Surgical Technologists in Delaware

A stethoscope and folded scrubs in a sunlit clinical workspace.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$49,310

after federal, FICA and Delaware tax

Tax takes

$12,940

20.8% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$49,681

Delaware costs less than average

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

$62,250

Kept after tax

$49,310

Worth in national money

$49,681

State rank

32

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Delaware sits in the middle of the pack for surgical technologists. The median is $62,250, ranking 32 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
  • Against other work in Delaware, this sits in the middle: 209 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 $62,250 the take-home is $49,310, which is worth about $49,681 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $64,320, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • Delaware occupies the middle band for surgical technologists: a median of $62,250, ranking 32 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
  • Surgical technologists ranks 209 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 surgical technologists on its $62,250 median: $49,310 retained after tax becomes $49,681 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $64,320 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Surgical Technologists

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$48,150
Half earn under$62,250
Top tenth earn over$79,310
This salary$62,250

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

Compare with
+$2,888take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Delaware$49,310
Take-home in Texas$52,198
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$4,034

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

Moving to
$0now · $62,250$57,371
$57,371in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$58,656
You could take a cut of−$4,879
Prices in Texas97 vs 99

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Half the people doing this work in Delaware earn less than $62,250. The published range is $48,150 up to $79,310, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • In Delaware the take-home figure of $49,310, from $62,250, 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 209 of 445 occupations here.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $49,681 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 209.
  • Reported values are medians; for surgical technologists in Delaware the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $48,150 to $79,310. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • Take-home for Delaware is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $49,310 from $62,250. 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 209 of 445 locally.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $49,681, worked from $62,250, 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 209 of 445 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $64,320, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $48,150 at the tenth percentile, $79,310 at the ninetieth.

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 $49,681.

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, $49,310 remains.

Can I compare this job across every state?

Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.

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 $64,320. 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 ($48,150 to $79,310) 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 $49,681 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 $49,310 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.