Food Servers, Nonrestaurant in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,251
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$6,399
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,097
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
$36,650
Kept after tax
$30,251
Worth in national money
$29,097
State rank
13
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Maryland pays food servers, nonrestaurant a middle wage of $36,650, ranking 13 of 51 states and sitting about 3.65% above the national middle.
- Within Maryland this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, food servers, nonrestaurant ranks 461. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $36,650, tax leaves $30,251 — and because Maryland is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $29,097 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $37,060, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maryland's median for food servers, nonrestaurant is $36,650, about 3.65% above the national figure and 13 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.
- Against every occupation Maryland reports, food servers, nonrestaurant ranks 461 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, $30,251 remains from the Maryland median of $36,650 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $29,097 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $37,060 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Food Servers, Nonrestaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,650 |
| Top tenth earn over | $42,930 |
| This salary | $36,650 |
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 | $30,251 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,628 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,450 |
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 | $34,936 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,173 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,650 as a midpoint for Maryland, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,840 and the ninetieth is $42,930 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $30,251 take-home in Maryland comes from $36,650. 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 461 of 489.
- Two cautions on $29,097, the adjusted value of that $36,650 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 461 of 489 locally.
- The Maryland median of $36,650 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,840 to $42,930. 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 $30,251, from $36,650, 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 461 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 51 for it.
- This $29,097 adjusted figure, worked from $36,650, 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 461 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 461 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,840 at the bottom tenth to $42,930 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $29,097 of national purchasing power.
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 $30,251.
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 ($31,840 to $42,930) 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 $29,097 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 $30,251 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.