Strontium isotopic composition (87Sr/86Sr) data from subfossil 14C-dated mollusk shells in raised beach sediments are used as a paleosalinity proxy in the brackish Baltic Sea, the precision (±5%) and accuracy (±0.7‰) of the method being judged from replicate analyses of modern shells. Paleosalinity data with an average time resolution of ~200 yr for the period 7130-2775 calibrated 14C yr B.P. indicate maximum surface salinities of 10‰-11‰, 11‰-12‰, and 12‰-13‰ for the Bothnian Bay, Bothnian Sea, and Baltic Proper (the three major Baltic subbasins). The relative salinity differences between the basins were small (≤30%) compared to the as much as eightfold present-day relative salinity differences (Bothnian Bay 1‰-3‰; Bothnian Sea 4‰-5‰; Baltic Proper 6‰-8‰). Late Holocene freshening (ca. 3000 calibrated 14C yr B.P. to present) is most pronounced in the northernmost subbasin, the Bothnian Bay, consistent with the absence of a permanent halocline, sequestering of phosphorus in well-oxygenated bottom sediments, and phosphorus limitation of primary production in the present-day Bothnian Bay. This study suggests that paleosalinity data may be crucial to improving our understanding of the possible effects of any future, climate-induced freshening of the Baltic Sea