Power Plant Operators in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$82,088
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$29,172
26.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$78,958
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
$111,260
Kept after tax
$82,088
Worth in national money
$78,958
State rank
8
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for power plant operators is strong here. Maryland's middle earner gets $111,260, putting the state 8 of 49 — about 9.04% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Maryland. It ranks 65 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 $111,260 the take-home is $82,088; in national-average money that behaves like $78,958. The average lands at $107,840, below the middle of the range.
- For power plant operators, Maryland sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $111,260, ranking 8 of 49 and running about 9.04% 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.
- Within Maryland, power plant operators ranks 65 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 power plant operators in Maryland, on $111,260, is $82,088; deflated by the state's price level, $78,958. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $107,840 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Power Plant Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $85,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $111,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $122,030 |
| This salary | $111,260 |
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 | $82,088 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $87,101 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,676 |
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 | $104,134 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,747 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $111,260 as a midpoint for Maryland, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $85,120 and the ninetieth is $122,030 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Maryland the take-home figure of $82,088, from $111,260, 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 65 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 $78,958, the adjusted value of that $111,260 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 65 of 489 in the state.
- The Maryland median of $111,260 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $85,120 to $122,030. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Maryland is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $82,088 from $111,260. 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 65 of 489 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maryland, so $78,958 — the adjusted value of that $111,260 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 65 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $107,840, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $85,120 at the tenth percentile, $122,030 at the ninetieth.
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 $78,958 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Maryland's own levy, $82,088 remains.
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 49 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 $107,840. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($85,120 to $122,030) 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 $78,958 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 $82,088 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.