Delaware and New Jersey at a glance
Delaware and New Jersey share a border, but a paycheck does not travel across it unchanged. A $60,000 salary leaves $23,506 a year after taxes and the four basics in Delaware and $18,395 in New Jersey.
Delaware comes out ahead by $5,111 a year ($426 a month). The calculation starts from the same gross pay in both states, subtracts federal tax, Social Security and Medicare, then each state's own income tax, and then the population-weighted cost of a one-bedroom rental, groceries, home energy and gasoline across 1,021,191 people in 3 counties in Delaware and 9,343,809 people in 21 counties in New Jersey.
Taxes: what each paycheck loses
Federal income tax ($5,072) and FICA ($4,590) on $60,000 are the same on both sides of the border. State income tax takes $2,653 in Delaware and $1,767 in New Jersey, which leaves take-home pay of $47,685 and $48,571.
At $100,000
At $100,000 take-home pay is $73,642 in Delaware and $74,721 in New Jersey, a difference of $1,079. The gap widens with income because graduated state brackets take a growing share.
Living costs
One-bedroom rent averages $1,407 a month in Delaware and $1,891 in New Jersey, so Delaware is $485 a month cheaper for housing. Food costs $3,436 a year in both, because the USDA Thrifty Food Plan is a national figure; home energy $2,333 and $2,562, and gasoline $1,532 and $1,484. Together the basics cost $24,180 a year in Delaware and $30,176 in New Jersey.
What the Census adds
Median household income is $84,954 in Delaware and $103,556 in New Jersey. Homeowners pay a median of $1,768 a year in property tax in Delaware and $9,590 in New Jersey. Commuters travel 26.0 minutes each way on average in Delaware and 30.5 in New Jersey.
Method
Taxes use the 2025 rules for a single filer with wage income only and the standard deduction. Housing and living costs are county figures from HUD (one-bedroom Fair Market Rent), the USDA Thrifty Food Plan and state energy prices from the Energy Information Administration, averaged across each state's counties and weighted by population, so large counties count more. Local income taxes are not included. Counties differ widely inside every state, so use the county pages for a specific place.