Staffing agencies in Maryland: why 894 locations employ 97,386 people, and the county pay floors

This report is for Maryland employers choosing an agency, job seekers comparing them, and B2B sellers whose customers are staffing firms. For the Baltimore region in detail, see staffing agencies in Baltimore.

Maryland staffing agencies in Census data

US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, for Maryland, NAICS 56131 (Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services) and 56132 (Temporary Help Services):

Why the employee count is so high

Two things inflate it. First, temp agencies employ the people they place, so every temp on assignment is counted at the agency, not the client. Second, Census counts some of those agencies in a "statewide" category. Its methodology says employment services firms may pay thousands of employees from a single payroll office, and that such establishments "may be published in the 'statewide' category in states where such payroll offices are located, as these establishments service multiple counties."

In Maryland that category is large. The county file shows 62 temp help establishments with no fixed county, employing 65,452 people, more than two-thirds of the state's temp help headcount. They include 10 establishments with 500 to 999 employees and 5 with 1,000 or more. Census says such establishments serve multiple counties, so treat the county figures as incomplete and the state total as a payroll count, not a map of where temps work.

Professional employer organizations are a separate industry and are just as concentrated: 62 PEO locations with 32,592 employees, 6 of them with 1,000 or more.

Size and location

In broader bands, 569 establishments have 1 to 19 employees, 209 have 20 to 99 and 116 have 100 or more; the 116 is the total less the smaller bands, because the Census Bureau doesn't publish the top classes for the combined codes. The industry rows complete it: placement and search offices all have fewer than 250 employees, and temp help has 29 establishments with 250 to 499, 16 with 500 to 999 and 5 with 1,000 or more.

The Census Bureau published Frederick's figure but flagged it as high-noise, meaning confidentiality noise moved it by 5% or more. County rows come from the county file and don't add exactly to the state file. All counts are establishments with paid employees, not companies, and exclude self-employed recruiters.

The public staffing company headquartered here

Reliability's 10-K reports 2025 revenue down 13.6% from $23,982,000, mostly from lower employer-of-record revenue, while staffing revenue rose 23.4% to $4,072,000. It employed about 589 people at 31 December 2025, about 120 full-time equivalents on average, a count that includes employees placed with clients. Its stock isn't listed on an exchange.

What Maryland requires

No staffing licence. The Maryland Employment Agency Act (Business Regulation, Title 9) sets conduct rules for agencies that charge job seekers, and excludes businesses that directly employ people to provide temporary services and agencies paid wholly by employers. The state labor division notes that employment agencies no longer post a bond with it. The Baltimore report covers the Act's fee caps.

County minimum wages. The pay floor depends on where the work is done:

Montgomery's rate depends on the employer's size, and for a temp the employer is the agency, so ask which tier it pays. Montgomery's rates rise each 1 July with the regional CPI-W.

Worked example: the same order in four places

Illustrative example. The company, pay premium and markup are invented; the floors are Maryland's published rates.

Chesapeake Medical Logistics (chesmedlog.example) orders 12 warehouse temps for 26 weeks at 40 hours a week (1,040 hours each) at each of four sites. Its agency, a large employer, pays $1.00 above the local floor and bills a 38% markup.

Montgomery costs $51,667.20 more than Baltimore city for the same order. An assignment that runs past 1 July also needs a second price for the new county rates.

How to vet a Maryland agency

1. Confirm the entity in Maryland Business Express.
2. Get certificates for workers' compensation and general liability naming your company.
3. Quote by site and county, with the 1 July change written in.
4. Ask who the employer of record is, especially if a staffing brand pays its temps from a central payroll office.
5. Call two references at sites like yours.

If you're looking for work

Most agencies are paid by employers. If one charges you, Maryland's Employment Agency Act limits what it can collect and when. If you work in Montgomery, Howard or Prince George's County, your pay for that work should meet the county rate.

Selling to Maryland staffing agencies

The buyers split between hundreds of small offices and a few very large payroll operations.

Branches across several counties have to run four different minimum wage schedules, which makes rate-card and payroll tools an easy conversation every spring. At volume, Bebop finds agencies matching a description and drafts the opener; see how to build a prospect list for the method.

Subject: Four Maryland pay floors on 1 July

Hi [first name],

[Agency] places temps in [counties], which means separate minimum wages for Montgomery, Howard, Prince George's and the rest of the state, each changing on 1 July.

Our [product] keeps a rate card per site and reprices bill rates automatically when a county floor moves.

Would a look before next July's change be useful?

[Your name]

State sources

Next step: see the Washington suburbs alongside the District in the report on staffing agencies in Washington, DC.