Surgical Technologists in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,438
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$14,532
21.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,362
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
$68,970
Kept after tax
$54,438
Worth in national money
$52,362
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Maryland is 19 of 51 states for surgical technologists, with a middle wage of $68,970. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Maryland, this sits in the middle: 213 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 $68,970, tax leaves $54,438 — and because Maryland is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $52,362 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $69,740, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maryland ranks 19 of 51 for surgical technologists at $68,970. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Surgical technologists ranks 213 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, $54,438 remains from the Maryland median of $68,970 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $52,362 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $69,740 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Surgical Technologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $68,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,820 |
| This salary | $68,970 |
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 | $54,438 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $57,350 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,656 |
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 | $65,038 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,357 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $68,970 as a midpoint for Maryland, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,590 and the ninetieth is $85,820 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Maryland's $54,438, worked from $68,970. 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 213 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maryland, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $52,362, the adjusted value of that $68,970 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 213 of 489 in the state.
- The Maryland median of $68,970 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,590 to $85,820. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Maryland take-home of $54,438, on $68,970 for work ranking 213 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 213 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maryland, so $52,362 — the adjusted value of that $68,970 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 213 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $45,590 at the bottom tenth to $85,820 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $52,362 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Maryland's own levy, $54,438 remains.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($45,590 to $85,820) 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 $52,362 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 $54,438 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.