Maryland taxes you twice on the same dollar — and the second rate depends on your street
Almost every state with a local income tax applies it in a handful of cities. Maryland applies it everywhere. All 23 counties and Baltimore City levy an income tax on top of the state's, collected on the same return, and the spread is wide: from 2.25% in Worcester to 3.30% in Dorchester and Kent. On a $70,000 salary, filing single with one exemption, that gap alone is worth about $666 a year — for identical work, at an identical wage, on opposite sides of a county line.
The rule that decides which rate is yours catches people out constantly: the local tax follows where you live, not where you work. Commute from Harford into Baltimore City every day and you pay Harford's 3.06%, not the city's 3.20%. Move house across the line mid-year and your withholding should change with you — which is what Form MW507 is for.
| Jurisdiction | 2026 rate |
|---|---|
| Worcester | 2.25% |
| Talbot | 2.40% |
| Garrett | 2.65% |
| Cecil | 2.74% |
| Washington | 2.95% |
| Carroll | 3.03% |
| Charles | 3.03% |
| Harford | 3.06% |
| Allegany | 3.20% |
| Baltimore City | 3.20% |
| Baltimore County | 3.20% |
| Calvert | 3.20% |
| Caroline | 3.20% |
| Howard | 3.20% |
| Montgomery | 3.20% |
| Prince George's | 3.20% |
| Queen Anne's | 3.20% |
| Somerset | 3.20% |
| St. Mary's | 3.20% |
| Wicomico | 3.20% |
| Dorchester | 3.30% |
| Kent | 3.30% |
Two jurisdictions do not have a single rate at all.
- Anne Arundel — brackets of 2.70%, 2.94%, 3.20%
- Frederick — brackets of 2.25%, 2.75%, 2.96%, 3.20%
Our calculator applies their top rate, which is the conservative reading: if you sit in a lower bracket there, your real local tax is smaller than the figure we show, never larger.
What your employer actually withholds
Maryland's withholding tables don't compute the two taxes separately. They apply a combined state-plus-local rate to a single taxable-income figure, which is why the combined percentages printed in the 2026 employer guide run from 7.50% to 9.25% and look nothing like the 2.00%–6.50% bracket ladder people expect. Nothing is wrong when your stub shows a bigger bite than the state rate suggests: the county share is already inside it.
The state ladder itself starts at 2.00% on the first $1,000 of taxable income and steps up through 3.00% and 4.00% before settling at 4.75% — the rate that covers most Maryland earners, all the way to $100,000. Above that it climbs again in five further steps to 6.50%. Each dollar is taxed at the rate of its own band; none of it is retroactive.
The two standard deductions, and why your stub and your return disagree
This is the Maryland quirk that generates the most confused emails, and it is not an error on either side. For withholding, the 2026 employer guide sets a single flat standard deduction of $3,400 for everybody — it prints no separate joint amount anywhere in its 42 pages — and that is what your employer applies whatever you put on your Form MW507. For the tax you finally owe, the deduction does depend on filing status: $3,400 single, $6,800 joint. On top of that sits a personal exemption of $3,200 for each exemption you claim — yourself, a spouse, each dependent — which phases down once federal AGI passes $100,000 single or $150,000 joint.
One figure on this page is inferred rather than read: the $6,800 joint standard deduction. Maryland has not published its 2026 amount yet, so we carry the 2025 legislation forward and index it. Filing jointly or as head of household? Treat the annual total as close, not exact. We will replace it the day the Form 502 instructions appear, and the change will be listed on our changelog.
If you don't live in Maryland but work there
Nonresidents pay no county tax at all. Instead Maryland applies a special nonresident rate of 2.25% on top of the state brackets, which lands close to — but not the same as — what a resident of a low-rate county would pay. Crossing the other way, into D.C., is a different ladder again: our D.C. calculator covers it.