Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,761
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$18,200
23.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,210
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
$77,960
Kept after tax
$59,761
Worth in national money
$60,210
State rank
15
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Delaware pays this job a middle wage of $77,960, ranking 15 of 51 states and sitting about 8.22% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Delaware, this sits in the middle: 139 of 445 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Delaware costs about what the country costs, so from $77,960, take-home of $59,761 is worth roughly $60,210 in national money. The average lands at $74,240, below the middle of the range.
- Delaware's median for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education is $77,960, about 8.22% above the national figure and 15 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education ranks 139 of 445 occupations in Delaware by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Price parity in Delaware is near the national base, so for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education, whose median is $77,960, the adjusted figure of $60,210 differs little from $59,761 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $74,240 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $95,220 |
| This salary | $77,960 |
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 | $59,761 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,675 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,316 |
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 | $72,396 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,343 |
| 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 $77,960. The published range is $51,420 up to $95,220, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $59,761 take-home in Delaware comes from $77,960. 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 139 of 445.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $60,210 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 139.
- Reported values are medians; for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Delaware the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $51,420 to $95,220. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $59,761, from $77,960, 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 139 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 15 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $60,210, worked from $77,960, 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 139 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $74,240, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $51,420 at the tenth percentile, $95,220 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $60,210.
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 $59,761 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.
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 $74,240. 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 ($51,420 to $95,220) 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 $60,210 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 $59,761 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.