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.

484,790jobs

$52,190median annual wage5% above the median of the fifty-one state medians.

5major groups above the nationOf 22, running at least 15% more concentrated here than nationally.

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.

Delaware, occupational major groups. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025.
Occupation group	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

Development Index profile →Who is arriving and leaving →Economic development offices →

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 ↗