Materials Engineers in Maryland

A pale wooden scale model and metal measuring tools on an engineering workbench.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$100,843

after federal, FICA and Maryland tax

Tax takes

$39,797

28.3% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$96,997

Maryland costs more than average

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

$140,640

Kept after tax

$100,843

Worth in national money

$96,997

State rank

2

of 45 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Maryland is one of the better-paying states for materials engineers. The middle earner takes $140,640, which ranks 2 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 24.61% above the national middle.
  • This is one of the better-paid jobs in Maryland. It ranks 22 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
  • Maryland is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $140,640 the take-home is $100,843; in national-average money that behaves like $96,997. The average comes to $140,770, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
  • Maryland ranks 2 of 45 states publishing a median for materials engineers, at $140,640 — about 24.61% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
  • Within Maryland, materials engineers ranks 22 of 489 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
  • Take-home for materials engineers in Maryland, on $140,640, is $100,843; deflated by the state's price level, $96,997. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $140,770 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.

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Pay band: Materials Engineers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$79,470
Half earn under$140,640
Top tenth earn over$195,190
This salary$140,640

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

Compare with
+$6,551take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Maryland$100,843
Take-home in Texas$107,393
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$13,519

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

Moving to
$0now · $140,640$121,431
$121,431in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$131,056
You could take a cut of−$19,209
Prices in Texas97 vs 104

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Half the people doing this work in Maryland earn less than $140,640. The published range is $79,470 up to $195,190, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • In Maryland the take-home figure of $100,843, from $140,640, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 22 of 489 occupations here.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $96,997 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 22.
  • Reported values are medians; for materials engineers in Maryland the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $79,470 to $195,190. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • Take-home for Maryland is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $100,843 from $140,640. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 22 of 489 locally.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $96,997, worked from $140,640, 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 22 of 489 locally.

Questions people ask

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $79,470, the highest tenth $195,190, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.

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 $96,997 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 $100,843.

Why is this job missing from some states?

The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.

What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?

Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($79,470) and the ninetieth ($195,190) 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 $96,997 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 $100,843 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.