Maryland by the numbers
In Maryland, the median worker earns $58,050 a year, the typical home is worth $397,700 and carries $3,989 of property tax, and the average household pays $206 a month for electricity at 21.77¢ per kilowatt-hour.
South PJM Retail choice statewide
Energy
Maryland restructured in the late 1990s and its utilities sold their power plants. Two decades later the state consumes far more electricity than it generates and imports the balance across a transmission network that is itself congested. When regional prices rise, Maryland has no generation position to offset them.
The 2025 and 2026 PJM capacity auctions cleared at record levels, and Maryland's Standard Offer Service auctions repriced accordingly. Because Maryland is a constrained import zone, it also pays locational charges that inland PJM states do not.
Delivery costs have risen too. Maryland regulators approved multi-year rate plans allowing utilities to recover grid-modernisation spending on a forward-looking basis, which accelerates recovery relative to traditional rate cases.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, Maryland households used 953 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $206. At the state median wage that is about 7.4 hours of work a month to keep the lights on. For heating, gas is still cheaper to run than a heat pump here, by about $3.98 per million BTU.
Work and pay
The median Maryland worker earned $58,050 in 2024, 17.3% above the national median. What distinguishes a state's labour market is rarely its biggest occupations, which are retail and food service everywhere, but what it has disproportionately.
| Occupation | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare Diagnosing or Treating Practitioners, All Other | 11.25× | $160,560 |
| Stonemasons | 7.89× | $47,890 |
| Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters | 7.6× | $93,550 |
| Microbiologists | 5.79× | $101,060 |
| Statisticians | 5.78× | $128,940 |
Property tax
The median Maryland homeowner pays $3,989 a year on a home worth $397,700, an effective rate of 1.00% against a national 0.98%. Nobody sets that rate. It is what falls out of county, city, school district and special district levies applied to an assessed value, so the state figure is a weighted average of 24 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in Maryland run at 105.0 where the national average is 100, ranking it #8 of 51. Goods sit at 102.5, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 121.1, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $58,050 therefore buys what $55,286 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (108.9) , Baltimore-Columbia-Towson (104.5) , Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington (102.6) , Lexington Park (100.8) , Salisbury (95.6) .
Housing
House prices in Maryland rose 0.9% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +61.5%. Prices are at or near their record level.
Metro areas tracked here: Baltimore-Columbia-Towson (+2.0%) , Wilmington (+2.0%) .
Who supplies the power
11 utilities report residential service in Maryland, together serving 2.2 million customers. Retail choice statewide.
Maryland: common questions
What does it cost to live in Maryland?
Prices overall run at 105.0 against a national average of 100, with rents at 121.1. The typical home is worth $397,700 and carries $3,989 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 1.00% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $206 a month at 21.77¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $58,050.
What is the property tax rate in Maryland?
The effective rate is 1.00% of home value, from a median bill of $3,989. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 24 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in Maryland?
The median wage of $58,050 buys what $55,286 buys nationally, once local prices are taken out. A state paying above the national median while charging above it for housing can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows which side of that line Maryland falls on.
Is Maryland expensive for electricity?
It ranks #15 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 21.77¢ per kilowatt-hour, +18.1% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 2 of 51, because households there use 953 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in Maryland?
$58,050 across all occupations, about $27.91 an hour, covering 2,746,300 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in Maryland?
11 utilities report residential service, the largest being Baltimore Gas & Electric Co with 1.0 million customers. Retail choice statewide.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources