Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,548
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$11,982
20.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,735
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
$59,530
Kept after tax
$47,548
Worth in national money
$45,735
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maryland sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $59,530, ranking 26 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Maryland, this sits in the middle: 277 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $59,530, tax leaves $47,548 — and because Maryland is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $45,735 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $63,720, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maryland occupies the middle band for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors: a median of $59,530, ranking 26 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors ranks 277 of 489 occupations in Maryland by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After tax, $47,548 remains from the Maryland median of $59,530 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $45,735 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $63,720 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,050 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,980 |
| This salary | $59,530 |
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 | $47,548 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,012 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,731 |
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 | $56,463 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,931 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors in Maryland earn under $59,530 and half over. The published range runs $44,050 at the tenth percentile to $91,980 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Maryland's $47,548, worked from $59,530. 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 277 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maryland, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $45,735, the adjusted value of that $59,530 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 277 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors in Maryland, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $44,050 to $91,980; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Maryland take-home of $47,548, on $59,530 for work ranking 277 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 277 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maryland, so $45,735 — the adjusted value of that $59,530 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 277 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 $63,720, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $44,050, the highest tenth $91,980, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $45,735 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $47,548 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 $63,720. 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 ($44,050) and the ninetieth ($91,980) 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 $45,735 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 $47,548 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.