Occupational profile · 2025
Delaware
Delaware employs 484,790 people. The work it does most unusually is meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers, at 12.0× the national concentration — 5,430 jobs paying a median of $35,500.
What Delaware is distinctive for
Detailed occupations ranked by location quotient. A location quotient is an occupation’s share of a state’s jobs divided by its share of the nation’s. One means the state looks like the country; two means twice the concentration. It is a measure of distinctiveness, not of quality, size or pay. Bars use a logarithmic scale so the lower ranks stay legible beside the leader.
- 1Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers5,430 jobs · median $35,50012.0×
- 2Financial Risk Specialists1,160 jobs · median $139,4405.8×
- 3Chemists1,200 jobs · median $129,8604.7×
- 4Financial Specialists, All Other1,330 jobs · median $80,6103.2×
- 5Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders1,160 jobs · median $63,2002.7×
- 6Special Education Teachers, Secondary School1,160 jobs · median $78,4902.3×
- 7Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators5,230 jobs · median $60,3502.2×
- 8Paralegals and Legal Assistants2,480 jobs · median $63,1102.0×
- 9Financial and Investment Analysts2,290 jobs · median $101,8002.0×
- 10Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria2,680 jobs · median $44,0801.9×
- 11Loan Officers1,420 jobs · median $83,1301.7×
- 12Compliance Officers2,150 jobs · median $91,0501.6×
What Delaware is made of
All twenty-two occupational groups by headcount, with the concentration figure beside each. Most states look broadly alike in this view — that is the finding, not a flaw in it.
| Occupation group | Share of state employment | Jobs | vs national | Median wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office and Administrative Support Occupations | 60,820 | 1.10× | $48,330 | |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations | 45,960 | 1.08× | $35,720 | |
| Sales and Related Occupations | 43,920 | 1.05× | $37,520 | |
| Transportation and Material Moving Occupations | 42,670 | 1.00× | $46,190 | |
| Business and Financial Operations Occupations | 38,770 | 1.18× | $93,400 | |
| Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | 36,200 | 1.18× | $97,270 | |
| Educational Instruction and Library Occupations | 28,470 | 1.00× | $61,670 | |
| Management Occupations | 25,020 | 0.72× | $148,150 | |
| Healthcare Support Occupations | 24,030 | 0.98× | $37,860 | |
| Production Occupations | 19,030 | 0.71× | $39,860 | |
| Construction and Extraction Occupations | 18,650 | 0.93× | $59,360 | |
| Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations | 16,850 | 1.19× | $36,420 | |
| Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations | 16,300 | 0.86× | $61,480 | |
| Computer and Mathematical Occupations | 14,490 | 0.88× | $113,600 | |
| Personal Care and Service Occupations | 11,260 | 1.11× | $34,530 | |
| Protective Service Occupations | 10,450 | 0.89× | $51,540 | |
| Community and Social Service Occupations | 9,090 | 1.09× | $58,610 | |
| Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | 6,150 | 1.34× | $84,180 | |
| Legal Occupations | 6,150 | 1.51× | $98,900 | |
| Architecture and Engineering Occupations | 5,580 | 0.68× | $99,930 | |
| Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations | 4,030 | 0.63× | $59,910 | |
| Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations | 870 | 0.64× | $39,850 |
Elsewhere on Delaware
Blank cells are estimates BLS did not release, usually because too few employers reported. They are shown as gaps rather than filled. Detailed occupations are included only where at least 1,000 people are employed, below which a quotient is survey noise. A wage marked “$239,200 or more” is censored at source: BLS does not publish medians above that figure, so the number is a floor rather than the wage. A work of the U.S. government: no copyright subsists (17 U.S.C. §105). BLS OEWS ↗