Sewing Machine Operators in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,654
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$6,206
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,523
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
$35,860
Kept after tax
$29,654
Worth in national money
$28,523
State rank
31
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maryland sits in the middle of the pack for sewing machine operators. The median is $35,860, ranking 31 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Maryland, this one sits low: 469 of 489 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $35,860, tax leaves $29,654 — and because Maryland is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $28,523 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $39,090, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maryland occupies the middle band for sewing machine operators: a median of $35,860, ranking 31 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Sewing machine operators occupies position 469 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.
- After tax, $29,654 remains from the Maryland median of $35,860 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $28,523 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $39,090 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Sewing Machine Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,390 |
| This salary | $35,860 |
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 | $29,654 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,994 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,372 |
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 | $34,193 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,078 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,860 as a midpoint for Maryland, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,200 and the ninetieth is $55,390 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $29,654 take-home in Maryland comes from $35,860. 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 469 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maryland, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,523, the adjusted value of that $35,860 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 469 of 489 in the state.
- The Maryland median of $35,860 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,200 to $55,390. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $29,654, from $35,860, 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 469 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 31 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maryland, so $28,523 — the adjusted value of that $35,860 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 469 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 $39,090, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $31,200 at the bottom tenth to $55,390 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Maryland costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $28,523 rather than its face figure.
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 $29,654 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $39,090. 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 ($31,200 to $55,390) 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 $28,523 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 $29,654 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.