Closing cost calculator for DC, Maryland & Virginia
Updated September 2026
Closing costs — especially transfer and recordation taxes — differ sharply across the DMV. The same home can cost noticeably more to close in DC or Maryland than in Virginia. Pick your side of the deal, your jurisdiction and (in Maryland) your county for an itemized, statute-based estimate. It runs in your browser; when it counts, Kelly and her settlement partner give you exact figures.
Want the full rules, rates and first-time-buyer programs for your side of the river? See the dedicated guides: Washington, DC · Maryland (county by county) · Virginia & NoVA.
Sellers: this excludes the real-estate commission, which is separate and negotiated in your listing agreement.
Get an exact estimate from Kelly →Rough estimate only — not a quote, and not legal or tax advice. The tax lines follow the DC Code, Maryland statute and county schedules, and the Code of Virginia as of September 2026, allocated the way each market customarily splits them — and who pays what is negotiable in the contract. "Other closing costs" is a rough percentage for title, lender, appraisal and escrow items; edit it to match your lender's estimate. Confirm exact figures with your lender and settlement/title company before relying on them. Kelly will walk you through the real numbers for your deal.
The same $750,000 home, three jurisdictions
Statutory transfer and recordation taxes only — no lender, title or commission costs — using the customary buyer/seller split in each market. The Maryland column is a Montgomery County purchase; the Virginia column is Northern Virginia with its regional fees. The figures come from the same rules the calculator above runs.
| At $750,000 | DC | MD (Montgomery Co.) | VA (NoVA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buyer pays | $10,875 | $9,610 | $2,500 |
| Buyer pays, first-time | $5,438 | $7,735 | $2,500 |
| Seller pays | $10,875 | $9,610 | $2,250 |
Statutory transfer and recordation taxes only, customary split, owner-occupant purchase. DC first-time figure uses the reduced 0.725% rate (home under the price cap); Maryland first-time figure waives the buyer’s half of the state transfer tax. Generated from the calculator’s own rules.
Two things jump out. Virginia's taxes are a fraction of its neighbors', and Maryland's bill depends heavily on the county — Montgomery's graduated recordation ladder is what pushes it to the top. DC sits in between, with a flat rate that steps up once at $400,000.
How DC closing costs work
Every DC sale triggers two mirror-image taxes set by the same price test: a recordation tax the buyer pays and a transfer tax the seller pays, each 1.1% under $400,000 and 1.45% at $400,000 and up. The threshold is a cliff, not a ladder — a $399,000 home and a $401,000 home are taxed at different rates on the whole price. Qualifying first-time DC buyers pay a reduced 0.725% recordation rate on homes under a price cap (about $777,000, re-indexed every October 1); the seller's transfer tax is unchanged. The DC closing costs guide covers the statute and the separate DC Tax Abatement program, and the DC first-time buyer programs page walks through the assistance you can stack on top.
How Maryland closing costs work — county by county
Maryland stacks three layers. The state transfer tax is 0.5%, customarily split 50/50, and drops to 0.25% paid entirely by the seller when the buyer is a first-time Maryland homebuyer. Then each county adds its own recordation tax and, in most counties, a county transfer tax — both customarily split as well. That is where the numbers diverge: Montgomery County's recordation tax is graduated, climbing in marginal brackets from 0.89% to 2.27%, on top of a 1.0% county transfer tax; Frederick County charges no county transfer tax at all. Use the county selector in the calculator to see the difference, and read the Maryland closing costs guide for the full county table, the owner-occupant exemption and the statute citations. Selling a family home you inherited? The taxes at settlement are the same, but the questions around basis and title are not — see selling an inherited home.
How Virginia closing costs work
Virginia is the light-touch jurisdiction. The buyer pays the state recordation tax of 0.25% plus a local recordation tax of one-third of that (about 0.083%), for roughly 0.33% combined. The seller pays the grantor's tax of 0.1% statewide, and in Northern Virginia two regional fees of 0.1% each — the WMATA fee and the congestion-relief fee — bring the seller's total to about 0.3%. There is no statutory first-time-buyer reduction in Virginia. The Virginia closing costs guide cites each line to the Code of Virginia; if you are shopping the Fairfax County side, Kelly's McLean and Great Falls guides cover what those markets actually trade at.
Closing cost calculator questions, answered
Who pays closing costs in DC, Maryland and Virginia?
In DC the buyer pays the recordation tax and the seller pays the transfer tax. In Maryland, custom splits the state transfer, county transfer and recordation taxes 50/50, except that a first-time buyer's state transfer tax is paid entirely by the seller. In Virginia the buyer pays the recordation taxes and the seller pays the grantor and regional taxes. Every allocation except Maryland's first-time-buyer rule is negotiable in the contract.
How accurate is this closing cost calculator?
The tax lines are computed from the statutes and county schedules, so at a given price they match what a settlement company would charge for those taxes. The "other closing costs" line is a rough percentage for lender, title, appraisal and escrow items, which vary by lender and loan — replace it with your Loan Estimate figure. Treat the total as a planning number, not a quote.
Do first-time buyers pay less in closing costs?
Sometimes, by statute. Qualifying first-time DC buyers pay a reduced 0.725% recordation rate on homes under the annually indexed price cap. First-time Maryland buyers have their half of the state transfer tax waived, and Montgomery County owner-occupants get the first $100,000 exempt from the base recordation layers. Virginia has no statutory first-time reduction. Tick the first-time box in the calculator to apply the DC and Maryland breaks.
Why are Maryland closing costs higher than Virginia's?
Layers. Virginia charges the buyer about 0.33% and the seller about 0.3%, and that is the whole tax bill. Maryland adds a county transfer tax and a county recordation tax on top of the state's 0.5%, and Montgomery County's recordation tax is graduated up to 2.27%. On a $750,000 Montgomery County purchase, each side's tax bill runs several times the Virginia figure — the comparison table above shows the exact numbers.
Does the estimate include the real-estate commission or lender fees?
Not the commission — that is separate and set in the listing agreement, so the seller estimate excludes it. Lender fees, title insurance, appraisal and escrow deposits sit in the "other closing costs" percentage, which you can edit. Prepaid interest and property-tax escrows depend on your closing date and are the biggest reason two identical homes close with different cash-to-close figures.
What about Maryland counties not listed here?
The calculator carries Montgomery, Frederick, Howard, Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties. Prince George's recordation tax is carried at 0.55% and flagged for you to confirm, since the county publishes it as $2.75 per $500 and it changes more often than the others. For any other county, Kelly will pull the current recordation and transfer rates and price your side of the deal with the settlement company.
Know your costs before you write the offer.
Kelly builds every client a clear, deal-specific cost estimate up front — and negotiates credits and terms to keep more in your pocket.