2026 Maryland paycheck calculator
Maryland withholding adds a county rate to the state rate, so the calculator asks for your county first.
Updated for 2026Checked Oct 29, 2026 against IRS and Comptroller of Maryland sourcesHow we check
Take-home before state tax
$1,289.10
per paycheck, paid every two weeks
- Gross pay
- $1,500.00
- Federal income tax
- $96.15
- Social Security
- $93.00
- Medicare
- $21.75
- Maryland income tax
- Choose your county
- County tax
- Choose your county
- Take-home
- $1,289.10
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Take-home before state tax $1,289.10
Maryland pay rules at a glance
| State income tax | Rates rise with pay Source |
| County or local tax | Every Maryland county and Baltimore City levies a local income tax, withheld together with the state tax: 3.20 percent in most places including Baltimore City, 3.30 percent in Dorchester and Kent, lower in Worcester (2.25), Talbot (2.40), Garrett (2.65), Cecil (2.74), Washington (2.95), Carroll and Charles (3.03), and Harford (3.06), and tiered by income in Anne Arundel (2.70 to 3.20) and Frederick (2.25 to 3.20). Workers who live outside Maryland pay a special 2.25 percent nonresident rate instead. Source |
| Disability or paid leave | None Source |
| Minimum wage | $15.00 an hour Source |
| Tipped minimum cash wage | $3.63 an hour, before tips Source |
| Final paycheck if you are let go | All wages due on or before the day the worker would have been paid had the job not ended (the next regular payday). Unused leave is owed unless a written policy the worker was told about says otherwise. Source |
| Final paycheck if you quit | Same rule: on or before the next regular payday. Source |
What comes out of a Maryland paycheck
On $1,500 every two weeks, single, a Maryland worker in Baltimore City keeps $1,190.03.
Maryland withholds one combined amount for state and local tax. The state rates are graduated, from 2 percent up to 6.5 percent. Two new brackets arrived for 2026. Joint and head of household filers pay 6.25 percent from $600,001 to $1,200,000 and 6.5 percent above that, while single filers pay 6.25 percent from $500,001 to $1,000,000 and 6.5 percent above that. The Comptroller's charts combine the state rate with your county rate, so 7.95 percent, for example, is 4.75 plus 3.20. The charts ignore state rates below 4.75 percent.
Because the answer cannot be finished without a county, the calculator asks for yours and computes no default. Form MW507 sets your exemptions: one for you, one for a spouse, and one for each dependent. Below $100,000 of expected federal adjusted gross income for single workers, or $150,000 for joint and head of household filers, each is worth $3,200 a year. Above those incomes the value phases down. The calculator uses your annualized gross wages as that income. A worker with no certificate is withheld as if one exemption were claimed.
Six printing slips in the charts are used exactly as printed, because employers are told to use the charts, and the Comptroller should confirm them. Maryland's paid family and medical leave deductions start in January 2027 at 0.45 percent for employees, so none apply in 2026.
County and local taxes
Every Maryland county and Baltimore City levies a local income tax, withheld with the state tax. The rate is 3.20 percent in most places, including Baltimore City, 3.30 percent in Dorchester and Kent, and lower in Worcester at 2.25, Talbot at 2.40, Garrett at 2.65, Cecil at 2.74, Washington at 2.95, Carroll and Charles at 3.03, and Harford at 3.06.
Anne Arundel and Frederick use tiers by income. Anne Arundel runs from 2.70 to 3.20 percent, and Frederick from 2.25 to 3.20 percent. An employer cannot know your year's final income, so the calculator estimates the tier from your paycheck.
Workers who live outside Maryland pay a special 2.25 percent nonresident rate instead of a county rate. The calculator does not model that rate. It does compute the county rates above, and it computes no other local taxes.
Final pay and the minimum wage
Maryland's minimum wage is $15.00 an hour, and the tipped cash wage is $3.63 an hour.
Whether you are fired or you quit, all wages are due on or before the day you would have been paid had the job not ended, which is the next regular payday. Unused leave is owed unless a written policy that you were told about says otherwise.
Nearby states
Sources and checks
Checked on Oct 29, 2026. Source: Comptroller of Maryland, Central Payroll Bureau, "2026 Maryland State and Local Income Tax Withholding Information" (memo dated February 4, 2026), page 1 rate chart: joint, head of household, or qualifying widow(er) 2.00 percent on $1 to $1,000 rising to 5.75 percent on $300,001 to $600,000, "6.25 percent (new)" on $600,001 to $1,200,000 and "6.5 percent (new)" over $1,200,000; single, married filing separately, or dependent the same rates with the 6.25 percent bracket at $500,001 to $1,000,000 and 6.5 percent over $1,000,000 (marylandcomptroller.gov/content/dam/mdcomp/md/state-payroll/memos/2026/2026-maryland-state-and-local-withholding-information.pdf, saved as data/sources/maryland/2026-maryland-state-and-local-withholding-information.pdf, read Oct 29, 2026). Attachment 1 lists the 2026 local rates.
Local taxes: Comptroller of Maryland, Central Payroll Bureau memo (February 4, 2026), Attachment 1, "Local Income Tax Withholding Rates for 2026" (saved as data/sources/maryland/2026-maryland-state-and-local-withholding-information.pdf, read Oct 29, 2026): rates by county as listed in localRates, "Unknown Maryland County 3.30", "Out of State 2.25", "effective for payments made on or after January 1, 2026". Cross-checked against the Department of Legislative Services table "2026 County Local Tax Rates" (dls.maryland.gov, saved as data/sources/maryland/dls-2026-county-local-tax-rates.pdf), which agrees. The 2026 Employer Withholding Guide, page 6, states the 2.25 percent special nonresident rate.
Disability and paid leave: No employee paid-leave deduction applies in 2026. Maryland's Family and Medical Leave Insurance program (FAMLI) starts contributions in January 2027: Maryland Department of Labor, FAMLI "Make contributions" (paidleave.maryland.gov/employers/make-contributions/, saved as data/sources/maryland/md-famli-make-contributions.html, read Oct 29, 2026): "Starting January 2027, you will collect employee contributions through payroll deductions"; "MD Labor set the initial contribution rate at 0.9% of wages up to the Social Security wage cap. The contribution amount is split equally between employers and employees (0.45% each). This rate will apply to wages paid from January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2027"; employers with fewer than 15 employees remit only the employee half. FAMLI home page (paidleave.maryland.gov, saved as md-famli-home.html): benefits start January 1, 2028.
Minimum wage: Maryland Department of Labor, "Maryland Minimum Wage and Overtime Law" (labor.maryland.gov/labor/wages/wagehrfacts.shtml, saved as data/sources/maryland/md-dol-wage-hour-facts.html, read Oct 29, 2026): "Most employees must be paid at least the Maryland State Minimum Wage Rate of $15 per hour"; tipped employees: "Employers must pay at least $3.63 per hour. This amount plus tips must equal at least the State Minimum Wage Rate." The same page lists higher county minimums (Howard $16.00 from July 1, 2026; Montgomery $15.95 to $18.00 by employer size from July 1, 2026; Prince George's $15.30 from July 1, 2026), which this state figure does not cover. No scheduled state change.
Final paycheck: Maryland Code, Labor and Employment Article, Section 3-505 (mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gle§ion=3-505, saved as data/sources/maryland/md-le-3-505.html, read Oct 29, 2026): "each employer shall pay an employee or the authorized representative of an employee all wages due for work that the employee performed before the termination of employment, on or before the day on which the employee would have been paid the wages if the employment had not been terminated"; subsection (b) lets an employer withhold accrued leave only under a written policy the employee was notified of.
Federal withholding: IRS Publication 15-T (2026), Worksheet 1A and its "2026 Percentage Method Tables for Automated Payroll Systems and Withholding on Periodic Payments of Pensions and Annuities," pages 10 to 12. Fetched directly from irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15t.pdf and transcribed Oct 28, 2026.
Every figure above comes from the sources listed here. How we check our numbers.
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