Compensation and Benefits Managers in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$100,351
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$39,509
28.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$96,523
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
$139,860
Kept after tax
$100,351
Worth in national money
$96,523
State rank
18
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Maryland is 18 of 45 states for this job, with a middle wage of $139,860. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Maryland this is well-paid work. Of 489 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 23 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $139,860, tax leaves $100,351 — and because Maryland is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $96,523 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $159,390, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maryland ranks 18 of 45 for compensation and benefits managers at $139,860. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Ranked against every occupation Maryland publishes a median for, compensation and benefits managers sits 23 of 489 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After tax, $100,351 remains from the Maryland median of $139,860 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $96,523 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $159,390 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Compensation and Benefits Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $91,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $139,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $244,050 |
| This salary | $139,860 |
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 | $100,351 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $106,860 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$13,444 |
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 | $130,336 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$19,083 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $139,860 as a midpoint for Maryland, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $91,730 and the ninetieth is $244,050 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $100,351 take-home in Maryland comes from $139,860. 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 23 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maryland, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $96,523, the adjusted value of that $139,860 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 23 of 489 in the state.
- The Maryland median of $139,860 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $91,730 to $244,050. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $100,351, from $139,860, 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 23 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 45 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maryland, so $96,523 — the adjusted value of that $139,860 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 23 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $159,390, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $91,730 and the top tenth $244,050 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Maryland run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $96,523 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Maryland then takes its own share, leaving $100,351.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $159,390. 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 ($91,730) and the ninetieth ($244,050) 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 $96,523 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 $100,351 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.