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Wilmington, Delaware Paycheck Calculator (2026)

Enter your annual salary below to see your Wilmington, Delaware take-home pay after federal, state, FICA, and city/local taxes for 2026.

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Delaware-Pennsylvania, Delaware-New Jersey, and Delaware-Maryland cross-state crediting for Wilmington residents working over the border is handled at filing rather than in the engine; the calculator applies the Wilmington wage tax to the full Wilmington-earned wage base.

Quick answer

Yes. Wilmington, Delaware's largest city, levies a 1.25% city wage tax on wages earned within city limits, applied to residents and to non-residents who work there. At $85,000 single, take-home is $62,846 after federal tax, FICA, Delaware's progressive state line, the Wilmington wage tax, and Delaware Paid Leave.

Wilmington is Delaware's largest city, sitting on the Christina River where it meets the Delaware River in New Castle County, and levies a 1.25% wage tax on wages earned within city limits regardless of residency. The DuPont chemical company headquartered downtown for nearly two centuries; corporate successors Chemours, Corteva, and DowDuPont's legacy entities still occupy the city. Wilmington's banking economy emerged after the 1981 Financial Center Development Act made Delaware attractive for credit-card operations, anchored by Wilmington Trust and the Bank of America Tower (formerly MBNA, the tallest building in the state). Joe Biden, who represented Delaware in the US Senate for 36 years, has called Wilmington home since the 1970s. Riverfront Wilmington redevelopment converted former industrial sites along the Christina to mixed-use waterfront. Delaware Paid Leave appears on every DE pay stub as a small employee contribution, totaling $340 at this salary. $85,000 of W-2 gross produces a federal income tax of $9,870, with Delaware state tax at $4,379, FICA combined at $6,503, and the Wilmington wage tax line at $1,063, for take-home of $62,846. Adjust the calculator above for 401(k) or HSA contributions to see how the Wilmington stack responds.

$85,000 single filer take-home comparison

Wilmington, Delaware

$62,800

Delaware (no city tax)

$63,900

Texas (no income tax)

$68,600

Wilmington, Delaware take-home is -$1,100 vs the state-only figure and -$5,800 vs the no-income-tax baseline.

Wilmington, Delaware local tax breakdown

Local bracket schedule applied by the calculator for 2026.

Taxable IncomeRate
$0+1.25%

What this estimate includes

This calculator computes Wilmington, Delaware take-home pay using 2026 federal brackets after the standard deduction, FICA contributions (Social Security up to the annual wage base, Medicare on all wages, plus the Additional Medicare Tax above the filing-status threshold), Delaware's state income tax schedule, the Wilmington, Delaware local income tax, and state-administered payroll programs (Delaware Paid Leave). It excludes employer-side payroll taxes, custom W-4 elections, supplemental-wage handling for bonuses or equity vesting, and income from sources other than W-2 wages. Per-city resident and non-resident rules are described in the prose above where they differ.

Wilmington, Delaware paycheck FAQ

What is the federal tax bill on $85,000 single in Wilmington?
$85,000 of W-2 gross produces a federal income tax of $9,870 for a single filer, with the marginal slice taxed in the 22% bracket after the standard deduction. Federal mechanics run identically across all states, so a Wilmington single filer sees the same federal line as a Philadelphia or Baltimore counterpart at the same gross.
How is Wilmington's city wage tax structured?
Wilmington's 1.25% city wage tax applies to wages earned within city limits, withheld at the source by employers. The rate is uniform: residents pay 1.25% on Wilmington-earned wages, and non-residents working in Wilmington pay the same 1.25%, with no separate resident-vs-non-resident split. Self-employed workers in the city file directly with the city's Earned Income Tax office.
What if I live in Wilmington but work in Pennsylvania?
Delaware-Pennsylvania reciprocity does not exist, so a Wilmington resident working across the border in PA owes Pennsylvania state tax on those wages, with Delaware giving a credit for taxes paid to PA. The Wilmington wage tax applies only to wages earned within Wilmington city limits; cross-state commuters do not owe it on their PA-earned wages.
How much does a 401(k) contribution save at $85,000 in Wilmington?
Each dollar of traditional 401(k) or HSA contribution drops federal and Delaware taxable wages at the 28.6% combined marginal. The Wilmington wage tax, computed on gross wages under city ordinance, generally does not shrink with pre-tax deferrals. So pre-tax savings hit the federal and state lines, while the city wage tax stays flat against the underlying paycheck.
What changes for married filing jointly, head of household, or filing separately at $85,000 in Wilmington?
Filing as MFJ shifts take-home to $67,091, a swing of $4,245 more the single estimate. Wider federal MFJ brackets and the doubled federal standard deduction drive most of the change. Delaware uses the same bracket schedule for joint filers, so the state line moves mostly with federal-side AGI. Wilmington's 1.25% wage tax applies per worker across all four filing statuses. Head of Household reaches about $65,768, around $2,922 more than Single, and combined MFS take-home runs about $4,245 less than MFJ.
How does Wilmington compare to Philadelphia?
Philadelphia's resident wage tax sits well above Wilmington's 1.25%, multiple times higher. Combined with Delaware's progressive state tax, a Wilmington wage earner's state-and-city load runs meaningfully below a Philadelphia resident's. The two cities sit roughly 30 miles apart on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, with cross-river commute patterns common in both directions.

See also

Run the full Delaware paycheck calculatorBrowse all city paycheck calculatorsBrowse paycheck calculators by statePaycheck and tax glossaryHow we calculate paycheck taxes

Reviewed

How This Page Is Reviewed

The Wilmington, Delaware paycheck page is reviewed against primary federal, state, and city sources before each major tax-year update. Source links below are the references used to validate brackets, wage bases, and supported local taxes.

Reviewed by

PaycheckCalc Research Desk

Last reviewed

2026-06-25