Manicurists and Pedicurists in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,084
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$5,116
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,281
Delaware costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the bottom tenth 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
$31,200
Kept after tax
$26,084
Worth in national money
$26,281
State rank
41
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Delaware pays manicurists and pedicurists a middle wage of $31,200, 41 of 49 states and about 12.75% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Delaware this is lower-paid work. Of 445 occupations the state publishes figures for, manicurists and pedicurists ranks 442. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Delaware costs about what the country costs, so from $31,200, take-home of $26,084 is worth roughly $26,281 in national money. The average comes to $34,610, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Delaware's $31,200 median for manicurists and pedicurists places it 41 of 49 states, about 12.75% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Delaware reports, manicurists and pedicurists ranks 442 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.
- Price parity in Delaware is near the national base, so for manicurists and pedicurists, whose median is $31,200, the adjusted figure of $26,281 differs little from $26,084 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $34,610 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Manicurists and Pedicurists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,060 |
| This salary | $31,200 |
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 | $26,084 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,249 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,761 |
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 | $29,750 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,129 |
| 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 manicurists and pedicurists in Delaware earn under $31,200 and half over. The published range runs $31,200 at the tenth percentile to $38,060 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $26,084 take-home in Delaware comes from $31,200. 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 442 of 445.
- One number stands for prices across all of Delaware, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $26,281, the adjusted value of that $31,200 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 442 of 445 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for manicurists and pedicurists in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,200 to $38,060; 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.
- Retained pay of $26,084, from $31,200, 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 442 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Delaware, so $26,281 — the adjusted value of that $31,200 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 442 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $34,610, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,200 and the top tenth $38,060, so most people doing this work in Delaware sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Delaware is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $26,281 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Delaware's own levy, $26,084 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $34,610. 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 $38,060) 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 $26,281 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 $26,084 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.