Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,828
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$9,072
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,113
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
$46,900
Kept after tax
$37,828
Worth in national money
$38,113
State rank
48
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Delaware. The middle earner gets $46,900. That is 48 of 49 states, and about 18.34% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 317 among 445 occupations Delaware publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $46,900, tax leaves $37,828, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $38,113 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $53,160, since top earners drag the number up.
- For excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining, Delaware sits in the lower band at $46,900, ranking 48 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 18.34%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 317 of 445 in Delaware places excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Delaware sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining — median $46,900 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $37,828 retained, $38,113 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $53,160 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,480 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,440 |
| This salary | $46,900 |
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 | $37,828 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,864 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,910 |
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 | $44,366 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,520 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,900 as a midpoint for Delaware, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,480 and the ninetieth is $70,440 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Delaware the take-home figure of $37,828, from $46,900, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 317 of 445 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,113 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 317.
- The Delaware median of $46,900 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,480 to $70,440. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Delaware is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $37,828 from $46,900. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 317 of 445 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,113, worked from $46,900, 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 317 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 $53,160 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $36,480 at the bottom tenth to $70,440 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $38,113.
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 $37,828 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $53,160. 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 ($36,480) and the ninetieth ($70,440) 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 $38,113 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 $37,828 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.