Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,427
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$29,383
27.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$80,025
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
$108,810
Kept after tax
$79,427
Worth in national money
$80,025
State rank
7
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for physics teachers, postsecondary is strong here. Delaware's middle earner gets $108,810, putting the state 7 of 47 — about 8.47% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Delaware. It ranks 53 out of 445 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $108,810, tax leaves $79,427, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $80,025 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $131,110, since top earners drag the number up.
- For physics teachers, postsecondary, Delaware sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $108,810, ranking 7 of 47 and running about 8.47% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within Delaware, physics teachers, postsecondary ranks 53 of 445 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Delaware sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for physics teachers, postsecondary — median $108,810 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $79,427 retained, $80,025 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $131,110 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Physics Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $83,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $108,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $214,320 |
| This salary | $108,810 |
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 | $79,427 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $85,378 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,835 |
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 | $100,352 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,822 |
| 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 $108,810. The published range is $83,040 up to $214,320, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $79,427 take-home in Delaware comes from $108,810. 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 53 of 445.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $80,025 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 53.
- Reported values are medians; for physics teachers, postsecondary in Delaware the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $83,040 to $214,320. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $79,427, from $108,810, 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 53 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 47 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $80,025, worked from $108,810, 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 53 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 $131,110, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $83,040, the highest tenth $214,320, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $80,025 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Delaware adds its own income tax on top — which is why $79,427 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 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 $131,110. 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 ($83,040) and the ninetieth ($214,320) 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 $80,025 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 $79,427 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.