Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,422
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$19,768
23.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,965
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
$84,190
Kept after tax
$64,422
Worth in national money
$61,965
State rank
15
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Maryland pays this job a middle wage of $84,190, ranking 15 of 51 states and sitting about 2.4% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 139 among 489 occupations Maryland publishes pay for.
- Maryland is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $84,190 the take-home is $64,422; in national-average money that behaves like $61,965. The average comes to $93,100, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Maryland's median for environmental scientists and specialists, including health is $84,190, about 2.4% above the national figure and 15 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 139 of 489 in Maryland places environmental scientists and specialists, including health in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Take-home for environmental scientists and specialists, including health in Maryland, on $84,190, is $64,422; deflated by the state's price level, $61,965. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $93,100 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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: Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $137,440 |
| This salary | $84,190 |
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 | $64,422 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,058 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,071 |
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 | $79,022 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,148 |
| 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 environmental scientists and specialists, including health in Maryland earn under $84,190 and half over. The published range runs $57,840 at the tenth percentile to $137,440 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $64,422 take-home in Maryland comes from $84,190. 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 139 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $61,965 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 139.
- Figures are distribution medians for environmental scientists and specialists, including health in Maryland, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $57,840 to $137,440; 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 $64,422, from $84,190, 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 139 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 15 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $61,965, worked from $84,190, 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 139 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $93,100, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $57,840 and the top tenth $137,440 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $61,965 rather than its face figure.
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 $64,422.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $93,100. 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 ($57,840) and the ninetieth ($137,440) 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 $61,965 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 $64,422 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.