Construction Laborers in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,045
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$8,915
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,594
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
$46,960
Kept after tax
$38,045
Worth in national money
$36,594
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Maryland is 28 of 51 states for construction laborers, with a middle wage of $46,960. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Maryland this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, construction laborers ranks 375. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $46,960, tax leaves $38,045 — and because Maryland is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $36,594 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $48,330, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maryland ranks 28 of 51 for construction laborers at $46,960. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Maryland reports, construction laborers ranks 375 of 489, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After tax, $38,045 remains from the Maryland median of $46,960 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $36,594 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $48,330 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Construction Laborers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,670 |
| This salary | $46,960 |
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 | $38,045 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,912 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,478 |
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 | $44,636 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,416 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of construction laborers in Maryland earn under $46,960 and half over. The published range runs $36,430 at the tenth percentile to $61,670 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $38,045 take-home in Maryland comes from $46,960. 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 375 of 489.
- Two cautions on $36,594, the adjusted value of that $46,960 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 375 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for construction laborers in Maryland, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,430 to $61,670; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $38,045, from $46,960, 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 375 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 51 for it.
- This $36,594 adjusted figure, worked from $46,960, 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 375 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 375 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $36,430 at the bottom tenth to $61,670 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $36,594 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Maryland adds its own income tax on top — which is why $38,045 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($36,430 to $61,670) 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 $36,594 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 $38,045 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.