Office Clerks, General in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,716
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$8,024
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,978
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
$42,740
Kept after tax
$34,716
Worth in national money
$34,978
State rank
33
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Delaware is 33 of 51 states for office clerks, general, with a middle wage of $42,740. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against 445 occupations Delaware publishes, office clerks, general lands at 352. 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 $42,740, take-home of $34,716 is worth roughly $34,978 in national money. The average comes to $44,210, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Delaware ranks 33 of 51 for office clerks, general at $42,740. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Within Delaware, this work ranks 352 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 office clerks, general, whose median is $42,740, the adjusted figure of $34,978 differs little from $34,716 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $44,210 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Office Clerks, General
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,550 |
| This salary | $42,740 |
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 | $34,716 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,522 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,606 |
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 | $40,493 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,151 |
| 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 office clerks, general in Delaware earn under $42,740 and half over. The published range runs $31,200 at the tenth percentile to $59,550 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Delaware's $34,716, worked from $42,740. 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 352 of 445.
- Two cautions on $34,978, the adjusted value of that $42,740 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 352 of 445 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for office clerks, general in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,200 to $59,550; 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.
- The Delaware take-home of $34,716, on $42,740 for work ranking 352 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 352 of 445 in the state.
- This $34,978 adjusted figure, worked from $42,740, 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 352 of 445 in the state. The occupation ranks 352 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 $44,210, 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 $59,550, 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 $34,978 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, $34,716 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.
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 $44,210. 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 $59,550) 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 $34,978 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 $34,716 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.