FHA Loan Limits in Maryland 2026
Short answer: What an FHA loan Maryland buyers can get is capped by county, and Maryland has four different FHA loan limits in 2026, not one. Charles, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties sit at the national ceiling of $1,249,125 for a single family home. The seven Baltimore metro jurisdictions sit at $747,500. Cecil County sits alone at $630,200. The remaining twelve jurisdictions, including Calvert and St. Mary’s, take the national floor of $541,287. All four tiers are set by HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-23 and apply to case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2026.
An FHA loan is the most forgiving mortgage most Maryland buyers can actually get. It allows a 580 credit score with 3.5 percent down, it tolerates a thinner file than a conventional loan, and it is what a very large share of first time buyers in this state use. What it does not do is lend the same amount everywhere. Two houses at the same price, twenty miles apart on opposite sides of a county line, can sit on opposite sides of an FHA limit. JB Financing writes these across Maryland every week and the county line is the first thing we check.
This guide gives the complete 2026 picture for all twenty four Maryland jurisdictions, including the two to four unit figures that almost nobody publishes, and then covers what the limit does and does not decide about your approval. Every number below traces to a named HUD document, and where HUD does not publish something we say so instead of guessing.
“Send me the county and the price you are looking at. Maryland has four different FHA limits and the wrong side of a county line changes the whole structure of the deal. That is a two minute answer, not a two day one.”
Arslan Jamil, Broker Associate
Loans originated by Ken Byrne, NMLS ID# 187129 · ALCOVA Mortgage LLC, NMLS ID# 40508. Equal Housing Lender.
How HUD actually sets the 2026 limits
FHA limits are not invented county by county. They are derived from one number. For 2026 the Federal Housing Finance Agency set the national conforming loan limit at $832,750 for a one unit property. HUD then applies two statutory percentages to it. The low cost area floor is 65 percent of that figure, which is $541,287. The high cost area ceiling is 150 percent, which is $1,249,125. Everything else falls between those two numbers.
That structure is why you can verify any county yourself in about a minute. HUD publishes exactly two lists each year: the areas at the ceiling, and the areas above the floor but below the ceiling. If a county appears on neither list, it takes the floor. There is no third list and no exceptions. Most articles that get a Maryland county wrong get it wrong because they assumed a metro area membership instead of checking those two lists.
The 2026 FHA loan limits for every Maryland jurisdiction
Maryland has twenty three counties plus Baltimore City, and in 2026 they split across four tiers. Here is the whole state in one table. If the program itself is new to you, the FHA loan basics are worth ten minutes first.
| Tier | Jurisdictions | One unit | Two units | Three units | Four units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington metro ceiling | Charles, Frederick, Montgomery, Prince George’s | $1,249,125 | $1,599,375 | $1,933,200 | $2,402,625 |
| Baltimore metro | Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Carroll, Harford, Howard, Queen Anne’s | $747,500 | $956,950 | $1,156,700 | $1,437,500 |
| Philadelphia metro | Cecil | $630,200 | $806,750 | $975,200 | $1,211,950 |
| National floor | Allegany, Calvert, Caroline, Dorchester, Garrett, Kent, St. Mary’s, Somerset, Talbot, Washington, Wicomico, Worcester | $541,287 | $693,050 | $837,700 | $1,041,125 |
Source: HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-23 and its two 2026 attachment lists, Areas at Ceiling and Areas Above Floor and Below Ceiling. Limits apply to case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2026. Four tiers, twenty four jurisdictions, no county left out.
The Calvert County problem, and why it catches people out
Calvert County is part of the Washington metropolitan area for a long list of federal purposes. Its neighbor across the Patuxent, Charles County, borrows up to $1,249,125 on an FHA loan in 2026. Calvert borrows up to $541,287. That is not a rounding difference. It is less than half, on two counties that share a bridge.
St. Mary’s County is in the same position. Neither county appears on HUD’s ceiling list and neither appears on the above floor list, so both take the national floor. If you are shopping Southern Maryland and you have been quoted a Washington metro FHA limit, that number is wrong unless the house is in Charles County. In practice this is the single most common FHA limit error we see on Maryland home loans, and it usually surfaces late, after an offer is already written.
Cecil County is its own tier
Cecil is the only Maryland jurisdiction in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, and it carries a limit nobody else in the state has: $630,200 for one unit. It is above the floor and well below the ceiling. If you are buying in Elkton or North East and working from a statewide Maryland number, you are working from the wrong number in both directions.
Two to four units, the figures almost nobody quotes
FHA is one of the few loan types that will finance a small multifamily property you intend to live in, at the same low down payment as a single family home. The limits scale up substantially, and they are published for every tier, yet most Maryland FHA articles print the one unit column and stop.
The practical effect is largest in the Baltimore metro. A four unit building in Baltimore City carries an FHA limit of $1,437,500, nearly double the $747,500 single family figure for the same county. For an owner occupant willing to live in one unit, that is a genuinely different set of options than a conventional loan offers at the same down payment. If you want to see what the payment looks like across unit counts before you shop, the mortgage calculator will get you close enough to plan.
One caveat that matters more than the limit: FHA has a self sufficiency test on three and four unit properties, which the rental income has to pass before the file works. Two unit properties are not subject to it. That test, not the loan limit, is what usually decides whether a triplex deal survives.
“If you are looking at a two to four unit in Baltimore, send me the address before you write anything. On three and four units the self sufficiency test decides the deal, and it is cheaper to fail it on paper than in underwriting.”
Arslan Jamil, Broker Associate
Loans originated by Ken Byrne, NMLS ID# 187129 · ALCOVA Mortgage LLC, NMLS ID# 40508. Equal Housing Lender.
FHA loan requirements Maryland buyers actually have to meet
The credit rules are federal, not state specific, and they are looser than most buyers expect. HUD allows a 580 score with 3.5 percent down, and a 500 to 579 score with 10 percent down. What varies is the lender. Many lenders apply their own overlay above HUD’s published minimum, which is why one lender declines a file another approves without either of them breaking a rule.
| Requirement | FHA published standard | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Credit score | 580 with 3.5% down, 500 to 579 with 10% down | Lender overlays are common and are not HUD rules |
| Down payment | 3.5% of the purchase price at 580 or above | Gift funds and eligible assistance can cover it |
| Occupancy | Primary residence only | One to four units, you live in one |
| Mortgage insurance | Upfront premium plus annual premium | Both apply, see the next section |
| Property condition | Must meet HUD minimum property requirements | Appraiser flags repairs, this drives more delays than credit does |
Source: HUD Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 and the FHA credit and down payment standard published in Mortgagee Letter 10-29. Lender overlays are not published and vary.
For context on how these files actually look nationally, FHA’s own fiscal year 2025 data shows an average borrower credit score of 679, an average loan of $313,473 and an average loan to value of 94.74 percent, with 83.03 percent of purchase loans going to first time buyers. The typical FHA borrower is not scraping the 580 minimum. If your score is in the 600s and you are weighing your options, the comparison between FHA and conventional is where the real decision sits.
What FHA mortgage insurance costs on an FHA loan Maryland buyers take in 2026
FHA charges two premiums. The upfront premium is 1.75 percent of the base loan amount and is normally financed into the loan rather than paid at closing. The annual premium is charged monthly, and the rate depends on your loan to value, your term and, critically, your base loan amount.
| Term | Base loan amount | Loan to value | Annual MIP | How long you pay it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Over 15 years | $726,200 or less | 90% or less | 50 bps | 11 years |
| Over 15 years | $726,200 or less | Over 90% up to 95% | 50 bps | Full term |
| Over 15 years | $726,200 or less | Over 95% | 55 bps | Full term |
| Over 15 years | Over $726,200 | 90% or less | 70 bps | 11 years |
| Over 15 years | Over $726,200 | Over 90% up to 95% | 70 bps | Full term |
| Over 15 years | Over $726,200 | Over 95% | 75 bps | Full term |
Source: HUD Mortgagee Letter 2023-05, effective for case numbers endorsed on or after March 20, 2023. Fifteen year terms carry a separate and lower schedule. Upfront premium of 1.75 percent is set in Mortgagee Letter 2012-4.
Here is the Maryland specific consequence, and it follows directly from the limit tiers. In the twelve floor counties the maximum FHA loan is $541,287, which is below the $726,200 threshold, so a buyer there can never land in the higher premium tier. In Montgomery, Frederick, Charles and Prince George’s the limit runs to $1,249,125, so a buyer stretching toward the top of that range crosses into the 70 to 75 basis point tier and pays it for the life of the loan at high loan to value. Same program, same state, a permanently different monthly cost driven entirely by which county the house is in.
The limit is a ceiling, not an approval
This is the part the limit tables never say. Your county limit is the maximum FHA will insure. It has nothing to do with what you personally will be approved for. Three other things cap you first, and for most buyers at least one of them binds long before the county limit does.
The first is your debt to income ratio, which is driven by your income and your existing monthly obligations. The second is your down payment and reserves, since the loan amount is the price minus what you bring. The third is the appraisal, because FHA lends against the lower of the price or the appraised value. A Baltimore County buyer with a $747,500 limit and a $90,000 household income is nowhere near that limit and never will be. Running the affordability math for Maryland is a far better use of an afternoon than memorizing limit tables.
Maryland programs you can stack on an FHA loan
Maryland runs one of the more usable state housing finance operations in the country, and its flagship product pairs with FHA rather than competing with it. The Maryland Mortgage Program sets its own income and purchase price ceilings on top of the FHA rules, and those ceilings are generous enough that a lot of buyers who assume they earn too much actually qualify.
| Maryland Mortgage Program limit | 2026 figure |
|---|---|
| Household income, one to two person | $199,320 |
| Household income, three or more | $232,540 |
| Acquisition cost, non targeted area | $1,306,974 |
| Acquisition cost, targeted area | $1,597,413 |
| Maximum CDA mortgage | $832,750 |
Source: Maryland Mortgage Program income and purchase limits, effective June 24, 2026. Targeted area designations change and are set at the census tract level, so confirm the specific address.
There is also SmartBuy, which is unusual enough to be worth naming. It pays off student debt as part of the purchase, up to 15 percent of the price with a $25,000 cap, at zero percent and forgiven after five years. It requires at least $1,000 in student debt and a 720 score. It is administered alongside the main program rather than as a separate application.
If the house is over your county limit
Being over the FHA limit is not the end of the file, it just means FHA is no longer the right tool. In the four Washington metro counties the FHA ceiling and the conforming high cost ceiling are the same $1,249,125, so crossing it means a jumbo loan. In the twelve floor counties the gap is much wider: FHA stops at $541,287 while a conventional conforming loan runs to $832,750, which is a large band where conventional is the only conforming option.
That gap is the practical reason a lot of Eastern Shore and Western Maryland buyers end up on conventional financing even with modest credit. It is not that FHA rejected them. It is that the house cost more than FHA lends there. If the property needs work and the price is the problem, an FHA 203(k) renovation loan sometimes solves it by letting you buy cheaper and finance the repairs.
How to apply, in the order that avoids re-work
The sequence matters more than people expect, because doing it out of order is what produces the last minute surprises. Check the county limit for the specific address first, not the state and not the metro. Get a full pre-approval second, with documents actually reviewed rather than a soft pull. Confirm your Maryland program eligibility third, because the income and acquisition limits are address specific. Then shop.
One Maryland detail worth knowing before you budget for closing: the state transfer tax is 0.5 percent, but it is cut to 0.25 percent for a first time Maryland homebuyer and the seller is required to pay all of it. That is a real saving that a lot of buyers never hear about until settlement, and it is worth asking about before you budget for closing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the FHA loan limit in Maryland for 2026?
There is no single Maryland figure. Charles, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties are at $1,249,125 for one unit. The seven Baltimore metro jurisdictions are at $747,500. Cecil County is at $630,200. The other twelve jurisdictions are at the national floor of $541,287.
Why is Calvert County so much lower than Charles County?
Because HUD did not place Calvert on either of its 2026 lists, so it takes the national floor of $541,287, while Charles County is on the ceiling list at $1,249,125. The two counties are adjacent, which is why the difference surprises people. St. Mary’s County is in the same position as Calvert.
What credit score do I need for an FHA loan in Maryland?
HUD allows 580 with 3.5 percent down and 500 to 579 with 10 percent down. Individual lenders frequently set higher minimums of their own, so a decline at one lender does not mean you fail the FHA standard.
How much is FHA mortgage insurance in Maryland?
An upfront premium of 1.75 percent of the base loan amount, usually financed, plus an annual premium charged monthly. On a 30 year loan at or under $726,200 the annual premium is 50 or 55 basis points depending on loan to value. Above $726,200 it is 70 or 75 basis points.
Can I use an FHA loan for a duplex or a four unit in Maryland?
Yes, if you live in one of the units. The limits are substantially higher: $1,437,500 for four units in the Baltimore metro and $2,402,625 in the four Washington metro counties. Three and four unit properties also have to pass an FHA self sufficiency test on the rental income.
When do the 2026 FHA limits take effect?
They apply to FHA case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2026, per HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-23. The case number assignment date is what controls, not your contract date.
Can I combine an FHA loan with Maryland down payment assistance?
Yes. The Maryland Mortgage Program is designed to pair with FHA financing. Its 2026 household income limits are $199,320 for one to two person households and $232,540 for three or more, with separate acquisition cost limits. Eligibility, current rates and the application order are covered in the Maryland Mortgage Program guide.
Is the FHA limit the amount I will be approved for?
No. The limit is the maximum FHA will insure in that county. Your approval is capped first by your debt to income ratio, your down payment and the appraised value. Most buyers are limited by one of those long before the county limit matters.
What are the FHA loan requirements Maryland buyers have to meet?
A 580 credit score for the 3.5 percent down payment, or 500 to 579 with 10 percent down, and most Maryland lenders overlay their own floor around 620. Debt to income is usually capped around 43 percent, higher with compensating factors. The house must be your primary residence and pass an FHA appraisal. On top of the federal rules, the loan amount has to fit inside your county limit, which ranges from $524,225 in the lowest Maryland jurisdictions to $1,249,125 in Montgomery, Frederick, Charles and Prince George’s.
“Send me the address and your rough numbers. I will tell you which of Maryland’s four FHA limits applies, whether the county tier pushes you into the higher mortgage insurance band, and whether a state program fits. Usually same day.”
Arslan Jamil, Broker Associate
Loans originated by Ken Byrne, NMLS ID# 187129 · ALCOVA Mortgage LLC, NMLS ID# 40508. Equal Housing Lender.
This article is general information, not financial or legal advice and not a commitment to lend or an offer of credit. Loan limits, program rules, premium schedules and rates change, and individual eligibility depends on a full review of your credit, income, assets and the property. Every figure here is an illustration, not a quote. FHA loan limits shown are those published by HUD for case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2026 and are subject to annual revision. Confirm anything you plan to act on with a licensed mortgage professional.
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