Animal Caretakers in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,349
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$6,431
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,192
Maryland costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maryland — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$36,780
Kept after tax
$30,349
Worth in national money
$29,192
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maryland is one of the better-paying states for animal caretakers. The middle earner takes $36,780, which ranks 12 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 4.02% above the national middle.
- Against 489 occupations Maryland publishes, animal caretakers lands at 458. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Maryland is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $36,780 the take-home is $30,349; in national-average money that behaves like $29,192. The average comes to $41,820, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Maryland ranks 12 of 51 states publishing a median for animal caretakers, at $36,780 — about 4.02% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Maryland, this work ranks 458 of 489 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Take-home for animal caretakers in Maryland, on $36,780, is $30,349; deflated by the state's price level, $29,192. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $41,820 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,780 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,730 |
| This salary | $36,780 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Maryland | $30,349 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,733 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,463 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $35,058 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,189 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Maryland earn less than $36,780. The published range is $31,500 up to $56,730, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $30,349 take-home in Maryland comes from $36,780. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 458 of 489.
- Two cautions on $29,192, the adjusted value of that $36,780 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maryland. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 458 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for animal caretakers in Maryland the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,500 to $56,730. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $30,349, from $36,780, assumes a single Maryland filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 458 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 51 for it.
- This $29,192 adjusted figure, worked from $36,780, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 458 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 458 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $41,820 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,500 and the top tenth $56,730, so most people doing this work in Maryland sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $29,192 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Maryland's own levy, $30,349 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Maryland is $41,820. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,500 to $56,730) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maryland rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Maryland's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $29,192 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $30,349 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maryland income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.