Delaware · 2026 planning data

Delaware SUTA rate and employer cost for 2026

Delaware's sourced 2026 unemployment-insurance model uses a taxable wage base of $14,500 per employee and a 1.20% standard new-employer rate. The assigned rate can differ after an acquisition, experience rating, industry classification, or state assessment.

Calculate a Delaware estimate

How the Delaware SUTA line is estimated

State unemployment tax applies only up to the annual UI wage base for each employee. For an employee earning at least $14,500, the planning calculation is:

The standard sourced new-employer rate in the EmployerCost model is 1.20%. A transferred experience account, special industry rule, assessment, or employer notice can produce a different total.

What this Delaware estimate does not include

Delaware employers owe one mandatory cost that this calculator does not add to the total, because it depends on facts the calculator never asks for — how many people the employer has, which city the work happens in, how much payroll it runs in a quarter. Adding it to every employer would overcharge the ones the rule does not reach, so it is named here instead of buried in a number.

• Delaware Paid Leave, employer share — about $240 a year for a $60,000 employee

  The employer must fund at least half of the 0.8% premium, so 0.40% of in-state FICA wages up to the Social Security wage base

  Applies when: Employers with 25 or more employees. Employers with 10 to 24 owe the parental-leave portion only.

  Source: Delaware Department of Labor: Healthy Delaware Families Act

What changes the real employer cost

• EmployerCost's 1.20% new-employer total adds Delaware's separately billed 0.20% Operations and Technology assessment to the 1.00% UI rate on the first $14,500.
• The ordinary experienced total is 0.50% to 5.60%; delinquent employers can reach 6.50% including the assessment.
• Employer Social Security, Medicare, and FUTA remain separate federal cost lines.
• Workers compensation in Delaware runs 89% of the national median — 11% below it, 32nd of 51 jurisdictions at $0.97 per $100 of payroll (Oregon DCBS 2024 premium rate ranking). That is a relativity between states, not your rate: class code, carrier, payroll exposure and experience modifier decide what you actually pay.
• Health benefits, retirement contributions, payroll software, and HR administration depend on the employer's choices.

Use the calculator's custom SUTA field whenever an official notice supplies a different rate. Read the SUTA rate guide and employer payroll tax guide before relying on a planning result.

Delaware employer cost questions

What is the Delaware SUTA wage base for 2026?

The sourced taxable wage base used by EmployerCost is $14,500 per employee. Wages above that cap are not included in this SUTA line, but can still affect Social Security, Medicare, benefits, workers compensation, and other costs.

What rate should a new Delaware employer use?

The standard sourced new-employer rate in the EmployerCost model is 1.20%. A transferred experience account, special industry rule, assessment, or employer notice can produce a different total.

Is SUTA the full cost of a Delaware employee?

No. Start with salary, then add employer FICA, FUTA, SUTA, workers compensation, benefits, and payroll administration. The Delaware calculator keeps uncertain items as ranges.

Official sources

• Delaware DOL 2026 UI merit rates and Operations & Technology assessment
• U.S. Department of Labor — Significant Provisions of State UI Laws, effective January 2026

Verified against official sources July 30, 2026.

General planning information only. Not payroll, tax, legal, insurance, or HR compliance advice.