What Cashiers earn in Montgomery County, MD
According to the latest federal wage data for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area, the median pay for Cashiers in Montgomery County, MD is $35,470 a year, or $17.05 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $29,277 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Montgomery County, MD.
The mean wage is $36,630, which is 3.3% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 50,600 people working in this occupation across the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Montgomery County, MD has roughly 1,065,949 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Cashiers in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $30,330 a year ($14.58 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $44,710 or more ($21.50 an hour). That is a gap of $14,380 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $32,340 at the 25th percentile and $37,950 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.5 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 Cashiers in Montgomery County, MD is $17.05. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $35,470, and the same salary is $2,956 a month before taxes or about $1,364 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $14.08 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Montgomery County, MD compares
Compared with the Maryland average
Montgomery County, MD pays above the state benchmark. The Maryland employment-weighted average for Cashiers is $34,011; the local median of $35,470 beats it by $1,459, or 4.3%. Within Maryland, Montgomery County, MD already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Cashiers is $32,032 across the contiguous United States. At $35,470, Montgomery County, MD pays $3,438 more, which is 10.7% above that benchmark. 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 Montgomery County, MD
Among the 618 occupations with published wages in Montgomery County, MD, Cashiers ranks number 613 by median pay, ahead of about 1% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Lawyers at $195,190 a year, which is $159,720 more than the median for Cashiers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $35,470 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 $6,193 a year, which leaves $29,277, or $2,440 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $17 goes to taxes and $83 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.5%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $19,720. 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 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $2,128, an effective 6.0% of gross pay, well below the 12% 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 $2,199 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $514. FICA totals $2,713, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Maryland
Maryland income tax on this salary is $1,352 a year, or 3.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 64% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $113 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 Montgomery County, MD
IRS Statistics of Income data for Montgomery County, MD show an average adjusted gross income of $141,640 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 17.9% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.6%, compared with the 6.0% 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 Montgomery County, MD
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Montgomery County, MD: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $29,277 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Montgomery County, MD is $2,204 a month, or $26,448 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,438 a month. For Cashiers, a one-bedroom absorbs 90.3% of take-home pay and 74.6% 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 9.7% of gross pay for Cashiers in Montgomery 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
The basics cost $33,944 a year in Montgomery County, MD, but take-home pay for Cashiers is $29,277. That is a shortfall of $4,667 a year, or $389 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 332 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $14.08, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Can Cashiers afford to live in Montgomery 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 $35,470 that ceiling is $887 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,204 is $1,317 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $42.38 an hour; the median for Cashiers is $17.05, which is 60% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $14.08 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 36.1 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,438 a month means $1,219 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $11,820 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $7,153, which turns the shortfall into a surplus.
How fast you can save
With no monthly margin after the four basics, saving requires a change on one side of the ledger: higher pay than the $35,470 median, lower housing costs than the $2,204 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Cashiers pay in Montgomery County, MD
What is the hourly wage for Cashiers in Montgomery County, MD?
The median is $17.05 per hour, based on $35,470 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $14.58 at the 10th percentile to $21.50 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Cashiers in Montgomery County, MD?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $35,470 becomes $29,277 a year. That is $2,440 a month, $1,126 every two weeks or $563 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Cashiers in Montgomery County, MD?
Total taxes are $6,193 a year, an effective rate of 17.5%: $2,128 federal income tax, $2,713 FICA and $1,352 Maryland income tax.
Is pay for Cashiers in Montgomery County, MD above the Maryland average?
Yes. The local median of $35,470 is +4.3% versus the Maryland average of $34,011, a difference of $1,459 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Cashiers salary in Montgomery County, MD?
A one-bedroom costs $2,204 a month against take-home pay of $2,440, which is 90.3% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $887 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Cashiers in Montgomery County, MD?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $33,944 a year, which is $4,667 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $389.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Montgomery County, MD at the 30% guideline?
$42.38 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $26,448 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Cashiers is $17.05.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 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.