Highway Maintenance Workers in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,743
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$8,707
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,020
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
$45,450
Kept after tax
$36,743
Worth in national money
$37,020
State rank
40
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Delaware is among the lower-paying states for highway maintenance workers. The middle earner takes $45,450, ranking 40 of 49 states — about 9.57% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Highway maintenance workers ranks 331 among 445 occupations Delaware publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $45,450 the take-home is $36,743, which is worth about $37,020 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $47,160, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Delaware ranks 40 of 49 for highway maintenance workers, with a median of $45,450 — about 9.57% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 331 of 445 in Delaware places highway maintenance workers 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.
- Delaware's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for highway maintenance workers on its $45,450 median: $36,743 retained after tax becomes $37,020 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $47,160 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Highway Maintenance Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,680 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,050 |
| This salary | $45,450 |
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 | $36,743 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,699 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,804 |
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 | $43,016 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,391 |
| 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 highway maintenance workers in Delaware earn under $45,450 and half over. The published range runs $35,680 at the tenth percentile to $63,050 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Delaware's $36,743, worked from $45,450. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 331 of 445.
- Two cautions on $37,020, the adjusted value of that $45,450 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 331 of 445 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for highway maintenance workers in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,680 to $63,050; 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.
- The Delaware take-home of $36,743, on $45,450 for work ranking 331 of 445 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 331 of 445 in the state.
- This $37,020 adjusted figure, worked from $45,450, 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 331 of 445 in the state. The occupation ranks 331 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 $47,160 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,680 at the bottom tenth to $63,050 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $37,020.
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 $36,743.
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 $47,160. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,680 to $63,050) 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 $37,020 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 $36,743 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.