Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,011
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$6,439
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,237
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
$36,450
Kept after tax
$30,011
Worth in national money
$30,237
State rank
41
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Delaware. The middle earner gets $36,450. That is 41 of 50 states, and about 7.2% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 445 occupations Delaware publishes, this job lands at 402. 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 $36,450, take-home of $30,011 is worth roughly $30,237 in national money. The average comes to $38,110, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service, Delaware sits in the lower band at $36,450, ranking 41 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 7.2%. 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 402 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 mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service, whose median is $36,450, the adjusted figure of $30,237 differs little from $30,011 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $38,110 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,340 |
| This salary | $36,450 |
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 | $30,011 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,468 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,145 |
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 | $34,638 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,594 |
| 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 $36,450. The published range is $31,750 up to $46,340, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Delaware the take-home figure of $30,011, from $36,450, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 402 of 445 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Delaware, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $30,237, the adjusted value of that $36,450 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 402 of 445 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service in Delaware the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,750 to $46,340. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Delaware is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,011 from $36,450. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 402 of 445 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Delaware, so $30,237 — the adjusted value of that $36,450 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 402 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 $38,110 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,750 at the tenth percentile, $46,340 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 $30,237.
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 $30,011 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $38,110. 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 ($31,750 to $46,340) 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 $30,237 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 $30,011 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.