Software Developers in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$94,637
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$38,383
28.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$95,349
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
$133,020
Kept after tax
$94,637
Worth in national money
$95,349
State rank
14
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for software developers is strong here. Delaware's middle earner gets $133,020, putting the state 14 of 50 — about 2.18% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Delaware. It ranks 29 out of 445 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- No great distortion either way. Delaware costs about what the country costs, so from $133,020, take-home of $94,637 is worth roughly $95,349 in national money. The average comes to $138,110, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For software developers, Delaware sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $133,020, ranking 14 of 50 and running about 2.18% 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, software developers ranks 29 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.
- Price parity in Delaware is near the national base, so for software developers, whose median is $133,020, the adjusted figure of $95,349 differs little from $94,637 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $138,110 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Software Developers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $96,620 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $133,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $174,390 |
| This salary | $133,020 |
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 | $94,637 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $102,185 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,807 |
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 | $121,976 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,865 |
| 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 software developers in Delaware earn under $133,020 and half over. The published range runs $96,620 at the tenth percentile to $174,390 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $94,637 take-home in Delaware comes from $133,020. 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 29 of 445.
- Two cautions on $95,349, the adjusted value of that $133,020 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 29 of 445 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for software developers in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $96,620 to $174,390; 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.
- Retained pay of $94,637, from $133,020, 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 29 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 50 for it.
- This $95,349 adjusted figure, worked from $133,020, 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 29 of 445 in the state. The occupation ranks 29 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 $138,110 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $96,620 at the tenth percentile, $174,390 at the ninetieth.
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 $95,349 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 $94,637 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $138,110. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($96,620 to $174,390) 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 $95,349 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 $94,637 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.