Average Salary in Delaware (DE)

Delaware punches far above its size in the US economy because of corporate law: more than 60% of Fortune 500 companies and roughly 80% of US IPOs are incorporated in Delaware, primarily because of the Court of Chancery and a highly specialised body of business precedent. That statutory infrastructure funds a large share of the state budget through franchise-tax revenue rather than personal income tax. The $79,325 median household income is above the national average, and the cost-of-living index of 103 is only slightly above baseline. New Castle County in the north (Wilmington, Newark) anchors the economy — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Barclays all run major operations there, and DuPont's historic chemicals footprint (along with successor entities DuPont de Nemours, Corteva, and Chemours) remains economically significant. The southern two counties (Kent and Sussex) have a very different economy driven by poultry (Perdue and Mountaire), tourism along the Atlantic beaches, and retiree in-migration. State income tax ranges from 2.2% to 6.6%. Delaware is one of just five states with no sales tax. The $13.25/hour minimum wage is above the federal floor and indexed. Detailed data follows.