Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,197
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$7,673
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,893
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
$41,870
Kept after tax
$34,197
Worth in national money
$32,893
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Maryland. The middle earner gets $41,870. That is 44 of 51 states, and about 15.74% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations Maryland publishes, this job lands at 416. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Maryland is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $41,870 the take-home is $34,197; in national-average money that behaves like $32,893. The average comes to $46,740, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For refuse and recyclable material collectors, Maryland sits in the lower band at $41,870, ranking 44 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 15.74%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Maryland, this work ranks 416 of 489 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Take-home for refuse and recyclable material collectors in Maryland, on $41,870, is $34,197; deflated by the state's price level, $32,893. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $46,740 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,210 |
| This salary | $41,870 |
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 | $34,197 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,823 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,971 |
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 | $39,847 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,802 |
| 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 $41,870. The published range is $35,900 up to $61,210, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Maryland's $34,197, worked from $41,870. 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 416 of 489.
- Two cautions on $32,893, the adjusted value of that $41,870 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 416 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for refuse and recyclable material collectors in Maryland the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,900 to $61,210. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Maryland take-home of $34,197, on $41,870 for work ranking 416 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 416 of 489 in the state.
- This $32,893 adjusted figure, worked from $41,870, 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 416 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 416 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 $46,740, 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 — $35,900 at the tenth percentile, $61,210 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 $32,893 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $34,197.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $46,740. 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 ($35,900 to $61,210) 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 $32,893 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 $34,197 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.