Delaware Paystub Generator

What Changed on Delaware Pay Stubs in 2026

Delaware Paid Leave Contributions Started in 2025, Benefits Started January 2026

The Healthy Delaware Families Act created the state's paid family and medical leave program. Payroll contributions began on January 1, 2025 at a combined rate of 0.8 percent of wages (0.4 percent medical, 0.32 percent parental, 0.08 percent family caregiving), capped at the Social Security wage base. Employers with 25 or more employees participate in all three lines; employers with 10 to 24 participate in parental leave only; employers under 10 are exempt. The employer may pass up to half of the contribution to the employee, so the most an employee sees on the stub is 0.4 percent, labeled DE Paid Leave or DE PFML. Benefits became payable on January 1, 2026, which is why 2026 is the first year a Delaware employee has a reason to check that the line has been withheld all along: a Paid Leave claim is verified against wage records.

Minimum Wage Holds at $15.00

Delaware reached $15.00 per hour on January 1, 2025 at the end of a four-step increase. Unlike Connecticut or Arizona, the rate is not indexed and there is no scheduled increase for 2026. Any stub for a non-exempt hourly employee should show at least $15.00, or $2.23 plus tips for tipped staff.

Income Tax Brackets and DE W-4 Unchanged

Delaware's individual income tax still runs from 0 percent on the first $2,000 of taxable income through 2.2, 3.9, 4.8, 5.2 and 5.55 percent to a top rate of 6.6 percent above $60,000. Withholding follows the allowances and filing status on Form DE W-4, which replaced the use of the federal W-4 for Delaware purposes in 2020.

Up to Six Deductions on a Delaware Pay Stub

A Delaware employee's stub carries between four and six tax lines depending on where they work and how large the employer is. Here is each one.

Federal Income Tax (Form W-4)

The largest and most personal deduction, set by the federal W-4: filing status, dependents, other income, extra withholding. It comes from the federal tables for the pay frequency and varies from one employee to the next at the same wage.

Delaware State Income Tax: 2.2% to 6.6% by DE W-4 Allowances

The Division of Revenue's withholding method annualizes wages, applies the standard deduction and the graduated brackets, credits $110 per allowance claimed on the DE W-4 and divides by the number of pay periods. The stub shows the result. Because the brackets are graduated, the effective rate on a stub is always below the 6.6 percent headline, typically between 4 and 5.5 percent for full-time wages.

Wilmington Earned Income Tax 1.25% (Only If You Work in the City)

Wilmington is the only Delaware municipality with a wage tax. It applies at 1.25 percent to everyone who works within the city limits, resident or not and to Wilmington residents who work elsewhere. The key word is limits: a Wilmington mailing address in the 19803, 19809 or 19810 ZIP codes often sits in unincorporated New Castle County, outside the city, where no wage tax applies. The line belongs on the stub only when the work location or residence is actually inside the city.

Delaware Paid Leave Employee Share (Up to 0.4%, Employers With 10+ Staff)

Described above. On the stub it is a flat percentage of gross wages each period until the Social Security wage base is reached. Its YTD figure should be a clean multiple of the current amount when pay is constant.

Social Security 6.2% and Medicare 1.45%

Social Security at 6.2 percent up to the annual wage base; Medicare at 1.45 percent with no cap plus 0.9 percent above $200,000. Flat percentages, so the YTD-to-current ratio should match the number of pay periods so far.

What Delaware Does Not Withhold: No SDI, No Employee Unemployment, No Sick Leave Tax

Delaware has no state disability insurance, unemployment insurance is entirely employer-funded through the Division of Unemployment Insurance and there is no statewide paid sick leave law and therefore no sick leave payroll tax. A stub showing any of those for a Delaware worker was built with another state's template.

Where You Work and Live Changes the Stub

Working in Wilmington vs. the Rest of New Castle County

Two employees of the same company, one at a downtown Wilmington office and one at a Newark branch, will show different deduction blocks: the Wilmington employee has five or six lines, the Newark employee four or five. Employers with staff at multiple sites should set the work location per employee, not per company.

Living in Pennsylvania, New Jersey or Maryland: No Reciprocity

Delaware has no reciprocal withholding agreement with any state. A Pennsylvania resident working in Wilmington pays Delaware income tax on those wages, sees it on the stub and claims a credit on the Pennsylvania return. The same applies to New Jersey and Maryland residents. Employers should not withhold the home state's tax instead of Delaware's. This is the most common question from the large commuter workforce in Wilmington's banking sector.

Small Employers Under 10 Employees: No Paid Leave Line

If the employer had fewer than 10 employees in Delaware over the prior 12 months, the Delaware Paid Leave program does not apply and the stub correctly has no DE Paid Leave deduction. Employers between 10 and 24 employees withhold for parental leave only, so the employee share is smaller (up to 0.16 percent).

What Delaware Law Requires With Every Wage Payment (Title 19 § 1108)

Wages Due, Pay Period and Deductions Separately Specified

Delaware Code Title 19 § 1108 requires the employer to furnish, with each wage payment, a statement showing the amount of wages due, the pay period covered and the amounts of deductions separately specified. "Separately specified" means one line per deduction with its amount; a single "taxes" total does not comply.

Hours Worked for Hourly Employees

For employees paid by the hour, the statement must also show the total hours worked in the pay period. Salaried exempt employees may be shown as salary without hours.

Payday at Least Monthly, Within Seven Days of Period End

Delaware requires wages to be paid at least once a month, on a regular payday no more than seven days after the end of the pay period. Weekly and biweekly schedules are common and fully compliant. Final wages are due on the next regularly scheduled payday.

Sample Delaware Paystub Generator Output

Here is a real preview from the generator for a Delaware employee paid weekly. This check-stub layout shows the detachable payment advice on top and the earnings statement below; the final PDF fills in every current deduction.

Scenario: Olivia Bennett, hourly employee of a company at 1700 Philadelphia Pike, Wilmington, DE 19809, paid weekly by direct deposit. Pay period Sep 4 to Sep 10, 2026, pay date Sep 15, 2026. Regular rate $36.00, 40 hours, no overtime. Employer has 25 or more employees and passes half of the Paid Leave contribution to staff. This is the 37th paycheck of the year.

Reading the statement:

• Payment advice. The top section spells out the net amount in words, names the payee and shows the bank name, routing number and the last four digits of the account. The zeros are placeholders in the preview; the final PDF carries the details you enter. "This is not a check" is printed because the advice documents a direct deposit; it cannot be cashed.
• Header row. Employee name, masked Social Security number, pay period start and end, pay date. Employee ID, hire date and check number are optional and left blank here.
• Earnings. $36.00 x 40 hours = $1,440.00 for a one-week period, satisfying the § 1108 requirement to show hours for an hourly employee. YTD gross of $53,280.00 is exactly 37 weeks of identical pay.
• Delaware state tax $71.37, an effective 4.96 percent. Annualized wages of $74,880 fall into the 6.6 percent bracket, but the graduated brackets below it and the standard deduction bring the average rate down. A flat 6.6 percent would have taken $95.04. This is what the DE W-4 method looks like with zero allowances; each allowance claimed would lower the line by about $2.12 per week.
• DE Paid Leave $5.76. Exactly 0.4 percent of gross, the maximum employee share. YTD $213.12 equals 37 weeks of contributions and will keep accruing until wages pass the Social Security wage base, which this employee will not reach. If this employee files a medical leave claim in 2026, the Division of Paid Leave verifies against these very figures.
• No Wilmington line. The employer's address is on Philadelphia Pike in the 19809 ZIP code, which is a Wilmington mailing address in unincorporated New Castle County, outside the city limits. No 1.25 percent earned income tax is due and none appears. Had the work site been inside the city, a Wilmington City Tax row of $18.00 would sit beneath the state line.
• FICA and federal lines are exact multiples. $20.88 x 37 = $772.56, $89.28 x 37 = $3,303.36, $146.99 x 37 = $5,438.63. Constant pay produces constant deductions; a stub whose ratios break was edited by hand.
• Totals close. $1,440.00 minus $334.28 equals $1,105.72; $53,280.00 minus $12,368.36 equals $40,911.64, matching the YTD Net Pay box.

To reproduce this stub, select Delaware as the work state, choose a weekly period, enter $36.00 and 40 hours, set the DE W-4 allowances, confirm the employer size for the Paid Leave line and leave Wilmington unchecked unless the work site is inside city limits.

Delaware Minimum Wage 2026: $15.00 and the $2.23 Tipped Wage

Delaware's minimum wage is $15.00 per hour, reached on January 1, 2025 and unchanged for 2026. Tipped employees in Rehoboth Beach restaurants or Dover hotels may be paid a cash wage of $2.23 provided tips bring them to $15.00 per hour for the pay period; the stub should show cash wage, reported tips and the combined figure so the test is visible.

Overtime Follows the Federal 40-Hour Rule

Delaware has no state overtime statute. The federal FLSA applies: one and a half times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, no daily threshold. Overtime should be its own earnings row so the premium rate is visible; § 1108 does not require the split, but lenders and the Department of Labor expect it.

Meal Breaks and Hours on the Stub

Delaware requires a 30-minute unpaid meal break for shifts of seven and a half hours or more. The break itself does not appear on the stub, but it affects the hours entered: an 8-hour shift with the required break is 7.5 paid hours unless the employer pays the break.

Who Uses a Delaware Paystub Generator?

Wilmington Bank and Credit Card Employees Needing Proof of Income

Wilmington's financial district employs tens of thousands in banking, credit card operations and legal services, many of them commuting from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Apartment applications in Wilmington and Newark, auto loans and mortgages all ask for recent stubs. If your employer's portal offers no printable statement, or you need to show Delaware withholding for a home-state tax credit, rebuild the stub from your payroll figures so it matches what the employer reports.

Sussex County Poultry, Farm and Beach-Season Workers

Poultry processing, agriculture and summer hospitality along the coast run on hourly and seasonal pay, often weekly. Those workers need stubs for housing, vehicle financing and increasingly, for Delaware Paid Leave claims that require wage history. A weekly stub with hours, rate and the Paid Leave line meets all three needs.

Small Business Owners and Contractors

A Middletown contractor with eight employees is under the Paid Leave threshold and issues stubs with four tax lines. A Dover practice with thirty employees issues stubs with five. Independent contractors receive payment statements with no withholding at all. The generator handles each case; select the one that matches and it includes or omits the DE Paid Leave line accordingly.

Create Your Delaware Pay Stub in Three Steps

1. Enter employer and employee details, select Delaware, set the pay frequency (weekly through monthly) and indicate whether the work site is inside Wilmington city limits and whether the employer has 10 or more employees.
2. Add rate, hours, overtime and tips on separate lines, set the federal W-4 status and DE W-4 allowances.
3. Review the free preview, confirm the deduction lines match the situation and download the PDF.

Create Your Delaware Paystub

Responsible Use of Pay Stubs

A pay stub records wages actually earned and paid. Use the generator to document real payroll, replace a lost statement with matching figures or issue the statement Title 19 requires. Do not fabricate employment, inflate income for a rental or loan or alter figures after the fact. Lenders verify stubs against bank deposits and employer records and the Division of Paid Leave verifies claims against reported wages; falsified income documents carry criminal exposure under Delaware and federal law. You are responsible for every figure entered.