English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$71,962
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$25,138
25.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,504
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
$97,100
Kept after tax
$71,962
Worth in national money
$72,504
State rank
4
of 49 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 $97,100, ranking 4 of 49 states and sitting about 23.29% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Delaware. It ranks 89 out of 445 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $97,100, tax leaves $71,962, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $72,504 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $99,090, since top earners drag the number up.
- Delaware's median for english language and literature teachers, postsecondary is $97,100, about 23.29% above the national figure and 4 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Delaware, english language and literature teachers, postsecondary ranks 89 of 445 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Delaware sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for english language and literature teachers, postsecondary — median $97,100 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $71,962 retained, $72,504 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $99,090 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,970 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $97,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $124,580 |
| This salary | $97,100 |
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 | $71,962 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $77,140 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,879 |
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 | $89,740 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,501 |
| 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 english language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Delaware earn under $97,100 and half over. The published range runs $63,970 at the tenth percentile to $124,580 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $71,962 take-home in Delaware comes from $97,100. 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 89 of 445.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $72,504 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 89.
- Figures are distribution medians for english language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $63,970 to $124,580; 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 $71,962, from $97,100, 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 89 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $72,504, worked from $97,100, 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 89 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $63,970 and the top tenth $124,580, so most people doing this work in Delaware sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $72,504 in national terms.
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, $71,962 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($63,970 to $124,580) 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 $72,504 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 $71,962 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.