Helpers--Carpenters in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,119
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$5,801
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,331
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
$33,920
Kept after tax
$28,119
Worth in national money
$28,331
State rank
45
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for helpers--carpenters is on the low side in Delaware. The middle earner gets $33,920. That is 45 of 47 states, and about 22.52% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 445 occupations Delaware publishes, helpers--carpenters lands at 423. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Delaware costs about what the country costs, so from $33,920, take-home of $28,119 is worth roughly $28,331 in national money. The average comes to $36,460, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For helpers--carpenters, Delaware sits in the lower band at $33,920, ranking 45 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 22.52%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Delaware, this work ranks 423 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.
- Price parity in Delaware is near the national base, so for helpers--carpenters, whose median is $33,920, the adjusted figure of $28,331 differs little from $28,119 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $36,460 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Helpers--Carpenters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,990 |
| This salary | $33,920 |
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 | $28,119 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,435 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,960 |
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 | $32,283 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,370 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $33,920 as a midpoint for Delaware, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,200 and the ninetieth is $45,990 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $28,119 take-home in Delaware comes from $33,920. 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 423 of 445.
- One number stands for prices across all of Delaware, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,331, the adjusted value of that $33,920 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 423 of 445 in the state.
- The Delaware median of $33,920 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,200 to $45,990. 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 $28,119, from $33,920, 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 423 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Delaware, so $28,331 — the adjusted value of that $33,920 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 423 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 $36,460 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,200 and the top tenth $45,990, so most people doing this work in Delaware sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $28,331 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $28,119 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 47 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 $36,460. 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 ($31,200 to $45,990) 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 $28,331 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 $28,119 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.