Maryland Real Estate Transfer Tax Calculator

Maryland's transfer tax is a two-layer system: a flat 0.5% state tax under Tax-Property Section 13-203 applies everywhere, and county transfer taxes stack on top at rates that vary enormously by jurisdiction, from 0% in Frederick, Carroll, Charles, and Calvert counties to as much as 1.5% in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. That range means the identical $380,000 sale can owe $1,900 in one Maryland county and roughly $7,600 in another, purely because of the local add-on.

Maryland transfer tax is customarily split between buyer and seller, though the specific allocation is a matter of the purchase contract and can vary by local custom and county. This calculator applies a typical 0.5% local rate as its statewide baseline; because Maryland's actual local rates span the full 0% to 1.5% range, confirming the specific county rate matters here more than in almost any other state's calculation, and this baseline also excludes Maryland's separate state and county recordation tax.

Maryland's transfer tax combines two flat-rate components applied to the entire sale price:

$$\text{Transfer Tax} = \text{Sale Price} \times (0.005 + 0.005)$$

The calculator's engine runs this through the calculateStateRealEstateTransferTax primitive using Maryland's statutory state transfer tax rate of 0.5% and an average county transfer tax rate of 0.5%, a reasonable middle-of-the-road figure given the wide range across Maryland's 24 counties and Baltimore City. Because both components are flat rather than bracketed, the primitive multiplies the sale price by the combined 1% rate to produce total tax due.

Using the calculator's baseline $380,000 sale price:

• Sale Price: $380,000
• Combined state and average county rate: 1% (0.5% state transfer tax plus a typical 0.5% county transfer tax)
• Transfer Tax Due: $380,000 × 0.01 = $3,800.00
• Net Proceeds After Tax: $380,000 minus $3,800 = $376,200.00
• Effective Rate: 1.000%

At the higher-value scenario of $1,500,000, the same combined flat rate applies: $1,500,000 × 0.01 = $15,000.00 in tax due. Because both components modeled here are flat, the effective rate holds at 1% across every sale price, though the actual total for any specific Maryland property will differ from this baseline depending on the county's actual local rate, which can range from 0% to 1.5%.

• The wide variation in actual county transfer tax rates. Some Maryland counties, including Frederick, Carroll, Charles, and Calvert, charge no local transfer tax at all, while Baltimore City and Baltimore County charge as much as 1.5%. This calculator's 0.5% average county rate is a reasonable planning estimate, not the exact rate for any specific county.
• The separate state and county recordation tax. Maryland imposes a distinct recordation tax on deeds and on mortgage or deed of trust debt, calculated separately from the transfer tax and varying by county. This calculator does not include recordation tax in its output.
• First-time homebuyer exemptions and reductions. Maryland and many of its counties offer reduced transfer tax rates or partial state transfer tax exemptions for qualifying first-time homebuyers, which this calculator does not model.
• Exemptions for certain transfer types. Transfers between spouses, transfers into revocable trusts, and transfers by operation of law may be exempt from some or all of the transfer tax under Maryland law. This calculator assumes a standard taxable arm's-length sale.

• Using the state-only rate and forgetting the county component. The 0.5% state transfer tax alone significantly understates total transfer tax due in nearly every Maryland county, since almost all counties layer their own local rate on top.
• Assuming every county charges the same local rate. Maryland's county transfer tax rates range from 0% in several counties to 1.5% in Baltimore City and County, a meaningful spread; using this calculator's 0.5% average instead of the actual county rate can produce a noticeably different number for a specific property.
• Confusing the transfer tax with the recordation tax. Maryland charges these as two separate taxes with different bases and different rate structures; combining or substituting one for the other on a closing worksheet produces an incorrect total.
• Overlooking first-time homebuyer relief. Qualifying first-time buyers in Maryland can receive a reduced state transfer tax rate and sometimes a county-level reduction as well, which this calculator's standard-sale baseline does not reflect.

• Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation: State transfer tax guidance under Tax-Property Article 13-203
• Engine table: engine/tables/2026/state-real-estate-transfer-tax.json, Maryland entry, verified 2026-08-21