Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,271
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$14,509
21.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,672
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
$67,780
Kept after tax
$53,271
Worth in national money
$53,672
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Delaware sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $67,780, ranking 20 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Delaware, this sits in the middle: 170 of 445 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $67,780 the take-home is $53,271, which is worth about $53,672 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $71,270, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Delaware occupies the middle band for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education: a median of $67,780, ranking 20 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education ranks 170 of 445 occupations in Delaware by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Delaware's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education on its $67,780 median: $53,271 retained after tax becomes $53,672 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $71,270 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $67,780 |
| Top tenth earn over | $94,760 |
| This salary | $67,780 |
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 | $53,271 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,513 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,484 |
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 | $63,585 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,583 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $67,780 as a midpoint for Delaware, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $48,310 and the ninetieth is $94,760 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Delaware's $53,271, worked from $67,780. 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 170 of 445.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $53,672 uses one figure for the whole of Delaware. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 445 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 170.
- The Delaware median of $67,780 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $48,310 to $94,760. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Delaware take-home of $53,271, on $67,780 for work ranking 170 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 170 of 445 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $53,672, worked from $67,780, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Delaware address, on work sitting at 170 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $71,270, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $48,310 at the bottom tenth to $94,760 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 $53,672.
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, $53,271 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $71,270. 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 ($48,310 to $94,760) 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 $53,672 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 $53,271 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.