Design Engineer.
Wilmington.
$103,000
median salary, 1% above the national average
$83,000 to $131,000. Last updated August 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
A Design Engineer in Wilmington earns a median of $103,000 in 2026. That is 1% above the national average. The range runs from $83,000 to $131,000, and where you land depends on your experience, your skills, and how well you negotiate. Engineers who bridge design systems and frontend implementation at scale command the highest salaries. These figures are Orbyt estimates, computed rather than measured, and must not be cited as Bureau of Labor Statistics figures; the published BLS wage for the occupation this role maps to is shown separately on this page.
Salary range.
Where do you fall?
Orbyt estimate for Design Engineer in Wilmington, modelled from national occupation wages adjusted for local cost of living. The published government benchmark for this occupation is below.
Government benchmark for this occupation
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $104,410 for Mechanical Engineers (SOC 17-2141) in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area, based on 4,850 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$75,160
25th percentile
$84,960
Median
$104,410
75th percentile
$129,800
90th percentile
$157,920
Workers surveyed
4,850
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Mechanical Engineers (SOC 17-2141) rather than Design Engineer specifically. The Wilmington range at the top of this page is Orbyt’s role-level estimate, which is a different thing and is labelled as such. Wilmington is reported by BLS within the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area.
View the BLS source for SOC 17-2141Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $93,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$67,000
to $82,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$88,000
to $108,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$113,000
to $134,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$129,000
to $160,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $28,000 to the total package.
Base
$103,000
Equity
$16,000
Bonus
$10,000
Signing
$2,000
Estimated total: $131,000
How Wilmington compares.
Wilmington, DE
$103,000
Cost of living: 2% above average
National Average
$102,000
Wilmington is $1,000 above
Design Engineer salary by city.
Salary by role in Wilmington.
What you should know.
Here is what the Design Engineer market actually looks like in Wilmington. Wilmington is a corporate law and financial services hub, home to most U.S. credit card companies thanks to Delaware's favorable incorporation laws. The city's compact size belies its outsized role in banking, legal services, and corporate governance. Chemical and pharmaceutical companies also maintain a strong presence. Engineers who bridge design systems and frontend implementation at scale command the highest salaries. Proficiency in Figma-to-code workflows, component library architecture, and motion design with CSS or Framer Motion adds 15 to 20% over pure frontend roles. Companies with strong design cultures like Vercel, Linear, or Stripe pay top rates.
Junior frontend developers or UI designers start at $72,000 to $95,000, converging into design engineer roles at $108,000 to $185,000 within three to five years. Senior design engineers earn $180,000 to $230,000, while head of design engineering or design systems lead roles reach $240,000 to $310,000. In Wilmington, cost of living sits near the national average, so the numbers you see are roughly what you keep.
Base salary is not the full picture. RSUs at design-forward tech companies add $25,000 to $70,000 annually. Signing bonuses of $15,000 to $35,000 are typical, and many employers offer stipends for design tools, typography licenses, and creative software subscriptions. And on the tax side: delaware has a top income tax rate of 6.6% but no state sales tax. Wilmington has a city wage tax of 1.25%. The no sales tax benefit partially offsets the income tax burden. When someone quotes you $103,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Leverage Delaware's corporate density. Banks and legal firms here pay competitively to retain talent that might otherwise commute to Philadelphia or New York. The range for Design Engineers in Wilmington runs from $83,000 to $131,000. That is not a narrow window. Where you land inside it depends almost entirely on whether you negotiate and how well you prepare.
Sources: BLS OES, H-1B LCA (DOL). COL: BEA Regional Price Parities (2025). Data verified by Justin Bartak, Founder & Chief AI Officer. Last verified July 1, 2026. Full methodology
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Common questions.
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Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"Design Engineer Salary in Wilmington, DE." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/design-engineer/wilmington
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