Security Guards in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,438
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$6,782
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,239
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
$38,220
Kept after tax
$31,438
Worth in national money
$30,239
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Maryland pays security guards around $38,220 at the midpoint, 27 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 489 occupations Maryland publishes, security guards lands at 440. 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 $38,220 the take-home is $31,438; in national-average money that behaves like $30,239. The average comes to $44,530, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For security guards the Maryland median is $38,220, ranking 27 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Maryland, this work ranks 440 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 security guards in Maryland, on $38,220, is $31,438; deflated by the state's price level, $30,239. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $44,530 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Security Guards
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,700 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,220 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,320 |
| This salary | $38,220 |
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 | $31,438 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,890 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,607 |
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 | $36,413 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,362 |
| 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 $38,220. The published range is $33,700 up to $64,320, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $31,438 take-home in Maryland comes from $38,220. 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 440 of 489.
- Two cautions on $30,239, the adjusted value of that $38,220 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 440 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for security guards in Maryland the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $33,700 to $64,320. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $31,438, from $38,220, 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 440 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 27 of 51 for it.
- This $30,239 adjusted figure, worked from $38,220, 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 440 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 440 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 $44,530, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $33,700 at the bottom tenth to $64,320 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $30,239 of national purchasing power.
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 $31,438 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 $44,530. 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 ($33,700) and the ninetieth ($64,320) 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 $30,239 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 $31,438 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.