Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,600
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$11,080
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,047
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$61,680
Kept after tax
$50,600
Worth in national money
$50,047
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $61,680, ranking 23 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Arizona reports figures for, this is number 214.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $61,680, tax leaves $50,600, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $50,047 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $63,820, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arizona occupies the middle band for bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists: a median of $61,680, ranking 23 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In Arizona's occupational distribution, bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists sits at 214 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists — median $61,680 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $50,600 retained, $50,047 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $63,820 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,350 |
| This salary | $61,680 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Arizona | $50,600 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,740 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,197 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $60,262 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,866 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $61,680 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,460 and the ninetieth is $84,350 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Arizona the take-home figure of $50,600, from $61,680, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 214 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arizona, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $50,047, the adjusted value of that $61,680 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 214 of 491 in the state.
- The Arizona median of $61,680 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,460 to $84,350. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Arizona is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $50,600 from $61,680. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 214 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arizona, so $50,047 — the adjusted value of that $61,680 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 214 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $63,820, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $45,460 at the bottom tenth to $84,350 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $50,047 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $50,600 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Arizona is $63,820. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($45,460 to $84,350) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $50,047 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $50,600 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.