Fast Food and Counter Workers salary in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD

The figures

The median Fast Food and Counter Workers in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metro area earns $33,090 a year ($15.91 an hour), according to the BLS OEWS May 2025 estimates (full citation in Sources). The middle half of Fast Food and Counter Workers in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD earn between $31,340 and $34,730 a year. At the ends of the distribution, the lowest-paid 10 percent earn $31,200 or less and the top 10 percent earn $36,150 or more. BLS estimates 21,090 Fast Food and Counter Workers jobs in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD area — 15.549 of every 1,000 jobs in the area, a location quotient of 0.63 (well below the national concentration). That is 0.5% of all Fast Food and Counter Workers employment in the United States (3,854,050 jobs nationally). By employment, Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD is the #24 largest of the 25 covered metro areas for Fast Food and Counter Workers. In aggregate, Fast Food and Counter Workers in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD earn about $0.71 billion a year (BLS employment multiplied by the mean wage). At the mean wage, the engine's take-home is $28,111.44 a year, so the aggregate take-home of Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Fast Food and Counter Workers is about $0.59 billion. BLS reports a relative standard error of 10.1% for this employment estimate. Ranked by median pay, Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD stands #13 of the 25 metro areas covered on this site for Fast Food and Counter Workers. By employment, Fast Food and Counter Workers is the #8 largest of the 30 covered occupations in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD. Placed against the national distribution for Fast Food and Counter Workers, the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD median of $33,090 falls between the national median ($31,200) and the national 75th percentile ($36,070). Across all occupations, the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD median is $59,070 a year — Fast Food and Counter Workers pay is 44.0% below the area's overall median.

Wages in detail

What the wage distribution says

The top 10 percent of Fast Food and Counter Workers in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD earn 1.2 times what the bottom 10 percent earn ($36,150 against $31,200). The middle half spans $3,390 — from $31,340 to $34,730. Hourly, the 90th percentile ($17.38) is 1.16 times the 10th ($15.00). In the upper half of the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD distribution, the 75th percentile wage of $34,730 takes home $28,799.40 and the 90th percentile wage of $36,150 takes home $29,873.08 — $1,073.68 more net for $1,420 more gross. Against the median take-home of $27,559.54, the top decile keeps 1.08 times as much. The mean wage of $33,820 sits 2.2% above the median: higher-paid Fast Food and Counter Workers pull the average up in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD. Among the 30 covered occupations in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD, Fast Food and Counter Workers ranks #30 by median pay. In the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD wage ladder of covered occupations, Fast Food and Counter Workers sits just below Cashiers at $33,760. Fast Food and Counter Workers accounts for 1.6% of all employment in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metro area. The average covered metro employs 62,486 Fast Food and Counter Workers; Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD employs 0.3 times that.

Take-home pay on the median wage in Maryland

Single filer, no dependents, no pre-tax contributions, paid biweekly, a full year of W-2 wages in Maryland; city and local taxes are not included:

At the median, $27,559.54 of the $33,090 gross is kept ($1,059.98 per paycheck) — a deduction rate of 16.71%. The deduction rate moves with pay: 16.25% at the 10th percentile, 16.28% at the 25th percentile, 17.08% at the 75th percentile, 17.36% at the 90th percentile. Between the 25th and 75th percentile wages, annual take-home rises by $2,562.68 on a gross rise of $3,390.

The same engine at the other published points of the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD wage distribution:

Across the published distribution, take-home pay runs from $26,131.04 a year at the 10th percentile to $29,873.08 at the 90th — a spread of $3,742.04 of net pay inside one occupation and one metro area.

For scale: across all occupations, the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD median wage of $59,070 takes home $47,200.74 a year ($1,815.41 per paycheck, deduction rate 20.09%). The Fast Food and Counter Workers median take-home of $27,559.54 sits $19,641.20 (below that area-wide figure.

Run your own numbers

Your own withholding depends on your Form W-4, your benefits and your other income — run your exact figures through the calculator:

Take-home pay for $33,090 in Maryland

Against the national median

Nationally, the median Fast Food and Counter Workers earns $31,200 a year ($15.00 an hour). The Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD median of $33,090 is $1,890 (6.1%) above the national median.

The means rank the area the same way: $33,820 a year in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD against $32,150 nationally, a gap of $1,670 (5.2%).

Set against the whole local market, the Fast Food and Counter Workers 90th percentile of $36,150 is 26% of the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD all-occupations 90th percentile ($138,650), and its 10th percentile of $31,200 is 91% of the area-wide 10th ($34,230).

Sources and method

Wage data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates (released May 15, 2026), retrieved October 27, 2026 — bls.gov/oes. OEWS figures are survey estimates for May 2025, not job offers. Take-home pay is computed by this site's paycheck engine with 2026 federal and state rules; the method, and what the engine does not model, is documented in the paycheck methodology guide. Estimates only — not tax advice.