Maryland Paycheck Calculator 2026

Enter your pay, your county and your MW507 exemptions to see what lands in your bank account. Maryland withholds its state tax and your county's income tax together — we show both parts.

What comes out of a Maryland paycheck

• Federal income tax withholding — worked out from your pay and your Form W-4, using the IRS tables for 2026.
• Social Security — 6.2% of your pay, up to $184,500 of pay in 2026. Above that, it stops for the rest of the year.
• Medicare — 1.45% of all your pay, plus 0.9% on pay above $200,000 in the year.

A Maryland paycheck has one line for state tax, but it holds two taxes: Maryland's own income tax and the income tax of the county you live in (or Baltimore City). Employers work it out with the Comptroller's percentage method:

1. Start with your pay subject to income tax — after a traditional 401(k) and pre-tax health insurance, as for federal tax.
2. Take off the standard deduction for withholding: $3,400 a year ($65.38 a week), the same for every filing status.
3. Take off $3,200 a year ($61.54 a week) for each exemption on your MW507.
4. Multiply what's left by the state rate plus your county's rate. The state part is 4.75% on yearly taxable pay up to $100,000 ($150,000 at the joint rate), rising step by step to 6.5% above $1,000,000 ($1,200,000 joint). In Baltimore City, for example, the first step is 7.95% in total.

Maryland has no employee-paid unemployment tax: state law bars employers from taking any part of it out of your wages. Paid family and medical leave (FAMLI) deductions have not started yet.

What's different about Maryland

Your county tax comes out with your state tax

Every Maryland county and Baltimore City has its own income tax. For 2026 the rates run from 2.25% to 3.3%, the highest a county may now charge. Pick your county above. Two counties use more than one rate. Anne Arundel charges 2.7% on the first $50,000 of yearly taxable income, 2.94% up to $400,000 and 3.2% above that ($75,000 and $480,000 at the joint rate). Frederick's rate depends on your whole taxable income — from 2.25% up to $25,000 to 3.2% above $150,000 for single filers — and that one rate applies to all of it.

If you live outside Maryland and work here, there is no county tax; instead your employer adds a special nonresident rate of 2.25%. Residents of places with a reciprocal agreement (the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia) can claim exemption from the state part on the MW507 if they meet its conditions.

Withholding skips the lowest rates

On your return, Maryland taxes the first $1,000 of taxable income at 2%, the next $1,000 at 3% and the next $1,000 at 4%. The law tells the Comptroller to leave those out of the withholding tables, so withholding starts at 4.75% from the first dollar. That means a little more is withheld than those lower rates would give.

Your MW507

The MW507 is Maryland's version of the W-4. Line 1 is your number of exemptions — each is worth $3,200 a year. If you never gave your employer one, it must withhold as if you claimed 1. If your income will be over $100,000 ($150,000 filing jointly), the form's worksheet lowers the exemptions you can claim. You also tick a box for the single or the joint rate, and line 2 lets you add an extra amount each paycheck.

Low pay

Employers don't withhold Maryland tax from pay at a rate under $5,000 a year (under $96 a week).

Paydays and your last paycheck

Maryland employers must pay at least every two weeks or twice a month; executive, administrative and professional employees can be paid less often. When you leave, your final wages are due on or before the day you would have been paid if you had stayed. Unused vacation is paid out unless your employer told you in writing when you were hired that it is lost.

Unpaid wages

You can file a wage claim with the Maryland Department of Labor's Employment Standards Service, using its claim form.

Why your paycheck might differ from this

• Your W-4. Credits for children (Step 3), a checked Step 2 box, or extra withholding (Step 4c) change the federal amount a lot. Open "Tips, 401(k), health insurance and W-4 details" above to enter them.
• Benefits taken before tax. Health insurance through work usually lowers income tax and Social Security and Medicare. A traditional 401(k) lowers income tax only.
• Rounding. Payroll software may round each step, so a few cents of difference is normal.

Tips and overtime in 2026

New federal deductions apply for 2025 through 2028: up to $25,000 for qualified tips, and up to $12,500 ($25,000 for joint filers) for the extra "half" of time-and-a-half overtime. Both phase out above $150,000 of income ($300,000 joint).

These are deductions on your tax return. Your employer still takes Social Security and Medicare out of tips and overtime, and still withholds income tax unless you tell it otherwise. If you expect to claim them, you can put the expected amount in Step 4(b) of your W-4 (and in the Step 4(b) box above) so less income tax is withheld during the year.

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Sources

• IRS Publication 15-T (2026), Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods — Worksheet 1A and the annual percentage-method tables
• IRS Publication 15 (2026), Employer's Tax Guide — Social Security and Medicare rates
• Social Security Administration — 2026 wage base of $184,500
• IRS — tips and overtime deductions
• Comptroller of Maryland — 2026 Maryland Employer Withholding Guide — percentage method: $3,400 standard deduction, $3,200 per exemption, rate tables ignore rates below 4.75%, no withholding under $5,000 a year, 1 exemption if no MW507, Anne Arundel and Frederick rates
• Comptroller of Maryland — 2026 percentage method table, 3.20 percent local income tax — 7.95% … 9.70% tables for every pay period
• Comptroller of Maryland — Withholding Tax Facts, January 2026 — 2026 local income tax rates for all 24 jurisdictions; 2.25% nonresident rate; $3,200 exemption
• Comptroller of Maryland — Online Withholding Calculator (2026) — confirms each county's 2026 rate and Frederick's whole-income rate
• Comptroller of Maryland — Tax alert: changes from the 2025 legislative session — new 6.25% and 6.5% brackets from tax year 2025; standard deduction $3,350 / $6,700; local rates up to 3.30% from 2026
• Comptroller of Maryland — Form MW507 (2026) — exemptions, rate boxes, additional withholding, reciprocity exemptions, worksheet above $100,000 / $150,000
• Maryland FAMLI — Make contributions — employee contributions through payroll start January 2027; 0.9% split 0.45% / 0.45%
• Maryland Department of Labor — Deductions for unemployment and workers' compensation — no part of wages may be deducted for unemployment insurance
• Maryland Department of Labor — Maryland Minimum Wage and Overtime Law
• Maryland Manual — Maryland at a glance: wages — $13.25 → $15.00 on January 1, 2024 (Fair Wage Act of 2023)
• Maryland Department of Labor — Frequency of pay — at least every two weeks or twice a month; executive, administrative and professional employees may be paid less often
• Maryland Department of Labor — Termination pay — final wages on or before the day they would have been paid
• Maryland Department of Labor — Wage issues: having problems with your pay? — claim form to the Employment Standards Service