Library Assistants, Clerical in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,490
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$6,600
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,720
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
$37,090
Kept after tax
$30,490
Worth in national money
$30,720
State rank
22
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Delaware is 22 of 50 states for library assistants, clerical, with a middle wage of $37,090. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Delaware this is lower-paid work. Of 445 occupations the state publishes figures for, library assistants, clerical ranks 392. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $37,090 the take-home is $30,490, which is worth about $30,720 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $36,410, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Delaware ranks 22 of 50 for library assistants, clerical at $37,090. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Delaware reports, library assistants, clerical ranks 392 of 445, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Delaware's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for library assistants, clerical on its $37,090 median: $30,490 retained after tax becomes $30,720 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $36,410 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Library Assistants, Clerical
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $39,700 |
| This salary | $37,090 |
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 | $30,490 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,982 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,192 |
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 | $35,234 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,651 |
| 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 $37,090. The published range is $31,200 up to $39,700, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $30,490 take-home in Delaware comes from $37,090. 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 392 of 445.
- Two cautions on $30,720, the adjusted value of that $37,090 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 392 of 445 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for library assistants, clerical in Delaware the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,200 to $39,700. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $30,490, from $37,090, 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 392 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 22 of 50 for it.
- This $30,720 adjusted figure, worked from $37,090, 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 392 of 445 in the state. The occupation ranks 392 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,200 at the bottom tenth to $39,700 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 $30,720.
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 $30,490 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,200 to $39,700) 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 $30,720 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 $30,490 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.