Firefighters in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,686
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$9,024
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,970
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
$46,710
Kept after tax
$37,686
Worth in national money
$37,970
State rank
38
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Delaware pays firefighters a middle wage of $46,710, 38 of 50 states and about 21.2% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 445 occupations Delaware reports figures for, this is number 320.
- No great distortion either way. Delaware costs about what the country costs, so from $46,710, take-home of $37,686 is worth roughly $37,970 in national money. The average comes to $53,420, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Delaware's $46,710 median for firefighters places it 38 of 50 states, about 21.2% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- In Delaware's occupational distribution, firefighters sits at 320 of 445 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Price parity in Delaware is near the national base, so for firefighters, whose median is $46,710, the adjusted figure of $37,970 differs little from $37,686 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $53,420 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Firefighters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,960 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,160 |
| This salary | $46,710 |
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 | $37,686 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,711 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,896 |
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 | $44,189 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,503 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Delaware earn less than $46,710. The published range is $41,960 up to $72,160, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $37,686 take-home in Delaware comes from $46,710. 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 320 of 445.
- Two cautions on $37,970, the adjusted value of that $46,710 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 320 of 445 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for firefighters in Delaware the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $41,960 to $72,160. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $37,686, from $46,710, 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 320 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 50 for it.
- This $37,970 adjusted figure, worked from $46,710, 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 320 of 445 in the state. The occupation ranks 320 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 $53,420, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $41,960 at the tenth percentile, $72,160 at the ninetieth.
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 $37,970.
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, $37,686 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $53,420. 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 ($41,960 to $72,160) 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 $37,970 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 $37,686 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.