Office Clerks, General in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,280
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$8,990
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,820
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
$47,270
Kept after tax
$38,280
Worth in national money
$36,820
State rank
15
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for office clerks, general is strong here. Maryland's middle earner gets $47,270, putting the state 15 of 51 — about 5.02% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in Maryland, this one sits low: 368 of 489 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Maryland is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $47,270 the take-home is $38,280; in national-average money that behaves like $36,820. The average comes to $50,570, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For office clerks, general, Maryland sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $47,270, ranking 15 of 51 and running about 5.02% 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.
- Office clerks, general occupies position 368 of 489 in Maryland's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Take-home for office clerks, general in Maryland, on $47,270, is $38,280; deflated by the state's price level, $36,820. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $50,570 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Office Clerks, General
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,800 |
| This salary | $47,270 |
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 | $38,280 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,161 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,509 |
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 | $44,928 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,453 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 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 $47,270. The published range is $33,650 up to $72,800, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Maryland the take-home figure of $38,280, from $47,270, 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 368 of 489 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maryland, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,820, the adjusted value of that $47,270 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 368 of 489 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for office clerks, general in Maryland the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $33,650 to $72,800. 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 $38,280 from $47,270. 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 368 of 489 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maryland, so $36,820 — the adjusted value of that $47,270 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 368 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 $50,570 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $33,650, the highest tenth $72,800, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $36,820 — 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 $38,280 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $50,570. 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 ($33,650) and the ninetieth ($72,800) 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 $36,820 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 $38,280 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.