Maryland State Tax Calculator (2026)

How Maryland taxes income

Maryland charges 2% to 6.5%. State tax is a separate calculation from your federal return rather than a share of it — Maryland sets its own schedule and its own definition of taxable income.

• Top marginal rate: 6.5%, reached at $1,000,000 for a single filer
• Brackets: 10 graduated bands, starting at 2%
• Standard deduction: $3,350 single / $6,700 joint
• Personal exemption: $3,200 single, $6,400 joint, $3,200 per dependent (not applied here)

Rate figures are as of January 1, 2026 and come from the published Tax Foundation compilation; they have not been independently checked against Comptroller of Maryland. States do change rates mid-year, so confirm a figure there before relying on it.

What catches people out in Maryland

• Maryland has 10 brackets for a single filer, running from 2% on the first dollar up to 6.5% above $1,000,000.
• The Maryland standard deduction is $3,350 for a single filer and $6,700 for a couple filing jointly. It is a separate figure from the federal standard deduction and usually much smaller, so itemising is a decision you make once federally and again for the state.
• Local income taxes are excluded, and Maryland's average local rate is 2.4% of AGI - by a wide margin the highest in the country, so a Maryland estimate that omits it understates the bill materially (footnote a). Since tax year 2025 Maryland also levies an additional 2% surtax on capital gains income where AGI exceeds $350,000, regardless of filing status (footnote x). The personal exemption phases out entirely above $150,000 of AGI for single filers and $200,000 for joint (footnote aa).

What this estimate leaves out

Three things are deliberately outside this calculation, because they change more often than annually and a confident wrong number does real damage on a tax page.

• The personal exemption — $3,200 single, $6,400 joint, $3,200 per dependent — is not applied, so the figure runs slightly high.
• Local and city income tax is not included. New York City is the significant one nationally.
• State-specific credits, subtractions and income addbacks are out of scope and can move the result either way.

If you have income in India, Maryland is where treaty relief runs out

States are not parties to the India-US tax treaty, and a state credit for "taxes paid to other jurisdictions" almost always means other US states rather than other countries.

So NRO interest, Indian rental income or a gain on Indian shares can be taxed by Maryland with no credit for the Indian tax deducted at source — even though Form 1116 largely neutralises that same tax federally.

The treatment is not uniform across states, so treat this as the general position rather than as Maryland's confirmed one, and check the credit rules with Comptroller of Maryland before relying on relief.

Sources

• Tax Foundation — 2026 State Income Tax Rates and Brackets
• Comptroller of Maryland — the authority for Maryland