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Maryland pay transparency law: the wage range and job posting rules

Since October 1, 2024, the Maryland Wage Range Transparency Act requires every job posting for work performed at least partly in Maryland to carry a good faith wage range, a general description of benefits, and any other compensation on offer. Maryland sets no employee-count threshold at all, so a five-person company has exactly the same duty as a national employer.

This page covers who is covered, what a compliant Maryland posting has to say, the duty that survives when you never post the job at all, the three-year record you have to keep, and the penalty ladder. Build a defensible range below in about a minute.

Last updated July 2026 / General information, not legal advice

Pay band builder Sample data
02 · Market
03 · Seniority
04 · Company stage
No. / At a glance / 01

Maryland wage range transparency, in one table

Obligation Who it covers What you must do Exposure
Wage range in postings Every employer, public or private, no size threshold Publish a good faith minimum and maximum wage in every internal and external posting for Maryland work. Compliance order, then $300, then $600 per person
Benefits and other compensation Same employers Add a general description of benefits and any other compensation such as bonus, commission, overtime or equity. Same penalty ladder
Disclosure with no posting Same employers Give the applicant the same information before any compensation discussion and whenever the applicant asks. Same penalty ladder
Recordkeeping Same employers Keep a record of compliance for each position for three years after it is filled, or after posting if never filled. Evidence problem in any investigation

Source: the Maryland Wage Range Transparency Act, codified at Md. Code, Labor and Employment section 3-304.2, and the guidance and voluntary disclosure template published by the Maryland Department of Labor. Summarized here for planning, not as legal advice.

No. / What it says / 02

The three details that catch employers out

01

There is no headcount threshold

Almost every other posting state gives small employers a floor to hide behind: 10 in New Jersey, 25 in Massachusetts, 30 in Minnesota, 15 in Washington. Maryland gives none. If you are an employer advertising work that will be physically performed at least partly in Maryland, you are covered, whether you have three employees or three thousand. Founders who assume a startup exemption exists are the group most often wrong here.

02

The duty survives when you never post

Maryland does not just regulate the ad, it regulates the conversation. If the wage range and benefits information was not in a posting, you have to hand it to the applicant before anyone talks money, and again any time the applicant asks. Hiring through referrals, headhunters or a quiet internal shortlist does not put you outside the law.

03

Remote roles pull you in from out of state

The trigger is where the work happens, not where you are headquartered. A remote posting that a Maryland resident could legitimately fill is a posting for work performed at least in part in Maryland. Companies with no Maryland office, no Maryland entity and no Maryland employee are routinely covered the moment they advertise a role open to the whole country.

Maryland also uses a good faith standard for the range itself. A range set in good faith can rest on the pay scale that already applies to the role, a wage range previously determined for it, the actual wages of people currently holding comparable positions, or the budget the employer approved for the hire. All four are defensible. What is not defensible is a range invented to look broad, which is why the range should come out of a documented structure rather than out of the hiring manager's head.

No. / Exposure / 03

What a violation actually costs in Maryland

Maryland enforces on an escalating ladder rather than hitting you on day one. A first violation brings an order from the Commissioner of Labor and Industry compelling compliance, with no monetary penalty attached. A second violation within three years of the first can carry a civil penalty of up to $300 for each employee or applicant affected. Each subsequent violation can carry up to $600 per affected person.

Per person, not per posting

This is the detail that makes Maryland less mild than the headline numbers suggest. The penalty is assessed per employee or applicant affected, so a single non-compliant posting that drew 200 applicants is not a $300 problem. New Jersey caps a violation at the posting level. Maryland scales it with your applicant volume, which means high-traffic roles carry the most risk.

Nobody can sue you over it

An earlier version of the bill contemplated a private right of action and class claims. The enacted law dropped both. Applicants cannot bring their own posting claim, and the Commissioner is the exclusive enforcer. That puts Maryland in the same category as New Jersey and Massachusetts, and well away from Washington, where private plaintiffs and fee awards have made posting violations genuinely expensive.

When setting a penalty the Commissioner weighs the gravity of the violation, the size of the business, the employer's good faith, and any history of prior violations. Good faith is a factor you can build evidence for in advance: a written methodology, a documented range, and a saved copy of the posting all read as good faith when someone asks two years later.

No. / Records / 04

The three year record most employers are not keeping

Maryland requires you to keep a record of compliance for each position for at least three years after the position is filled, or three years from the posting date if it was never filled. That is a longer memory than most applicant tracking systems have by default, and job boards routinely purge expired ads. If the only copy of your posting lived on a job board, your record is gone.

Keep

The posting text itself

A screenshot or saved copy showing the wage range, the benefits description and the other compensation language exactly as an applicant saw it. A requisition ID proves nothing about what was published.

Keep

How the range was set

The market data, percentile and internal band the number came from. This is what converts a range into a good faith range if the Commissioner ever weighs your good faith as a penalty factor.

Keep

The no-posting disclosures

For roles filled without an ad, keep proof that the applicant got the wage and benefits information before compensation came up. An emailed disclosure sheet timestamps itself and costs nothing.

The Maryland Department of Labor publishes a voluntary disclosure template. Using it is optional, but a properly completed template satisfies the disclosure obligation, which makes it the cheapest way to be sure the wording is right. The template does not set your range for you, and the range is the part that takes actual work.

No. / Method / 05

How to build a Maryland posting you can defend

Because Maryland covers every employer and every Maryland-touching role, the only workable answer is a template that is always compliant rather than a per-posting judgment call. Four steps get you there.

  1. Step 01

    Benchmark against Baltimore and DC metro percentiles

    Maryland employers compete on two very different wage curves. The Washington and Arlington metro area, which covers Montgomery and Prince George's counties, runs materially above the Baltimore metro for the same occupation. Pull P25, P50 and P75 for the metro the role actually sits in rather than a statewide average that splits the difference and fits neither.

  2. Step 02

    Set the internal band, then publish a slice

    Build the full internal band first, then post the portion you would genuinely pay a new hire. The internal band can be wider than the posted range without any conflict. A posted range that spans the entire career ladder is the kind of range a good faith standard is designed to catch.

  3. Step 03

    Write the benefits and other compensation block once

    One paragraph covering health coverage, paid time off, retirement, and any bonus, commission, overtime or equity component can live in your posting template permanently. Other compensation is a separate element from benefits, and leaving out a commission plan is as much a gap as leaving out the health plan.

  4. Step 04

    Archive every posting for three years automatically

    Add a step that saves the published posting text to your own storage the day it goes live, rather than trusting a job board to still have it in 2029. Tie it to the requisition so the record and the role stay connected after the recruiter who ran it has left.

Do it now

Wagelist turns a role, a market, a seniority level and a company stage into a P25/P50/P75 band and a posting-ready range built on public U.S. BLS wage data, with the methodology attached so the good faith basis is documented before anyone asks. Use the builder at the top of this page, or read the full method behind salary bands.

See how posted ranges work
No. / Context / 06

How Maryland compares to the other posting states

Maryland is the most broadly applicable posting law in the country by coverage and one of the milder ones by penalty. For a multi-state employer that combination usually means Maryland is the state that catches you first, because it is the one with no size exemption to fall back on.

State Employer threshold Headcount counted Benefits disclosure? Employees can sue?
Maryland None, every employer Not applicable Yes, plus other compensation No
Minnesota 30 or more Minnesota sites only Yes, general description No
New Jersey 10 or more Nationwide Yes, general description No
Massachusetts 25 or more In-state only No No
Washington 15 or more Global, if one WA employee Yes, general description Yes, private plaintiffs

Because Maryland has no threshold and Washington has private plaintiffs, a template built to satisfy both is effectively compliant everywhere else. The full breakdown lives in our guide to pay transparency laws by state, and the mechanics of adjusting one national band across the Baltimore and DC markets are in geographic pay differentials.

No. / FAQ / 07

Maryland pay transparency questions

Does Maryland require salary ranges in job postings?

Yes. Since October 1, 2024 every public or internal posting must carry a good faith wage range with a minimum and a maximum, a general description of benefits, and any other compensation offered. The duty attaches to any position where work will be physically performed at least in part in Maryland.

How many employees do you need for the law to apply?

None. Maryland sets no employee-count threshold, which makes it unusual among posting states. Every employer, public or private, is covered regardless of size. A two-person company hiring for Maryland work has the same duty as a national one.

What is the penalty for violating the Act?

A first violation draws an order compelling compliance with no fine. A second within three years can bring up to $300 per affected applicant or employee, and each subsequent violation up to $600 per person. There is no private right of action, so the Commissioner of Labor and Industry is the only enforcer.

Does the Maryland law apply to remote jobs?

Yes, whenever the work will be physically performed at least in part in Maryland. A fully remote role open to Maryland residents is covered even if the employer has no Maryland office or entity. The only way out is to exclude Maryland from the posting, which most employers do not want to do.

What if there is no job posting at all?

The duty survives. You must give the applicant the wage range, benefits and other compensation information before any discussion of compensation, and again whenever the applicant asks for it. Filling a role through referrals or a recruiter does not put you outside the Act.

How long must employers keep posting records?

Three years, running from the date the position was filled or, for a role never filled, from the date it was first posted. Keep the posting text showing the range and benefits language, not just the requisition record, because job boards purge expired ads long before three years are up.

No. / Related / 08

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