How Delaware taxes a paycheck
Delaware taxes nothing on the first $2,000 of taxable income, then steps through 2.2%, 3.9%, 4.8%, 5.2% and 5.55% before reaching 6.6% at $60,000. The thresholds are identical for single and married filers, which is unusual and means a two-earner couple filing jointly reaches the 6.6% bracket on a combined $60,000. Delaware allows married couples to file separately on the same return for that reason, and most do.
The standard deduction is $3,250 single and $6,500 married, and personal exemptions are a $110 credit per person rather than a deduction. The brackets have not been indexed since 1999, so the 6.6% bracket that once applied to high earners now catches the median full-time salary. Delaware has no sales tax, which is the usual answer to why its income tax runs higher than its neighbours'.
How much taxes are taken out of paychecks in Delaware?
On a $60,000 salary in 2026, a single filer in Delaware pays about $5,020 in federal income tax, $4,590 in Social Security and Medicare, and about $2,650 in Delaware income tax, leaving roughly $47,740 a year or $1,836 every two weeks. The state share is about 4.4% of gross pay.
Wilmington is the one Delaware city with a wage tax: 1.25% on everyone who lives or works in the city, withheld by employers. On $60,000 that is another $750. No other Delaware municipality taxes wages.
Delaware compared with its neighbours
Delaware borders Pennsylvania (flat 3.07% plus local earned income tax of about 1%, or 3.74% in Philadelphia), Maryland (2% to 6.5% plus county taxes of 2.25% to 3.2%) and New Jersey (1.4% to 10.75%). On a $60,000 single salary the state tax is about $2,650 in Delaware, $1,840 in Pennsylvania, $2,490 in Maryland and $1,770 in New Jersey.
Once local taxes are added the ordering changes. Maryland's county tax adds roughly $1,600 at that salary and Philadelphia's wage tax adds $2,240, so a Wilmington resident's total of about $3,400 is below a Baltimore County or Philadelphia resident's. New Jersey's low brackets at modest salaries make it the cheapest of the four until income passes about $75,000.
Withholding forms and filing status in Delaware
Delaware employers withhold from Form W-4DE or the federal W-4, using Delaware's tables. Because the brackets are not doubled for joint filers, Delaware couples with two incomes almost always file separately on the combined return, which the state allows and its instructions recommend for that reason; the calculator's married figure uses the joint schedule and so overstates tax for a two-earner couple who file separately. The $110 personal credit is claimed per person.
Delaware has no reciprocal agreements. Non-residents who work in Delaware pay Delaware tax on those wages, which is why many Pennsylvania and Maryland residents employed in Wilmington file in two states. Delaware residents working in Philadelphia owe the city's 3.43% non-resident wage tax on top of Delaware's tax, with no Delaware credit for the city portion.