What Medical and Health Services Managers earn in Howard County, MD
The median pay for Medical and Health Services Managers in Howard County, MD is $124,990 per year, which works out to $60.09 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metropolitan area, the labor market that Howard County, MD belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $140,300, which is 12.2% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,060 people working in this occupation across the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Howard County, MD has roughly 336,328 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Medical and Health Services Managers in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $69,720 a year ($33.52 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $224,520 or more ($107.94 an hour). That is a gap of $154,800 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $86,500 at the 25th percentile and $164,690 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 3.2 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Medical and Health Services Managers in Howard County, MD is $60.09. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $124,990, and the same salary is $10,416 a month before taxes or about $4,807 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $43.61 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Medical and Health Services Managers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Medical and Health Services Managers this way: "Plan, direct, or coordinate medical and health services in hospitals, clinics, managed care organizations, public health agencies, or similar organizations."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Direct, supervise and evaluate work activities of medical, nursing, technical, clerical, service, maintenance, and other personnel"; "Establish objectives and evaluative or operational criteria for units managed"; "Direct or conduct recruitment, hiring, and training of personnel"; "Develop and maintain computerized record management systems to store and process data, such as personnel activities and information, and to produce reports".
Job outlook for Medical and Health Services Managers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 640,400 jobs in 2025 to 795,500 in 2035, a change of +24.2%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 62,300 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.7% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. Work experience in a related occupation: less than 5 years. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $123,860 for this occupation; the Howard County, MD median of $124,990 is 0.9% above it.
How pay in Howard County, MD compares
Compared with the Maryland average
The local median of $124,990 sits below the Maryland employment-weighted average of $129,051. The shortfall is $4,061 a year, or 3.1%, so Howard County, MD is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within Maryland, the highest median we track for this job is $140,670 in Montgomery County, MD.
Compared with the national average
Nationally, Medical and Health Services Managers earn an employment-weighted average of $123,981 across the contiguous United States, so $124,990 in Howard County, MD is essentially average. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Howard County, MD
Among the 552 occupations with published wages in Howard County, MD, Medical and Health Services Managers ranks number 56 by median pay, ahead of about 90% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Financial Managers at $157,990 a year, which is $33,000 more than the median for Medical and Health Services Managers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $124,990 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $34,278 a year, which leaves $90,712, or $7,559 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $27 goes to taxes and $73 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 27.4%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $109,240. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 24% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $19,065, an effective 15.3% of gross pay, well below the 24% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $7,749 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,812. FICA totals $9,562, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Maryland
Maryland income tax on this salary is $5,652 a year, or 4.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 30% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $471 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Howard County, MD
IRS Statistics of Income data for Howard County, MD show an average adjusted gross income of $137,769 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 16.2% across all filers. Filers in the $100,000 to under $200,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 12.1%, compared with the 15.3% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Howard County, MD
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Howard County, MD: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $90,712 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Howard County, MD is $1,625 a month, or $19,500 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,006 a month. For Medical and Health Services Managers, a one-bedroom absorbs 21.5% of take-home pay and 15.6% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 2.7% of gross pay for Medical and Health Services Managers in Howard County, MD. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Maryland residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,887 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $634, for $2,521 in total. Gasoline in Maryland averages $3.33 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,539.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $26,996 a year, 30% of take-home pay. That leaves $63,716 a year, or $5,310 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 51.0% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Howard County, MD
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Howard County, MD: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Howard County, MD, set beside the Maryland and national medians.
Property taxes in Howard County, MD
Homeowners in Howard County, MD pay a median of $6,987 a year in real estate taxes, 71% above the Maryland median of $4,093 and 124% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $597,900, the median tax bill is 1.17% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Medical and Health Services Managers median of $124,990, a tax bill of that size would equal 5.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Howard County, MD
Renters in Howard County, MD pay a median gross rent of $2,099 a month in the Census survey, 23% above the Maryland median of $1,705. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,625 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $597,900, 42% above the Maryland median of $419,900. Median household income is $149,763, 44% above the Maryland median of $103,678, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 13.0% of that income.
Commuting in Howard County, MD
Workers in Howard County, MD who travel to a workplace spend an average of 28.5 minutes each way, 8% below the Maryland average of 31.1. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.8 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 26.0% of workers in Howard County, MD work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Medical and Health Services Managers afford to live in Howard County, MD?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $124,990 that ceiling is $3,125 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,625 is $1,500 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $31.25 an hour; the median for Medical and Health Services Managers is $60.09, which is 92% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $43.61 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 8.6 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,006 a month means $1,003 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,464 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $71,180.
How fast you can save
At $5,310 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 2 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 4 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Medical and Health Services Managers pay in Howard County, MD
What is the hourly wage for Medical and Health Services Managers in Howard County, MD?
The median is $60.09 per hour, based on $124,990 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $33.52 at the 10th percentile to $107.94 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Medical and Health Services Managers in Howard County, MD?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $124,990 becomes $90,712 a year. That is $7,559 a month, $3,489 every two weeks or $1,744 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Medical and Health Services Managers in Howard County, MD?
Total taxes are $34,278 a year, an effective rate of 27.4%: $19,065 federal income tax, $9,562 FICA and $5,652 Maryland income tax.
Is pay for Medical and Health Services Managers in Howard County, MD above the Maryland average?
No. The local median of $124,990 is -3.1% versus the Maryland average of $129,051, a difference of $4,061 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Medical and Health Services Managers salary in Howard County, MD?
A one-bedroom costs $1,625 a month against take-home pay of $7,559, which is 21.5% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $3,125 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Medical and Health Services Managers in Howard County, MD?
About $5,310 a month ($63,716 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $26,996 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Howard County, MD at the 30% guideline?
$31.25 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $19,500 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Medical and Health Services Managers is $60.09.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Maryland rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.