Art Directors in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$73,744
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$24,656
25.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,932
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
$98,400
Kept after tax
$73,744
Worth in national money
$70,932
State rank
19
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Maryland pays art directors around $98,400 at the midpoint, 19 of 46 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Maryland. It ranks 104 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $98,400 the take-home is $73,744. But Maryland costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $70,932 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $110,790, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For art directors the Maryland median is $98,400, ranking 19 of 46 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Maryland, art directors ranks 104 of 489 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Maryland income tax is $73,744 for art directors, from $98,400. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $70,932. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $110,790 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Art Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $98,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $175,690 |
| This salary | $98,400 |
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 | $73,744 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $78,054 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,392 |
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 | $92,273 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,973 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $98,400 as a midpoint for Maryland, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $61,160 and the ninetieth is $175,690 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Maryland the take-home figure of $73,744, from $98,400, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 104 of 489 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $70,932 uses one figure for the whole of Maryland. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 104.
- The Maryland median of $98,400 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $61,160 to $175,690. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Maryland is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $73,744 from $98,400. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 104 of 489 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $70,932, worked from $98,400, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Maryland address, on work sitting at 104 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 $110,790 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $61,160, the highest tenth $175,690, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Maryland costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $70,932 rather than its face figure.
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, $73,744 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $110,790. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($61,160) and the ninetieth ($175,690) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $70,932 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 $73,744 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.