Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,824
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$11,766
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,169
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
$57,590
Kept after tax
$45,824
Worth in national money
$46,169
State rank
34
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Delaware sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $57,590, ranking 34 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 246 among 445 occupations Delaware publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $57,590, tax leaves $45,824, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $46,169 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $57,380.
- Delaware occupies the middle band for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers: a median of $57,590, ranking 34 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 246 of 445 in Delaware places heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers 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 heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers — median $57,590 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $45,824 retained, $46,169 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $57,380 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $69,770 |
| This salary | $57,590 |
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 | $45,824 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,454 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,693 |
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 | $54,318 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,466 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $57,590 as a midpoint for Delaware, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,850 and the ninetieth is $69,770 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $45,824 take-home in Delaware comes from $57,590. 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 246 of 445.
- One number stands for prices across all of Delaware, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $46,169, the adjusted value of that $57,590 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 246 of 445 in the state.
- The Delaware median of $57,590 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,850 to $69,770. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $45,824, from $57,590, 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 246 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 34 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Delaware, so $46,169 — the adjusted value of that $57,590 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 246 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $46,850 at the bottom tenth to $69,770 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $46,169 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $45,824.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($46,850 to $69,770) 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 $46,169 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 $45,824 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.