Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$73,932
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$26,258
26.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,489
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
$100,190
Kept after tax
$73,932
Worth in national money
$74,489
State rank
17
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Delaware sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $100,190, ranking 17 of 46 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Within Delaware this is well-paid work. Of 445 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 79 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $100,190, tax leaves $73,932, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $74,489 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $118,280, since top earners drag the number up.
- Delaware occupies the middle band for medical scientists, except epidemiologists: a median of $100,190, ranking 17 of 46. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Ranked against every occupation Delaware publishes a median for, medical scientists, except epidemiologists sits 79 of 445 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Because Delaware sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for medical scientists, except epidemiologists — median $100,190 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $73,932 retained, $74,489 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $118,280 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $214,040 |
| This salary | $100,190 |
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 | $73,932 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,314 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,131 |
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 | $92,540 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,850 |
| 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 $100,190. The published range is $65,520 up to $214,040, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $73,932 take-home in Delaware comes from $100,190. 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 79 of 445.
- Two cautions on $74,489, the adjusted value of that $100,190 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 79 of 445 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for medical scientists, except epidemiologists in Delaware the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $65,520 to $214,040. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $73,932, from $100,190, 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 79 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 46 for it.
- This $74,489 adjusted figure, worked from $100,190, 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 79 of 445 in the state. The occupation ranks 79 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 $118,280 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $65,520 and the top tenth $214,040 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $74,489.
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 $73,932.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 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 $118,280. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($65,520) and the ninetieth ($214,040) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $74,489 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 $73,932 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.