Social Science Research Assistants in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,558
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$14,672
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,961
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
$68,230
Kept after tax
$53,558
Worth in national money
$53,961
State rank
2
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for social science research assistants is strong here. Delaware's middle earner gets $68,230, putting the state 2 of 45 — about 10.07% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Delaware, this sits in the middle: 169 of 445 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $68,230, tax leaves $53,558, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $53,961 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $67,240.
- For social science research assistants, Delaware sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $68,230, ranking 2 of 45 and running about 10.07% 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.
- Social science research assistants ranks 169 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.
- Because Delaware sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for social science research assistants — median $68,230 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $53,558 retained, $53,961 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $67,240 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Social Science Research Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $68,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $96,770 |
| This salary | $68,230 |
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 | $53,558 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,830 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,521 |
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 | $63,942 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,683 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of social science research assistants in Delaware earn under $68,230 and half over. The published range runs $40,400 at the tenth percentile to $96,770 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Delaware the take-home figure of $53,558, from $68,230, 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 169 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 $53,961, the adjusted value of that $68,230 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 169 of 445 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for social science research assistants in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,400 to $96,770; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Delaware is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $53,558 from $68,230. 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 169 of 445 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Delaware, so $53,961 — the adjusted value of that $68,230 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 169 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $40,400, the highest tenth $96,770, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $53,961.
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 $53,558 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($40,400) and the ninetieth ($96,770) 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 $53,961 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 $53,558 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.