Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,550
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$18,080
23.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,998
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
$77,630
Kept after tax
$59,550
Worth in national money
$59,998
State rank
16
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 $77,630, ranking 16 of 51 states and sitting about 1.26% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 142 among 445 occupations Delaware publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $77,630 the take-home is $59,550, which is worth about $59,998 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $79,820, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Delaware's median for stationary engineers and boiler operators is $77,630, about 1.26% above the national figure and 16 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.
- Position 142 of 445 in Delaware places stationary engineers and boiler operators 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.
- Delaware's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for stationary engineers and boiler operators on its $77,630 median: $59,550 retained after tax becomes $59,998 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $79,820 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $71,700 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $89,920 |
| This salary | $77,630 |
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 | $59,550 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,443 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,289 |
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 | $72,097 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,305 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $77,630 as a midpoint for Delaware, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $71,700 and the ninetieth is $89,920 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Delaware's $59,550, worked from $77,630. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 142 of 445.
- One number stands for prices across all of Delaware, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $59,998, the adjusted value of that $77,630 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 142 of 445 in the state.
- The Delaware median of $77,630 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $71,700 to $89,920. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Delaware take-home of $59,550, on $77,630 for work ranking 142 of 445 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 142 of 445 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Delaware, so $59,998 — the adjusted value of that $77,630 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 142 of 445 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $71,700 at the bottom tenth to $89,920 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $59,998.
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 $59,550 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($71,700 to $89,920) 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 $59,998 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 $59,550 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.