Average Rent in Maryland (2026) — HUD Fair Market Rents
The average two-bedroom rent in Maryland is $1,957 per month by HUD's FY 2026 Fair Market Rent data (population-weighted); two-bedroom FMRs range from $973 to $2,246 across 15 rent areas.
Fair Market Rent is HUD's annual estimate of what a modest rental costs in each local market — the 40th percentile of gross rents (rent plus tenant-paid utilities) for recent movers, published for studio through four-bedroom units and used to set Section 8 / Housing Choice Voucher payment standards. FMRs are a federal benchmark, not an asking-rent average: use them to sanity-check your pricing (statewide, Maryland's typical two-bedroom FMR moved -4.0% versus FY 2025).
All 15 Maryland FMR areas
Sorted by two-bedroom rent, highest first. 8 metro areas; the rest are non-metro county areas. "vs FY 2025" is the two-bedroom change from last year's FMR for the same area.
| Area | Studio | 1 BR | 2 BR | 3 BR | 4 BR | 2 BR vs FY 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD HUD Metro FMR Area Metro 4 countiesCharles County · Frederick County · Montgomery County · Prince George's County | $1,953 | $2,015 | $2,246 | $2,835 | $3,332 | -2.9% |
| Calvert County, MD HUD Metro FMR Area Metro | $1,811 | $1,851 | $2,083 | $2,639 | $3,106 | — |
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD MSA Metro 7 countiesAnne Arundel County · Baltimore County · Baltimore city · Carroll County · Harford County · Howard County · Queen Anne's County | $1,362 | $1,511 | $1,857 | $2,358 | $2,611 | -5.5% |
| St. Mary's County, MD HUD Metro FMR Area Metro | $1,394 | $1,672 | $1,833 | $2,264 | $2,889 | — |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA Metro | $1,397 | $1,520 | $1,810 | $2,170 | $2,423 | +0.4% |
| Talbot County, MD Non-metro | $1,201 | $1,282 | $1,409 | $1,960 | $2,364 | +1.2% |
| Salisbury, MD HUD Metro FMR Area Metro | $1,054 | $1,061 | $1,378 | $1,818 | $1,825 | -7.6% |
| Caroline County, MD Non-metro | $995 | $1,001 | $1,314 | $1,642 | $2,184 | +1.5% |
| Hagerstown, MD HUD Metro FMR Area Metro | $869 | $961 | $1,261 | $1,700 | $1,901 | +1.5% |
| Kent County, MD Non-metro | $1,062 | $1,137 | $1,246 | $1,635 | $2,090 | -2.0% |
| Worcester County, MD Non-metro | $1,027 | $1,035 | $1,194 | $1,661 | $1,919 | — |
| Somerset County, MD HUD Metro FMR Area Metro | $901 | $907 | $1,167 | $1,586 | $1,667 | -6.6% |
| Dorchester County, MD Non-metro | $947 | $952 | $1,144 | $1,591 | $1,919 | -0.9% |
| Allegany County, MD Non-metro | $694 | $823 | $973 | $1,333 | $1,452 | — |
| Garrett County, MD Non-metro | $848 | $864 | $973 | $1,353 | $1,441 | +4.3% |
Download this table as CSV — every area, studio through 4-bedroom, with county lists and year-over-year change.
About this data
Source: HUD FY 2026 Fair Market Rents, county-level file (revised), published at huduser.gov — a U.S. government work in the public domain, republished here unmodified. The typical-rent figure is the population-weighted average across the areas above (county populations from HUD's file); year-over-year comparisons match each area with last year's file by HUD area code. Effective October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026; last regenerated from HUD's file on 2026-07-20. FMRs cap what a housing authority can pay under the voucher program; your local Public Housing Authority's payment standard may be set between 90% and 110% of FMR. Full method notes: how the rent figures are computed.
Related on Landlord Atlas
- Maryland landlord-tenant laws — security deposits, rent increase notice, late fees, and entry rules, cited to statute.
- Rental profitability calculator — test a Maryland property's cash flow against its county's FMR.
- Rent increase notice creator — moving rent toward market? Generate a state-aware notice.