Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,913
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$8,427
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,183
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
$44,340
Kept after tax
$35,913
Worth in national money
$36,183
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Delaware pays this job around $44,340 at the midpoint, 31 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 445 occupations Delaware publishes, this job lands at 342. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $44,340, tax leaves $35,913, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $36,183 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $50,560, since top earners drag the number up.
- For exercise trainers and group fitness instructors the Delaware median is $44,340, ranking 31 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Delaware, this work ranks 342 of 445 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Delaware sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for exercise trainers and group fitness instructors — median $44,340 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $35,913 retained, $36,183 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $50,560 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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: Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,450 |
| This salary | $44,340 |
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 | $35,913 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,807 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,723 |
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 | $41,983 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,293 |
| 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 exercise trainers and group fitness instructors in Delaware earn under $44,340 and half over. The published range runs $32,150 at the tenth percentile to $76,450 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $35,913 take-home in Delaware comes from $44,340. 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 342 of 445.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $36,183 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 342.
- Figures are distribution medians for exercise trainers and group fitness instructors in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,150 to $76,450; 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 $35,913, from $44,340, 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 342 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 31 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $36,183, worked from $44,340, 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 342 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 $50,560, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $32,150 at the bottom tenth to $76,450 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $36,183 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Delaware then takes its own share, leaving $35,913.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $50,560. 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 ($32,150) and the ninetieth ($76,450) 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 $36,183 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 $35,913 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.