Maryland Child Support Guidelines

Maryland operates under the Income Shares model, one of 42 U.S. states using this framework. For a parent supporting one child, the base guideline applies roughly 22% of income, scaling to 31% for two children and 38% for three. That places Maryland at rank #2 of 51 states by single-child base percentage. The state caps countable income at $15,000 per month, meaning earnings above that threshold fall to judicial discretion rather than the formula. Median household income across Maryland is $90,203 annually, which shapes the real-world dollar obligations families face under these percentages.

On the enforcement side, the Maryland child support program manages 288,000 active cases and collected approximately $650 million in the most recent OCSE reporting year. The state's collection rate of 61.5% compares to a national average of 60.6% across reporting states — placing Maryland at rank #24 of 51 on collection efficiency, and rank #19 by caseload volume (national average: 285,686 cases per state). Paternity is established in 95.8% of Maryland cases, compared to 94.9% nationally — a critical step because child support orders cannot be enforced without legal parentage on record. Orders are in place for 76.2% of the caseload.

Context matters when interpreting these numbers. A higher percentage-of-income figure does not automatically mean higher dollar obligations — the underlying income brackets, deductions, parenting-time adjustments, and self-support reserves vary meaningfully between states. Maryland allows a parenting time adjustment, which can materially reduce the base obligation when the non-custodial parent exercises substantial overnight time. Use the official Maryland calculator linked below for a binding estimate. Data sources: OCSE FY2022 Annual Report, Maryland Revised Statutes, and Census ACS 2022.