For more than 170 years, the Y in Central Maryland has strengthened families and communities across five counties and Baltimore City. Today, we serve more than 250,000 individuals annually, employ over 2,200 associates, and invest millions of dollars each year to ensure our programs remain accessible to all.

As one of the largest Y associations in the country, we operate at significant scale and with deep local responsibility. The facts below provide context about our workforce, compensation philosophy, and the breadth of our community impact.
 

• The Y in Central Maryland (founded in 1853) serves over 250,000 individuals across five counties and Baltimore City, with significant program, facility, and capital responsibilities.
   
• Our Y is one of over 800 independent Y associations in the United States, all of which are governed by a local board of directors, and must be fiscally sound in their own right.  The national Y organization (YMCA of the USA) offers a limited number of services to local Ys, and is funded by local Ys; it does not fund local Ys.
   
• Our Y, which is in the 25th largest market in the country, is one of the ten largest Ys in the United States.
   
• Our focus is on building a healthy, connected and inclusive community. This means investing in associates, serving families, and ensuring the organization remains financially sound for the long term.
   
• Our Y’s scale (as measured by revenue and individuals served) has more than tripled over the past twenty years; our Y’s budget was $105M in 2025.

The Y is the largest youth-serving organization in the region, working with youth and children and their families along their journey from infancy to college and career.  We support families and the community by providing support to over 69,000 children and youth through a wide variety of programs and experiences, including:

The Y's Core Values

Everyone engaged in the Y community are asked to demonstrate on a daily basis the Y’s core values of Caring, Honesty, Respect and Responsibility

The Y's Key Operating Principles

Four key principles inform all of our operating policies and practices across all programs and sites: Safety, Empathy, Engagement and Cleanliness

• The Y employs over 2,200 wonderful associates, over 1,400 (65%) of whom are part-time.
   
• Our workforce is made up of people from all walks of life, generations and parts of the Central Maryland community.
   
• 27% of our workforce is under the age of 22, most of whom are young people in high school or college working at the Y part-time, learning valuable life skills, performing important roles, and earning money to support their longer-term professional aspirations; in fact, the Y is the first employer of a lot of young people in our community.
   
• 7% of our workforce is over the age of 65, most of whom are working part-time at the Y to supplement their retirement and contributing their time and many talents to our community (including informally mentoring our young associates!)

• Associate compensation represents roughly 62% of total revenue (up from 50% in 2007).
   
• Both starting and average wages have increased significantly over the past decade, beyond minimum wage requirements.
  - Between 2019 and 2026, Maryland’s minimum wage increased by 49%. Over that same period, average wages for key frontline roles at the Y in Central Maryland increased between 56% and 68%, depending on position.
   
• The average annual salary of a full-time Y associate below a Senior VP is $58,269.
   
• The average hourly rate of a part-time Y associate is $20.04, and part-time associates work on average six hours a week.
   
• The Y’s wages are in line with the market for similar or the same roles in other organizations.
   
• The Y offers competitive and, in many cases, unique benefits to its full-time associates and a range of benefits to its part-time associates.  Some of those benefits include:
  - Medical and dental benefits
  - Life insurance
  - Y Retirement - the Y makes a retirement contribution equivalent to 10% of annual cash compensation for all associates working over a 1,000 hours a year; associates can also make voluntary contributions to that fund’s 403(b) plan; at retirement, associates receive a fully guaranteed pension annuity for the remainder of their life based upon their fund balance
  - Y membership - all full-time associates receive a free family membership to the Y; all part-time associates receive a free individual membership to the Y 
  - Childcare - full-time Y associates receive deep discounts (50-75% off) when they enroll their children in Y preschool or camp; when they enroll their child in a Y before and after school enrichment program, they pay nothing 
   
• We recognize affordability pressures are real, and leadership continuously evaluates compensation and benefits to ensure we support our associates while sustaining the delivery of the Y’s mission within our communities. 
   
• Like most organizations, we are navigating rising costs while balancing fair compensation, retention, and long-term sustainability.
   
• Executive compensation is determined by the Y’s Board Executive Compensation Committee. They rely on an outside expert to conduct a market study, which reviews data based on the size, scope, and complexity of the organization. The committee then makes its decisions based on the data presented, and the CEO’s performance against objectives.
   
• Leading an organization of the Y’s size and operational complexity requires experienced executive leadership, and compensation is benchmarked nationally against other organizations (including but not exclusively other large Ys) of similar size and complexity.
   
• Some reported CEO compensation figures include the estimated value of future benefits, including a pension annuity. The Y’s CEO’s actual W-2 earnings are significantly lower and are in line with compensation for leaders of similarly sized organizations.