Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,898
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$5,962
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,796
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
$34,860
Kept after tax
$28,898
Worth in national money
$27,796
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Maryland's middle earner gets $34,860, putting the state 10 of 51 — about 11.73% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Maryland this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 479. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $34,860, tax leaves $28,898 — and because Maryland is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $27,796 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $35,110, since top earners drag the number up.
- For hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop, Maryland sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $34,860, ranking 10 of 51 and running about 11.73% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Against every occupation Maryland reports, hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop ranks 479 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, $28,898 remains from the Maryland median of $34,860 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $27,796 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $35,110 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,180 |
| This salary | $34,860 |
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 | $28,898 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,190 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,272 |
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 | $33,252 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,957 |
| 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 hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop in Maryland earn under $34,860 and half over. The published range runs $31,200 at the tenth percentile to $38,180 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Maryland's $28,898, worked from $34,860. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 479 of 489.
- Two cautions on $27,796, the adjusted value of that $34,860 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 479 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop in Maryland, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,200 to $38,180; 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.
- The Maryland take-home of $28,898, on $34,860 for work ranking 479 of 489 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 479 of 489 in the state.
- This $27,796 adjusted figure, worked from $34,860, 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 479 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 479 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,200 at the bottom tenth to $38,180 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 $27,796 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 $28,898 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 ($31,200 to $38,180) 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 $27,796 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 $28,898 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.