Prices, pay, taxes, homes and family budgets, county by county, from the same official data the site's calculators use.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures price levels in every state against a national average of 100. Delaware scores 99.8 overall, so a $75,000 salary at average US prices buys what $74,856 buys here. Compare any salary with another state.
| Price level | Delaware (US = 100) | Rank, most expensive first |
|---|---|---|
| Everything | 99.8 | 20th of 51 |
| Rents | 102.0 | 19th of 51 |
| Goods | 96.2 | — |
| Other services | 101.2 | — |
Home electricity averaged 16.57 cents a kilowatt-hour in 2024, against 17.06 across all states. A gallon of regular gas cost $3.93 at the end of August 2026, against $4.12.
Across all 484,790 jobs the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts in Delaware, the median pay is $52,190 a year, or $25.09 an hour; that ranks 19th of the 50 states and DC. One worker in ten earns less than $31,650 and one in ten more than $127,690.
Delaware taxes wages in brackets, with a top rate of 6.6%. The brackets in Delaware. A single filer on the median $52,190, with no retirement or health deductions, takes home about $41,605 a year, or $1,600 every two weeks, after $4,083 of federal income tax, $3,993 of Social Security and Medicare and $2,510 of state income tax. Work out your own paycheck in Delaware.
The five occupations employing the most people, with their median annual pay:
| Occupation | Jobs | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Registered Nurses | 14,290 | $99,520 |
| Retail Salespersons | 13,400 | $35,360 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 13,310 | $31,300 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 11,820 | $34,320 |
| Cashiers | 11,450 | $33,490 |
Of the 20 largest occupations, the best paid are registered nurses ($99,520), accountants and auditors ($95,020), secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education ($77,960). See what common jobs pay in every state.
Across the 3 Delaware counties with their own Zillow home value, the median typical home is worth $374,640, and across the 3 with their own rent figure the median typical rent is $1,892 a month. A typical home costs 4.24 years of the county's median family income, at the median county.
With 10% down at 7.03%, the average 30-year rate on September 24, 2026, that home costs about $2,946 a month with tax, insurance and mortgage insurance, which takes $126,251 a year of income under the usual 28% guideline. The median family can afford its own county's typical home in 0.0% of Delaware's counties, against 44.9% of counties nationally. Try it with your own income.
At the median county, home values changed +1.6% over the past year and +24.6% over five years, and rents +2.7% over the past year.
The Economic Policy Institute prices what a modest but adequate standard of living costs in every county: housing, food, transport, healthcare, childcare, other necessities and taxes. In the median Delaware county, that comes to $53,932 a year for one adult and $109,219 for two adults and two children, of which $15,563 is childcare. The national averages are $47,367 and $101,771. Median family income in the median county is $95,047.
| Two adults, two children | Per year, median county | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | $17,904 | $1,492 |
| Food | $12,851 | $1,071 |
| Transportation | $18,404 | $1,534 |
| Healthcare | $18,994 | $1,583 |
| Childcare | $15,563 | $1,297 |
| Other necessities | $9,198 | $767 |
| Taxes | $16,586 | $1,382 |
Each line is its own median across counties, so the lines do not add up exactly to the total.
The Department of Education's College Scorecard lists 18 colleges in Delaware, 6 of them public. The median public college reports a cost of attendance of $27,939 a year, covering tuition, housing, books and other expenses. Ten years after enrolling, the median school's former students earn $41,448. Compare degrees and schools.
| Kent County | $374,640 | +2.3% | $1,742 | $88,298 | $107,585 |
| New Castle County | $369,618 | +1.6% | $1,892 | $112,402 | $121,302 |
| Sussex County | $491,790 | +0.2% | $2,270 | $95,047 | $109,219 |
A dash means the source publishes no figure for that county. Home values and rents are Zillow's own county figures only; counties Zillow does not cover are left blank rather than filled with a state average.
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Cost of living · Income tax · Child care costs
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County figures are medians across Delaware's counties, each counting once, so they describe the spread of places rather than of people. Property tax and insurance vary widely; the calculators let you use your own.