Nursing Assistants in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,185
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$7,845
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,443
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
$42,030
Kept after tax
$34,185
Worth in national money
$34,443
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Delaware pays nursing assistants around $42,030 at the midpoint, 25 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 445 occupations Delaware publishes, nursing assistants lands at 354. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $42,030, tax leaves $34,185, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $34,443 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $42,290, since top earners drag the number up.
- For nursing assistants the Delaware median is $42,030, ranking 25 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Delaware, this work ranks 354 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.
- Because Delaware sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for nursing assistants — median $42,030 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $34,185 retained, $34,443 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $42,290 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Nursing Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,080 |
| This salary | $42,030 |
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 | $34,185 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,951 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,554 |
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 | $39,832 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,088 |
| 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 nursing assistants in Delaware earn under $42,030 and half over. The published range runs $36,530 at the tenth percentile to $48,080 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $34,185 take-home in Delaware comes from $42,030. 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 354 of 445.
- Two cautions on $34,443, the adjusted value of that $42,030 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 354 of 445 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for nursing assistants in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,530 to $48,080; 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 $34,185, from $42,030, 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 354 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 51 for it.
- This $34,443 adjusted figure, worked from $42,030, 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 354 of 445 in the state. The occupation ranks 354 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,530 and the top tenth $48,080, so most people doing this work in Delaware sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Delaware sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,443 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $34,185 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($36,530 to $48,080) 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 $34,443 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 $34,185 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.