Facts about MarylandSaves
Overview
Maryland has established an auto-IRA program that requires employers without a retirement plan to automatically enroll their workers, who are allowed to opt out. Maryland launched its program in September 2022.
Maryland currently has 1,715 participating employers and 12,797 worker accounts (see Table 1).
Table 1. Overview of MarylandSaves
| Design | Rollout | Status (as of April 30, 2025) |
| Mandated for all employers who have been in operation for at least 2 calendar years and are without a retirement plan | Rollout to employers in progress | 1,715 employers facilitating payroll contributions in the last 90 days |
| 5% default contribution rate, with auto-escalation of 1 ppt per year up to 10% | Rollout to workers in progress | 12,797 workers with a funded account |
| No penalty for firms that do not enroll. Firms that do enroll can waive the state’s annual $300 business report filing fee. | Registration deadline has passed. Rollout is ongoing. | $17.1 million in assets |
Source: Maryland Small Business Retirement Savings Board reports (2025).
Employers
As of April 2025, 1,715 employers in Maryland were submitting payroll deductions to MarylandSaves in the last 90 days (see Table 2, next page). MarylandSaves is available for workers of employers who don’t offer a workplace retirement and have been in operation for 2 years. They also must have at least one employee who is over the age of 18 and use an automated payroll system. The program is also available for self-employed individuals or other savers who want to save in a Roth IRA.
Table 2. Number of MarylandSaves Employers with Payroll Deductions in the Last 90 Days, by Quarter
| Period | Employers |
| 2024-Q3 | 1,256 |
| 2024-Q4 | 1,439 |
| 2025-Q1 | 1,674 |
| 2025-April | 1,715 |
Source: Maryland Small Business Retirement Savings Board reports (2025).
Maryland is unique in that it does not impose a penalty on employers who do not enroll in MarylandSaves. Instead, enrolling in the program allows businesses to waive the $300 fee for filing an annual business report.
Employees
To date, the number of employees with assets in MarylandSaves has reached 12,797. Given the short period that the program has been in existence, account balances are currently lower than in California, Illinois, Oregon, and Connecticut. Only 24 percent of eligible workers have chosen to opt out within the first 30 days (see Table 3). For workers who are participating, the first $1,000 in contributions is defaulted into an Emergency Savings Fund, at which point ongoing contributions are defaulted into a target date fund unless the worker has chosen an alternate election.
Table 3. Selected MarylandSaves Employee Outcomes, by Quarter
| Period | Number of accounts (with balances) | Average account balance | Reported opt-out ratea,b |
| 2024-Q3 | 9,456 | $1,183 | 23% |
| 2024-Q4 | 10,757 | 1,273 | 23 |
| 2025-Q1 | 12,627 | 1,281 | 24 |
| 2025-April | 12,797 | 1,338 | 24 |
a The participation rate is not necessarily equal to one minus the opt-out rate. For more discussion on participation rates, see Quinby et al. (2019).
b The opt-out is defined as the percentage of individuals who opt out in the first 30 days.
Source: Maryland Small Business Retirement Savings Board reports (2025).
Assets
The program, which is intended to eventually become financially self-sufficient, had assets under management of $17.1 million by the end of April 2025 (see Table 4). To pay for its operating costs, MarylandSaves and the Program Administrator charge a fixed annual fee of $30 per year and an asset-based fee of 0.18 percent to 0.27 percent (if the participant stays with the standard investment options).
Table 4. Assets in MarylandSaves, by Quarter
| Period | Assets (in millions) |
| 2024-Q3 | $11.7 |
| 2024-Q4 | 13.7 |
| 2025-Q1 | 16.2 |
| 2025-April | 17.1 |
Source: Maryland Small Business Retirement Savings Board reports (2025).