Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,292
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$9,228
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,580
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
$47,520
Kept after tax
$38,292
Worth in national money
$38,580
State rank
41
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Delaware pays this job a middle wage of $47,520, 41 of 50 states and about 7.92% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 311 among 445 occupations Delaware publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Delaware costs about what the country costs, so from $47,520, take-home of $38,292 is worth roughly $38,580 in national money. The average comes to $49,480, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Delaware's $47,520 median for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders places it 41 of 50 states, about 7.92% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 311 of 445 in Delaware places separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Price parity in Delaware is near the national base, so for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders, whose median is $47,520, the adjusted figure of $38,580 differs little from $38,292 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $49,480 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,840 |
| This salary | $47,520 |
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 | $38,292 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,362 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,956 |
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 | $44,943 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,575 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,520 as a midpoint for Delaware, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,660 and the ninetieth is $59,840 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Delaware the take-home figure of $38,292, from $47,520, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 311 of 445 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Delaware, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $38,580, the adjusted value of that $47,520 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 311 of 445 in the state.
- The Delaware median of $47,520 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,660 to $59,840. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Delaware is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,292 from $47,520. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 311 of 445 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Delaware, so $38,580 — the adjusted value of that $47,520 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 311 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $49,480 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $36,660 at the bottom tenth to $59,840 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $38,580 in national terms.
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, $38,292 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $49,480. 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 ($36,660 to $59,840) 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 $38,580 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 $38,292 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.