Transportation Security Screeners in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$56,583
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$15,657
21.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,425
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
$72,240
Kept after tax
$56,583
Worth in national money
$54,425
State rank
5
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Maryland's middle earner gets $72,240, putting the state 5 of 45 — about 8.19% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Maryland, this sits in the middle: 205 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $72,240 the take-home is $56,583. But Maryland costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $54,425 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is lower, $72,230, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For transportation security screeners, Maryland sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $72,240, ranking 5 of 45 and running about 8.19% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Transportation security screeners ranks 205 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Maryland income tax is $56,583 for transportation security screeners, from $72,240. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,425. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $72,230 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Transportation Security Screeners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $72,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,230 |
| This salary | $72,240 |
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 | $56,583 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $59,651 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,960 |
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 | $67,879 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,132 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $72,240 as a midpoint for Maryland, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $57,160 and the ninetieth is $79,230 — 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 $56,583, worked from $72,240. 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 205 of 489.
- Two cautions on $54,425, the adjusted value of that $72,240 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 205 of 489 locally.
- The Maryland median of $72,240 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $57,160 to $79,230. 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 $56,583, on $72,240 for work ranking 205 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 205 of 489 in the state.
- This $54,425 adjusted figure, worked from $72,240, 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 205 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 205 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $57,160 and the top tenth $79,230, so most people doing this work in Maryland sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $54,425 rather than its face figure.
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, $56,583 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($57,160 to $79,230) 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 $54,425 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 $56,583 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.