Can a Software Engineer afford to live in Baltimore?

Excellent64% of take-home left to save — you can save aggressively here.
Median salary (gross)
Software Engineer · Baltimore
$152,283
Income tax (~33% effective)
United States
– $50,227
Take-home pay
$8,505/mo
$102,056
Living costs (1 person)
$3,080/mo · derived
– $36,960
Savings potential
$5,425/mo · 64% of take-home
$65,096

Single professional, after-tax. Salary − tax − living costs = what you could save each year.

Full salary breakdown →Is this a good salary in Baltimore? →Compare Baltimore with another city →

How we calculated this

• Salary: BLS OES median for Software Engineer, adjusted for Baltimore.

• Tax: United States single-filer effective rate (~33%). Official calculator.

• Living costs: derived from cost-of-living index for a single professional.

Planning estimates, not financial or tax advice. Updated 2026. Your situation will differ.