Maryland Layoffs 2026: WARN Numbers Explained

Maryland's 2026 WARN data tells a different story from the surge states: filings are running at a slower pace than last year. As of October 9, 2026, the Layoff Atlas registry holds 103 Maryland WARN notices covering 6,945 reported workers so far this year. All-time, the registry records 1,417 non-cancelled Maryland notices reporting 116,652 workers affected.

These are reported plans, not confirmed job losses — a filed notice does not mean every listed worker is actually let go. But WARN filings are the most reliable public signal of where Maryland layoffs are concentrated.

2026 vs 2025: a quieter year so far

The headline comparison is with 2025, which was an unusually heavy year for Maryland:

• 2026 (year to date): 103 notices · 6,945 reported workers
• 2025 (full year): 151 notices · 12,182 reported workers
• 2024 (full year): 84 notices · 7,309 reported workers
• 2023 (full year): 75 notices · 5,632 reported workers

With nearly three months still left in 2026, Maryland is at about 68% of 2025's notice count and 57% of its worker total. Average filing size has also shrunk: roughly 67 workers per notice in 2026, versus about 81 in 2025 and 87 in 2024. So far, 2026 looks like a return to Maryland's pre-2025 baseline — closer to 2024 and 2023 than to last year's elevated pace.

What the official data shows

Maryland is one of the better-covered states in the registry: 1,407 of its 1,417 non-cancelled records come directly from government sources, with the newest official notice dated October 1, 2026. Over the last 365 days, the archive holds 141 eligible official filings reporting 9,241 affected workers — recent event types include layoffs, closures, and temporary reductions.

The long view shows how unusual the extremes are. The pandemic year of 2020 drove 378 Maryland notices covering 28,946 workers — the heaviest year on record by far. Activity then fell sharply (42 notices in 2021, the quietest year in the archive), settled into a band of 75–89 notices from 2022 through 2024, and jumped to 151 notices in 2025. Whether 2025 turns out to be a one-off spike or the start of a higher plateau is one of the key questions the rest of 2026 will answer.

Two caveats on the current numbers: 11 Maryland notices carry future effective dates — layoffs that are scheduled but have not taken effect yet — and 42 notices have unavailable worker counts, so the true worker total is somewhat higher than 6,945.

National context

Nationally, the current 90-day WARN window covers 736 notices and 67,888 reported workers. The heaviest states in that window are Washington (16,776 workers), California (16,011), Illinois (4,772), Texas (3,842), and Ohio (3,224) — with Washington's and California's totals driven by a handful of very large filings. The national calendar also shows two heavy weeks ahead: the weeks of October 30 (8,520 workers) and November 13 (8,556 workers).

Maryland's 2026 year-to-date total of 6,945 reported workers is modest by that national comparison — but as with every state, totals are measured over different windows and reporting rules vary, so cross-state comparisons are directional, not exact.

What to watch for the rest of 2026

Two things determine how 2026 ends for Maryland. First, the filing pace: if the current rate holds through December, Maryland will finish the year around 135–140 notices — below 2025 but well above the 2022–2024 band. Second, filing size: a handful of large notices in Q4 could still push the worker total up sharply, the way single filings have driven other states' totals this year.

As always: WARN notices are reported plans, not confirmed job losses. Filings can be amended, postponed, or cancelled, and reporting rules vary by state. But as an early-warning system for where layoffs are hitting, Maryland's 2026 data currently reads as a step down from last year's intensity — not a wave, but a year worth watching through December.

Data source: Layoff Atlas.