Physical Therapist Aides in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,224
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$5,836
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,436
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
$34,060
Kept after tax
$28,224
Worth in national money
$28,436
State rank
27
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Delaware pays physical therapist aides around $34,060 at the midpoint, 27 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 445 occupations Delaware publishes, physical therapist aides lands at 422. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $34,060, tax leaves $28,224, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $28,436 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $34,930, since top earners drag the number up.
- For physical therapist aides the Delaware median is $34,060, ranking 27 of 50 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 422 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 physical therapist aides — median $34,060 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $28,224 retained, $28,436 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $34,930 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Physical Therapist Aides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,060 |
| Top tenth earn over | $42,750 |
| This salary | $34,060 |
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 | $28,224 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,547 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,970 |
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 | $32,413 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,383 |
| 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 $34,060. The published range is $31,200 up to $42,750, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Delaware's $28,224, worked from $34,060. 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 422 of 445.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $28,436 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 422.
- Reported values are medians; for physical therapist aides in Delaware the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,200 to $42,750. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Delaware take-home of $28,224, on $34,060 for work ranking 422 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 422 of 445 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $28,436, worked from $34,060, 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 422 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,200 at the bottom tenth to $42,750 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $28,436 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $28,224.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,200 to $42,750) 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 $28,436 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 $28,224 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.