Income Taxes in Delaware
Delaware's income tax is a real, current, genuinely graduated seven-bracket system for tax year 2026 -- 0% on the first $2,000 of taxable income, rising through 2.2%, 3.9%, 4.8%, 5.2%, and 5.55%, to a 6.6% top marginal rate on income at or above $60,000 -- with these brackets, unusually, applying uniformly to every filing status rather than varying by single/joint/head-of-household the way many other states' brackets do.
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Learn moreA real, current, seven-bracket structure for 2026
Delaware's individual income tax runs a genuinely graduated seven-bracket structure for tax year 2026: 0% on the first $2,000 of taxable income, 2.2% from $2,000-$5,000, 3.9% from $5,000-$10,000, 4.8% from $10,000-$20,000, 5.2% from $20,000-$25,000, 5.55% from $25,000-$60,000, and a 6.6% top marginal rate on income at or above $60,000. This record verifies these as the current 2026 thresholds, corroborated across multiple independent 2026 tax-guide sources this pass reviewed (ustax.tools, countrytaxcalc.com, TurboTax Blog, TaxAct Blog, Valur, PlainTaxCalc).
Unusually, one bracket structure applies to every filing status
Unusually among the states this dataset has documented, and verified across multiple 2026 tax-guide sources this pass reviewed, Delaware's brackets apply uniformly to every filing status -- single, married filing jointly, married filing separately, and head of household all use the same thresholds, a structural feature this dataset has also documented for Rhode Island. Confirm the current-year thresholds directly before finalizing any tax-year planning.
Delaware's top rate sits genuinely above several other graduated-income-tax states
Delaware's 6.6% top marginal rate runs genuinely above several other graduated-income-tax states this dataset has documented, including Rhode Island's own 5.99% top rate, and sits toward the upper-middle of the national range among states that levy a graduated income tax at all. This pass's research did not surface a single, precisely numbered, settled 2026 cross-state ranking for that specific top rate this record trusts enough to cite as a standalone ordinal figure, disclosed honestly as a genuine research gap rather than an invented rank. Given the real, disclosed $60,000 top-bracket threshold applies to all filers regardless of status, and the rate itself runs genuinely higher than several other states, this record applies a HIGH_INCOME_TAX framing.
How income tax fits Delaware's broader fiscal picture
Delaware's income tax sits alongside a complete, flat ZERO sales tax at every level of government (one of only 5 NOMAD states, and the only one with no local option anywhere) and a statewide property tax rate this record anchors at approximately 0.53% -- a genuinely mixed combination, favorable on two of three major tax categories and elevated on the third. Delaware's state government leans substantially on corporate franchise taxes, gross receipts taxes, and related business-registration fees -- a direct consequence of Delaware's defining corporate-law identity, anchored by Wilmington's Delaware Court of Chancery -- to fund state services in place of a sales tax; this record did not verify an exact current percentage-of-revenue figure for that substitution, disclosed as a genuine research gap. See the sales-tax and property-taxes topics for the fuller picture.
Key takeaways
- Delaware's 2026 income tax runs a real, current seven-bracket structure: 0% on the first $2,000, rising through five intermediate brackets to a 6.6% top rate at or above $60,000.
- Unusually, these brackets apply uniformly to every filing status rather than varying by single/joint/head-of-household.
- Delaware's 6.6% top rate runs genuinely above several other graduated-income-tax states this dataset has documented, including Rhode Island's own 5.99% top rate.
- Delaware's income tax sits alongside a complete absence of sales tax and an approximately 0.53% statewide property tax rate -- a genuinely mixed tax structure, not uniformly low or high.
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