Mechanical Drafters in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,535
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$17,205
22.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,265
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
$76,740
Kept after tax
$59,535
Worth in national money
$57,265
State rank
9
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for mechanical drafters is strong here. Maryland's middle earner gets $76,740, putting the state 9 of 47 — about 7.25% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Mechanical drafters ranks 176 among 489 occupations Maryland publishes pay for.
- Maryland is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $76,740 the take-home is $59,535; in national-average money that behaves like $57,265. The average comes to $81,200, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For mechanical drafters, Maryland sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $76,740, ranking 9 of 47 and running about 7.25% 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.
- Position 176 of 489 in Maryland places mechanical drafters 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 mechanical drafters in Maryland, on $76,740, is $59,535; deflated by the state's price level, $57,265. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $81,200 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Mechanical Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,090 |
| This salary | $76,740 |
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 | $59,535 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,817 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,378 |
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 | $72,075 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,192 |
| 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 mechanical drafters in Maryland earn under $76,740 and half over. The published range runs $51,890 at the tenth percentile to $123,090 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $59,535 take-home in Maryland comes from $76,740. 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 176 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maryland, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $57,265, the adjusted value of that $76,740 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 176 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for mechanical drafters in Maryland, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,890 to $123,090; 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 $59,535, from $76,740, 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 176 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maryland, so $57,265 — the adjusted value of that $76,740 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 176 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $81,200 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $51,890 and the top tenth $123,090 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Maryland run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $57,265 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $59,535 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $81,200. 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 ($51,890) and the ninetieth ($123,090) 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 $57,265 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 $59,535 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.