Respiratory Therapist Salary in Maryland 2026,
$88,960 Median | BLS Data by City

The published Maryland figure is $88,960 a year, or $42.77 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 — 8.1% above the national median of $82,280. The band is comparatively tight, running $69,550 at the 10th percentile to $106,430 at the 90th, because the profession has one accredited entry route, one national credential and a largely hospital-based employment structure.

Baltimore-Columbia-Towson at $88,020 against Hagerstown-Martinsburg's $74,300, with the statewide figure of $88,960 sitting just above Baltimore's. Only two metro rows were published for this occupation, and Montgomery and Prince George's counties are reported within the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metropolitan area rather than a Maryland MSA, so they do not appear.

The Maryland Board of Physicians, which is unusual — most states use a dedicated respiratory care board or place the profession under a broader allied health body. Licensure as a respiratory care practitioner requires graduation from a CoARC-accredited programme and a National Board for Respiratory Care credential, with the Registered Respiratory Therapist credential the standard employers expect. The arrangement reflects that respiratory care is practised under medical direction, so scope questions are settled in the same forum as physician practice.

Strongly. National growth is projected at 12.1% through 2034, well above average, driven by an ageing population with rising chronic obstructive pulmonary disease prevalence and by the expansion of respiratory care into pulmonary rehabilitation, sleep medicine, home care and neonatal services. Maryland employs therapists at only 0.72 times the national rate, so that growth meets an already thin local workforce — roughly 110 openings a year in the state, pro-rated from the national figure, against a base of 1,800.

Critical care competence first — intensive care, neonatal and transport respiratory therapy require additional credentials and carry the acuity that separates the $82,920 twenty-fifth percentile from the $101,340 seventy-fifth. Then shift differentials, since respiratory services run continuously and nights and weekends carry premiums. Then specialist roles in pulmonary function, sleep diagnostics or extracorporeal support at the Baltimore tertiary centres. And then clinical education and shift leadership, which is roughly what the $106,430 ninetieth percentile describes.

Because respiratory care is practised under medical direction rather than independently — a therapist manages ventilators, delivers therapies and responds to emergencies under physician orders and protocols. Placing licensure with the Board of Physicians keeps scope-of-practice questions in the same forum that governs the medical practice those therapists support. It also has a practical consequence for the profession: respiratory therapists in Maryland do not have an independent licensing board advocating for scope expansion, which is a structural difference from states with dedicated boards.

Shift differentials, and geography. Respiratory therapy is a round-the-clock hospital service, so nights, weekends and holidays are unavoidable and the associated premiums are a real but invisible part of the annual figure — two therapists at the same reported salary may be working entirely different rosters. The $42.77 hourly median is the better comparator. And with only two metro rows published and the Washington-area counties reported separately, the geographic picture here is thin.

Acuity of practice first: intensive care, neonatal and transport therapy require additional credentials and competencies and sit well above general floor work, accounting for most of the movement through the band. Then shift, since continuous coverage means differentials are available to everyone willing to take them. Then subspecialty diagnostics — pulmonary function testing and sleep medicine are distinct skill sets. Then extracorporeal support roles at tertiary centres, which are among the most specialised in the profession. And then county of residence, for Maryland's local income tax.