MARYLAND PAYCHECK CALCULATOR
Quick answer: on a $70,000 salary in Maryland, filing Single and living in Baltimore County, you take home roughly $53,020 a year, which works out to about $2,039 every two weeks on a biweekly schedule.
Every Maryland resident owes both a state bracket rate and a county rate, with no county in the state charging zero. Scroll down to plug in your own county.
Maryland’s income tax got noticeably more complicated in 2025. The Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act, made retroactive to January 1 of that year, expanded the state from eight brackets to 10, added a new top marginal rate of 6.5% on income above $1 million, and layered a 2% capital gains surcharge on top of that for anyone with federal adjusted gross income above $350,000. At the same time, the cap on county income tax rates rose from 3.2% to 3.3%, and several counties raised their local rate to match. The Tax Foundation’s 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index puts Maryland at 46th out of 50 states, one spot worse than the year before, and specifically calls out Maryland as the only state in the country that imposes both an estate tax and a separate inheritance tax on the same estate.
What lands on a Maryland paystub reflects two full layers of income tax. Federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare come out first, the same as anywhere else. Maryland state tax follows, using the bracket table below on taxable income after a small standard deduction and personal exemption. Then county tax gets added on the exact same taxable income base, at a rate that depends entirely on which of Maryland’s 23 counties, or Baltimore City, someone lives in. There is no way to avoid the county layer as a Maryland resident. If you are comparing Maryland against a move, the difference across the Potomac or the Mason-Dixon line can be significant: see the Delaware paycheck calculator and Pennsylvania paycheck calculator for two very different neighboring structures, both of which currently outrank Maryland on overall tax competitiveness.
Maryland Paycheck Calculator
How the Federal Number Was Worked Out
Take the default example above, a single filer earning $70,000 a year with no other adjustments. Here is exactly how the federal piece gets built, step by step, using the 2026 IRS brackets and the $16,100 single standard deduction, which is unrelated to Maryland’s own much smaller state deduction.
Step 1. $70,000 gross minus the $16,100 standard deduction leaves $53,900 in federal taxable income.
Step 2. The first $12,400 is taxed at 10%, which comes to $1,240.
Step 3. The next chunk, from $12,400 to $50,400, is taxed at 12%. That is $38,000 taxed at 12%, or $4,560.
Step 4. The remaining $3,500, from $50,400 up to the $53,900 taxable income figure, is taxed at 22%, adding $770.
Step 5. Add it up: $1,240 + $4,560 + $770 = $6,570 in federal income tax, an effective federal rate of about 9.4% on the full $70,000.
On the Maryland side, the same $70,000 loses a $2,550 standard deduction (the capped amount most filers receive) and a $3,200 personal exemption, leaving $64,250 in Maryland taxable income, which then gets taxed twice: once by the state brackets, and once more by the county rate.
Maryland vs Nearby States at $70,000 (Single Filer)
Maryland’s figure uses Baltimore County’s 3.2% rate as a representative example. Delaware and Pennsylvania have no local income tax layered on top the way Maryland does.
| State | State + Local Tax | Effective Rate | Est. Net Pay* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland (Baltimore County) | $5,055 | 7.22% | $53,020 |
| Delaware | $3,389 | 4.84% | $54,686 |
| Pennsylvania | $2,149 | 3.07% | $55,624 |
*Net pay estimate includes federal tax and FICA at $70,000 gross, single filer, before any additional local tax not already noted. Virginia is left out of this table since its exact 2026 standard deduction figure varies across sources, though its top rate of 5.75% applies starting at just $17,000 in taxable income, so most Virginia earners pay close to that rate on the bulk of their income.
Pennsylvania’s flat 3.07% with no local income tax anywhere makes it the clear low point here, and Delaware’s small deduction still leaves it well ahead of Maryland once the county layer gets added. A Montgomery County resident using this same $70,000 example would land even higher than the Baltimore County figure shown, since Montgomery charges the new 3.3% maximum rather than Baltimore County’s 3.2%. Someone in Worcester or Somerset County, at the state’s lowest 2.25% local rate, would land noticeably closer to Delaware’s number despite paying the identical Maryland state bracket.
Where Your Paycheck Money Actually Goes
Picture that same $70,000 salary landing as a biweekly paycheck of $2,692.31 before anything is taken out, for a Baltimore County resident. Here is the order things get pulled, and what is left standing at the end.
Federal income tax comes off first, working out to roughly $252.69 per biweekly check based on the annual $6,570 figure above.
Social Security takes 6.2% of every check up until your year-to-date wages hit the 2026 wage base of $184,500. On $2,692.31, that is $166.92 gone.
Medicare takes 1.45% with no cap at all, which is $39.04 on this check. The extra 0.9% Medicare surtax only kicks in once your total wages for the year pass $200,000 for a single filer, so it does not apply here.
Maryland state tax, based on the roughly $2,999 annual figure, works out to about $115.36 per biweekly check.
Baltimore County tax, at 3.2% of the same taxable base, adds about $79.08 per biweekly check.
Add those five deductions together and about $653.09 disappears from the $2,692.31 gross, leaving a net paycheck of roughly $2,039.22 every two weeks, or $53,019.71 across the full year.
Maryland’s County Piggyback Tax, County by County
Maryland is one of a small number of states where every single local jurisdiction, all 23 counties plus Baltimore City, levies its own income tax on top of the state rate, with no zero-rate county anywhere. County tax applies to the same Maryland taxable income used for the state brackets, and it is withheld automatically based on where a resident lives, similar to how Indiana’s county system works. The cap on how high a county can set its rate rose from 3.2% to 3.3% under the 2025 tax changes, and several of the state’s larger jurisdictions moved to take advantage of it.
| County | Area | 2026 County Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Worcester | Ocean City area, Eastern Shore | 2.25% (lowest) |
| Somerset | Eastern Shore | 2.25% |
| Baltimore County | Towson, suburban Baltimore | 3.20% |
| Montgomery | Bethesda, Silver Spring, DC suburbs | 3.30% (highest) |
| Baltimore City | City of Baltimore | 3.30% |
The gap between a 2.25% county and a 3.30% county on identical income adds up to a meaningful annual difference, often over $1,000 a year for a typical household income, which is why Maryland residents weighing a move within the state, not just across state lines, should factor the county rate in alongside property values and commute times.
How Maryland’s Tax Burden Stacks Up
| Tax Type | Maryland | National Picture |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax | 10 brackets, 2% to 6.5% state, plus a mandatory county tax of 2.25% to 3.3% | Nine states charge no income tax at all; several charge over 9% |
| Sales tax | Flat 6% statewide, no local add-ons for general sales | National average combined rate runs close to 7.5%, so Maryland runs below it |
| Property tax | Roughly 1.05% effective rate | National average sits close to 0.9% to 1.1%, so Maryland runs close to average |
| Estate and inheritance tax | Maryland is the only state with both, up to 16% estate and 10% inheritance | Most states have neither tax at all |
Maryland’s general sales tax is genuinely competitive at a flat 6% with no local add-ons, which is part of why the state’s overall ranking is not even lower than 46th. What drags the ranking down is the income tax side specifically: the 2025 changes added complexity and higher top rates at the same time several neighboring states were cutting theirs, and Maryland’s decision to keep both an estate tax and a separate inheritance tax, the only state left to do both, makes it a notable outlier for estate planning purposes. The state also stands out for imposing the nation’s only digital advertising tax and a newer 3% tax on business-to-business digital services, neither of which affects a typical paycheck but both of which factor into the state’s weak overall competitiveness score.
Retirees in Maryland
Maryland does not tax Social Security benefits at all, regardless of income level, which puts it in line with most other states that still have an income tax. For other retirement income, Maryland offers a pension exclusion of up to $39,500 for 2026, available to residents who are 65 or older or who are totally disabled. This exclusion applies specifically to income from employer-sponsored defined benefit pension plans, including government and military pensions, but it does not extend to withdrawals from a traditional IRA or a 401(k), which continue to be taxed as ordinary income under the regular bracket and county tax system. A retiree drawing primarily from a traditional pension can end up with a fairly light Maryland tax bill once Social Security and the pension exclusion are factored in, while a retiree relying more heavily on 401(k) or IRA withdrawals will see a noticeably higher one, since none of that income qualifies for the same break.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much state tax does Maryland take out of my paycheck?
Maryland uses 10 progressive brackets running from 2% up to 6.5% for 2026. Most working residents fall into the 4.75% bracket, which covers taxable income from $3,000 up to $100,000 for a single filer. The two newest brackets, 6.25% and 6.5%, only apply to income above $250,000, added retroactively to January 1, 2025 by that year’s Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act.
Do I also owe a county income tax in Maryland?
Yes, without exception. All 23 Maryland counties plus Baltimore City levy a local “piggyback” income tax on top of the state rate, and there is no county in Maryland with a zero rate. Rates range from 2.25% in counties like Worcester and Somerset up to 3.3% in Montgomery County, Baltimore City, Dorchester, and Kent, a cap that was raised from 3.2% as part of the 2025 tax changes.
What is Maryland’s standard deduction for 2026?
Maryland’s standard deduction is calculated as 15% of gross income, capped at $2,550 for single filers and $5,150 for married filing jointly. Most filers earning more than about $17,000 simply receive the flat capped amount. Maryland also offers a personal exemption of $3,200 per filer, which phases out completely once federal AGI passes $100,000.
Is Maryland a good state for taxes overall?
Maryland ranks 46th out of 50 states on the Tax Foundation’s 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index, one of the worst results in the country. The 2025 tax changes added two new higher-income brackets, a capital gains surcharge, and raised the county tax cap, all of which pulled the ranking down further from 45th the year before.
Does Maryland really have both an estate tax and an inheritance tax?
Yes. Maryland is the only state in the country that imposes both an estate tax, with a maximum rate of 16%, and a separate inheritance tax, with a maximum rate of 10%, on the same estate. Most states have dropped one or both of these taxes entirely over the past two decades.
Does Maryland tax Social Security and pension income?
Maryland does not tax Social Security benefits at all. Residents 65 and older, or those who are totally disabled, can also exclude up to $39,500 of qualified pension income for 2026. This exclusion applies to employer-sponsored defined benefit pensions, including government and military pensions, but does not cover traditional IRA or 401(k) withdrawals.
Maryland’s tax code asks more of a paycheck than most of its neighbors, and it does so through two full layers rather than one. The state bracket table gets the headlines, especially after the 2025 changes added a new top rate, but for the vast majority of working residents, the county rate matters just as much day to day, and it is the one number that changes purely based on address rather than income. Anyone comparing job offers, home purchases, or a move within Maryland itself should treat the county line on a pay stub with the same attention as the state line above it.