Live in West Virginia, work in Maryland
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Maryland takes
$0
on wages earned there
West Virginia takes
$1,866
after the credit it gives
Both together
$1,866
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$0
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
agreementMaryland does not tax you at all — the two states have an agreement, and you file a certificate with your employer. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the West Virginia bar is the credit it hands back. State income tax only — federal and payroll tax apply on top, and a city wage tax may too.
Which state taxes you, and what it costs
- These two states have a deal. Maryland agrees not to tax people who live in West Virginia, so only West Virginia taxes your pay. That comes to $1,866 for the year. There is one form standing between you and that result: give your employer the non-residence certificate, named beside this page, and Maryland stops taking anything out. Skip it and money comes out all year that you then have to claim back.
- Counting only the larger flows, 7 states send workers into Maryland. West Virginia comes in at number 5 with 27,882 jobs, so this crossing is common enough to be routine for payroll departments there.
- West Virginia and Maryland hold a reciprocity agreement covering wages, so Maryland does not tax this commuter at all and no resident credit is needed. The commuter files the work state's non-residence certificate with the employer — it is named in the panel beside this page — which stops Maryland withholding at source, and owes West Virginia alone — $1,866 at the reference salary, identical to an earner who never crosses the line. ⚠️ The agreement covers WAGES. Other income sourced to Maryland is outside it, and an employee who does not file the certificate has Maryland tax withheld and must reclaim it on a non-resident return.
- Maryland draws commuters of this scale from 7 states, and West Virginia ranks number 5 among them with 27,882 jobs. A work state pulling from that many directions tends to have a well-established non-resident filing routine, which is a practical convenience rather than a tax saving.
Where the money goes
A $75,000 salary
- Federal income tax$7,670
- Social Security and Medicare$5,738
- State income tax$2,546
- Yours$59,047
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax3.39% | $2,546 |
| Yours78.73% | $59,047 |
Which rung you are on
A $75,000 salary
| This rung starts at | $66,500 |
|---|---|
| Next rung starts at | $121,800 |
| Room before it | $46,800 |
Federal only, measured on gross pay — so the first rung is what the standard deduction covers.
The arithmetic, step by step
| Maryland takes, on wages earned there | $0 |
|---|---|
| West Virginia charges its residents | $1,866 |
| Less the credit West Virginia gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $1,866 |
| If you also worked in West Virginia | $1,866 |
| Difference | $0 |
On a reference salary of $60,000 a year, single filer. Both states run progressive schedules, so the figures do not simply scale — use the tool above for your own salary.
What this page does not cover
- City wage taxes are not in these numbers. A few places charge them, and where they do the money is real. If your job in Maryland is inside a city that taxes workers, add that on top. Where it is not, the state figures above are the whole of it for West Virginia residents.
- Two assumptions sit under this page. First, that Maryland is where all your pay comes from. Second, that you go there rather than working from your kitchen in West Virginia. Mixed income changes how the credit is worked out, and remote days have their own rules in some states.
- The dollars rest on one assumed salary of sixty thousand. Double your pay and they do not simply double, because both states charge more on higher slices of income. What tends to stay put is which side of the West Virginia and Maryland comparison you are on.
- These figures cover the STATE layer only. City and municipal wage taxes sit on top of them and are not included: a commuter into Philadelphia pays its wage tax on top of anything here, and Ohio's municipalities run their own credit system, which this site models in its own families. New York City, by contrast, taxes only its residents, so a commuter into it adds nothing at the city level. Whether Maryland or West Virginia carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Maryland and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, West Virginia limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Maryland portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Maryland rather than remotely — several states tax a non-resident's remote days as though they were worked at the employer's location, which reverses the usual expectation and is handled on this site's reciprocity pages.
- Dollar amounts are computed at a stated reference salary of sixty thousand rather than a corridor wage average, which no published source provides per state pair. Because both states' liabilities and the credit between them are functions of the same income, the direction of the West Virginia to Maryland comparison holds at other salaries even though the amounts do not — with one qualification worth stating, that a progressive schedule can change the SIZE of the gap at higher incomes, and in Maryland's case a bracket crossed on one side and not the other is exactly where that happens.
Questions people ask
Do I pay state tax twice, to West Virginia and Maryland?
Not twice over. Both states have a claim — Maryland because you earn the money there, West Virginia because you live there — but West Virginia gives you credit for what Maryland took. The credit stops at what West Virginia would have charged on its own, so what you actually pay is the bigger of the two bills. Here that comes to $1,866 for the year.
Does working in Maryland cost me anything extra?
It costs you nothing in tax. $1,866 is what you owe whether you work in Maryland or at home in West Virginia. The only real cost of the crossing is the extra return.
What do I give my employer so Maryland stops taking tax?
One certificate, given to payroll. It is the piece that makes the agreement between West Virginia and Maryland actually show up in your paycheck rather than only on a return months later.
Do I have to file tax returns in both West Virginia and Maryland?
Expect two. Living in West Virginia means filing there on everything you earn. Working in Maryland usually means filing there as well, on the part you earned inside it. The second one is often how the credit gets claimed, so skipping it can cost you money you are owed.
What if I work from home in West Virginia some days instead of going to Maryland?
Working from home usually moves that day's pay out of Maryland and into West Virginia alone. A handful of states disagree and tax remote days as if you had commuted. This page assumes you actually travel to Maryland, so if a lot of your week is at home the split will differ from what you see here.
How is liability allocated between residence and work state on the same wages?
Both jurisdictions assert a claim on the same wages — Maryland on a source basis, West Virginia on residence. The residence state grants a credit for tax paid to the source state, limited to the residence state's own liability on that income. Net combined liability therefore equals the greater of the two liabilities rather than their sum, $1,866 at the reference salary, and the split between the two treasuries is the only thing the credit changes.
Why is the marginal state-tax cost of this crossing zero?
Marginal cost is zero because the binding liability is the residence state's. West Virginia's own charge on this income equals or exceeds Maryland's, so the resident credit absorbs the source-state tax entirely and combined liability equals residence-only liability, $1,866. ⚠️ Zero marginal tax is not zero obligation: a non-resident return may still be required in Maryland.
What administrative step gives effect to the reciprocity exemption?
The exemption is self-executing only on filing: the employee furnishes the work state's non-residence certificate to the employer, which relieves the employer of the obligation to withhold Maryland tax. Absent the certificate the employer withholds, and the employee recovers the amount by filing a Maryland non-resident return — the liability position is identical, the cash-flow position is not.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. West Virginia requires a resident return reporting all income; Maryland requires a non-resident return reporting the income sourced to it, which is also the mechanism by which the resident credit is substantiated. ⚠️ A filing obligation is distinct from a liability: a reciprocity exemption or a zero net position removes tax without necessarily removing the return, and the non-resident return is frequently what establishes the credit claimed on the resident one.
How do remote working days affect sourcing between these two states?
Ordinarily wages are sourced to where the services are performed, so days worked remotely from West Virginia fall outside Maryland's jurisdiction and the source-state apportionment shrinks accordingly. ⛔ The exception is the "convenience of the employer" rule, which several states apply: a non-resident's remote days are sourced to the employer's location unless the remote work is required by the employer rather than chosen by the employee. The figures on this page model in-person attendance in Maryland throughout.