Education Administrators, Postsecondary in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$91,889
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$36,681
28.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$92,581
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
$128,570
Kept after tax
$91,889
Worth in national money
$92,581
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Delaware's middle earner gets $128,570, putting the state 4 of 51 — about 22.93% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Delaware this is well-paid work. Of 445 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 40 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- No great distortion either way. Delaware costs about what the country costs, so from $128,570, take-home of $91,889 is worth roughly $92,581 in national money. The average comes to $154,330, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For education administrators, postsecondary, Delaware sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $128,570, ranking 4 of 51 and running about 22.93% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation Delaware publishes a median for, education administrators, postsecondary sits 40 of 445 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Price parity in Delaware is near the national base, so for education administrators, postsecondary, whose median is $128,570, the adjusted figure of $92,581 differs little from $91,889 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $154,330 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $82,640 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $128,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $331,850 |
| This salary | $128,570 |
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 | $91,889 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $99,144 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,445 |
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 | $118,065 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,239 |
| 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 education administrators, postsecondary in Delaware earn under $128,570 and half over. The published range runs $82,640 at the tenth percentile to $331,850 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $91,889 take-home in Delaware comes from $128,570. 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 40 of 445.
- Two cautions on $92,581, the adjusted value of that $128,570 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Delaware. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 40 of 445 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for education administrators, postsecondary in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $82,640 to $331,850; 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 $91,889, from $128,570, 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 40 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 51 for it.
- This $92,581 adjusted figure, worked from $128,570, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 40 of 445 in the state. The occupation ranks 40 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $154,330, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $82,640 and the top tenth $331,850 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $92,581 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $91,889 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 $154,330. 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 ($82,640) and the ninetieth ($331,850) 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 $92,581 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 $91,889 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.