Median pay · Delaware
$161,270A year, or $78 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile1 in 10 earn less | $77,980 | $37 |
| 25th percentile | $107,880 | $52 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $161,270 | $78 |
| 75th percentile | $175,750 | $84 |
| 90th percentile1 in 10 earn more | $188,490 | $91 |
| MeanAll pay divided by all jobs | $142,820 | $69 |
Wage survey · BLS May 2025
How we got this
- Median wage in DelawareBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$161,270
- Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$77.54
- Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$9,349 a month at an effective rate of 30.4%.$112,191 a year
- Worth at national average pricesPrices in Delaware sit at 99.8 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$161,580
- Against the national medianThe national median is $136,570.18.1% above
- Jobs countedA concentration of 1.39 against the nation's 1.00.190
What we assumed
- Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
- OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
- Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
- Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
What lands in the bank
Tax year 2026 · InteractiveEstimated on the median salary of $161,270 in Delaware, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.
Run the numbers on your own pay
Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.
What $161,270 is worth in Delaware
Prices in Delaware sit at 99.8 against a national average of 100, so $161,270 earned here buys what $161,580 buys at national average prices.
- Rents. 102 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
- Against local households. The median household in Delaware takes in $84,954, so this occupation's median is 1.9 times that, on one income.
- How common the job is here. 39% more concentrated in Delaware than in the country as a whole.
Reading the numbers
What stands out for optometrists in Delaware
One median paycheck here is 1.9 times the median household income in Delaware ($84,954), a figure that counts every earner in the home.
Even the lowest-paid 10% of optometrists in Delaware make at least $77,980 a year.
Delaware income tax takes about 5.8% of the median wage, roughly $9,303 a year, on top of federal tax and FICA.
Common questions
Optometrists pay in Delaware, answered
How much do optometrists make in Delaware?
The median wage for optometrists in Delaware is $161,270 a year, or $77.54 an hour.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
What is the average Optometrists salary in Delaware?
BLS’s mean (average) wage for optometrists in Delaware is $142,820 a year. The median is $161,270.
The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.
What is the hourly pay for optometrists in Delaware?
The median hourly wage is $77.54. At a full-time year that lines up with about $161,270 a year.
BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.
What is the starting salary for optometrists in Delaware?
BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Delaware, the lowest-paid 10% of optometrists earn under $77,980 a year and a quarter earn under $107,880 ($37.49 and $51.87 an hour).
New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.
What is the salary range for optometrists in Delaware?
The overall salary range for optometrists in Delaware spans from $77,980 for the bottom 10% to $188,490 for top earners.
The middle 50% earn between $107,880 and $175,750 a year, with the overall median at $161,270.
What is the take-home pay for optometrists in Delaware?
On the median wage of $161,270, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $112,191 a year, or roughly $9,349 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 30.4%.
Delaware takes $9,303 of it in state income tax.
How much does optometrists make a month in Delaware?
On the median annual salary of $161,270, estimated take-home pay is roughly $9,349 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.
For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $4,315 net.
Do optometrists earn more in Delaware than in the rest of the country?
Yes. The median in Delaware is 18.1% above the national median of $136,570.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Delaware sit at 99.8 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
Is $161,270 a good salary in Delaware?
It is 1.9 times the median household income of $84,954. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in Delaware run at 99.8 against a national average of 100, with rents at 102, so $161,270 here buys about what $161,580 buys at national average prices.
What do the highest-paid optometrists earn in Delaware?
The top tenth earn $188,490 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $77,980.
Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Delaware someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
How many optometrists are there in Delaware?
The survey counted 190 of these jobs in Delaware for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 39% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.