Social Scientists and Related Workers, All Other in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$95,271
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$36,539
27.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$91,638
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
$131,810
Kept after tax
$95,271
Worth in national money
$91,638
State rank
2
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Maryland pays this job a middle wage of $131,810, ranking 2 of 49 states and sitting about 30.36% above the national middle.
- Within Maryland this is well-paid work. Of 489 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 35 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $131,810, tax leaves $95,271 — and because Maryland is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $91,638 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $126,600.
- Maryland's median for social scientists and related workers, all other is $131,810, about 30.36% above the national figure and 2 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Ranked against every occupation Maryland publishes a median for, social scientists and related workers, all other sits 35 of 489 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After tax, $95,271 remains from the Maryland median of $131,810 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $91,638 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $126,600 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Social Scientists and Related Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $70,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $131,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $175,720 |
| This salary | $131,810 |
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 | $95,271 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $101,358 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,667 |
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 | $122,904 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$17,782 |
| 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 $131,810. The published range is $70,430 up to $175,720, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $95,271 take-home in Maryland comes from $131,810. 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 35 of 489.
- Two cautions on $91,638, the adjusted value of that $131,810 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 35 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for social scientists and related workers, all other in Maryland the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $70,430 to $175,720. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $95,271, from $131,810, 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 35 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 49 for it.
- This $91,638 adjusted figure, worked from $131,810, 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 35 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 35 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 $126,600 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $70,430 and the top tenth $175,720 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $91,638 — 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 $95,271.
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 $126,600. 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 ($70,430) and the ninetieth ($175,720) 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 $91,638 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 $95,271 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.