Delaware Minimum Wage Calculator
Delaware’s minimum wage is $15 per hour for covered work in 2026. That is $600 gross for 40 hours, or $31,200 for 52 identical weeks. The rate took effect January 1, 2025; it is not a new increase every January. Eligible tipped employees have a $2.23 employer cash floor, with the employer responsible for a tip shortfall.
Time card Calculate pay for a covered hourly job
Weekly gross including tips—
Confirm coverage to calculate.
- Hourly floor—
- Per workday—
- Weekly gross—
- Monthly average—
- Yearly gross—
- Employer cash before shortfall
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- Weekly tips retained
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- Employer shortfall payment
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- Total employer cash
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Overtime uses the full regular rate before subtracting a permitted tip credit. The employer must cover a weekly tip shortfall within the selected scope. This floor scenario does not calculate pay at a higher agreed rate. Per-workday pay divides the week by the days with hours. Annual figures repeat the rounded weekly result.
Reviewed rate period: 2026-01-01 through 2027-12-31. Gross earnings before taxes or deductions. Annual figures repeat this weekly scenario; they do not combine different rate periods.
Reviewed October 2, 2026. Delaware Office of Wage and Hour’s current wage schedule.
Why a $2.23 paycheck rate can still require more employer cash
Delaware’s labor agency confirms a $2.23 direct wage and the obligation to bring cash plus tips to the applicable minimum. This worksheet uses the resulting maximum $12.77 credit only after you confirm eligibility. At 40 hours, cash before any shortfall is $89.20. If the employee retains $400 in tips, the employer owes another $110.80; the combined gross is then $600. Official tipped-cash and shortfall guidance.
| Week at the minimum | Employer cash before shortfall | Retained tips | Additional employer payment | Total gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 hours, full cash wage | $600.00 | $0 | $0 | $600.00 |
| 40 tipped hours, insufficient tips | $89.20 | $400.00 | $110.80 | $600.00 |
| 45 tipped hours, sufficient tips | $137.85 | $600.00 | $0 | $737.85 |
| 45 hours, full cash wage | $712.50 | $0 | $0 | $712.50 |
Tip pooling and service charges have Delaware-specific limits
A tipped occupation must customarily and regularly receive more than $30 monthly in gratuities. Delaware distinguishes employee-created sharing from employer-required pooling. When multiple direct service employees serve the same customer, the employer’s required arrangement is limited to 15% of the primary employee’s gratuities; the employer cannot keep any share. Enter tips actually retained after a lawful arrangement, not the restaurant’s total card tips. 19 Del. C. § 902(c)–(d).
A mandatory service charge is different from a voluntary tip. Delaware also imposes a customer-notice rule for management-owned service charges. Such charges are excluded from this calculator because their distribution and treatment in the regular rate require separate payroll information. § 902(c)(4), service charges.
Use the full floor when calculating covered overtime
The tool requires confirmation of ordinary federal overtime coverage and applies the weekly 40-hour threshold. At the $15 floor, an overtime hour requires $22.50 before a permitted credit. Subtracting $12.77 leaves $9.73 in employer cash for that hour when tips support the credit. Multiplying the $2.23 cash rate by 1.5 would miss much of the overtime payment. DOL regular-rate and state tip-credit overtime guidance.
Public-sector schedules, hospital arrangements and exempt jobs can require different treatment. A worker outside federal overtime coverage should not use this scenario to infer a right to overtime. Higher agreed pay and bonuses also change the regular rate.
Check coverage for domestic, agricultural and seasonal work
Delaware’s definition excludes specified categories including agriculture, private-home domestic service, certain fishing work, and qualifying nonprofit camp counselors under 18. An exclusion from the state law does not determine the separate federal result. This adult covered-job worksheet does not apply the $15 rate automatically to those categories. § 901, employee definition.
At a steady 40 hours, the monthly average is $2,600 before taxes. For seasonal work, change the weeks field: 16 weeks at that schedule produces $9,600, not a full-year salary. When commuting out of state, compare the workplace’s rules: Maryland minimum wage, Pennsylvania minimum wage or New Jersey minimum wage.
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