Respiratory Therapists in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$68,125
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$22,956
25.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,637
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
$91,080
Kept after tax
$68,125
Worth in national money
$68,637
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Delaware is one of the better-paying states for respiratory therapists. The middle earner takes $91,080, which ranks 12 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 10.7% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 445 occupations Delaware reports, respiratory therapists comes in at 105 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $91,080 the take-home is $68,125, which is worth about $68,637 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $92,190, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Delaware ranks 12 of 51 states publishing a median for respiratory therapists, at $91,080 — about 10.7% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Respiratory therapists ranks 105 of 445 occupations by median in Delaware, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Delaware's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for respiratory therapists on its $91,080 median: $68,125 retained after tax becomes $68,637 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $92,190 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Respiratory Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $79,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $91,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,890 |
| This salary | $91,080 |
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 | $68,125 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $72,905 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,387 |
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 | $84,285 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,822 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $91,080 as a midpoint for Delaware, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $79,210 and the ninetieth is $109,890 — 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 $68,125, worked from $91,080. 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 105 of 445.
- Two cautions on $68,637, the adjusted value of that $91,080 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 105 of 445 locally.
- The Delaware median of $91,080 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $79,210 to $109,890. 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 $68,125, on $91,080 for work ranking 105 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 105 of 445 in the state.
- This $68,637 adjusted figure, worked from $91,080, 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 105 of 445 in the state. The occupation ranks 105 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $79,210 at the tenth percentile, $109,890 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Delaware is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $68,637 in national terms.
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 $68,125 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($79,210 to $109,890) 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 $68,637 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 $68,125 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.