Special Education Teachers, Preschool in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,066
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$12,184
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,420
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
$59,250
Kept after tax
$47,066
Worth in national money
$47,420
State rank
34
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Delaware is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $59,250, ranking 34 of 45 states — about 8.61% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Delaware, this sits in the middle: 233 of 445 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $59,250 the take-home is $47,066, which is worth about $47,420 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $57,660, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Delaware ranks 34 of 45 for special education teachers, preschool, with a median of $59,250 — about 8.61% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Special education teachers, preschool ranks 233 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.
- Delaware's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for special education teachers, preschool on its $59,250 median: $47,066 retained after tax becomes $47,420 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $57,660 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Preschool
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,250 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,430 |
| This salary | $59,250 |
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 | $47,066 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,787 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,815 |
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 | $55,863 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,613 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $59,250 as a midpoint for Delaware, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,600 and the ninetieth is $63,430 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $47,066 take-home in Delaware comes from $59,250. 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 233 of 445.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $47,420 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 233.
- The Delaware median of $59,250 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,600 to $63,430. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $47,066, from $59,250, 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 233 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 34 of 45 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $47,420, worked from $59,250, 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 233 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $46,600 and the top tenth $63,430, so most people doing this work in Delaware sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $47,420 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, $47,066 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($46,600 to $63,430) 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 $47,420 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 $47,066 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.