970, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $52,760 and the top tenth $70,400, 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 $45,845 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, $45,503 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $58,970. 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 ($52,760 to $70,400) 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 $45,845 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 $45,503 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.