Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists in Kansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,927
after federal, FICA and Kansas tax
Tax takes
$12,533
21.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,161
Kansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kansas — 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
$59,460
Kept after tax
$46,927
Worth in national money
$52,161
State rank
34
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Kansas sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $59,460, ranking 34 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 215 among 488 occupations Kansas publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $59,460 you keep $46,927 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $52,161 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $61,260, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kansas occupies the middle band for bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists: a median of $59,460, ranking 34 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.
- Position 215 of 488 in Kansas places bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Kansas is $46,927 after the full tax stack, from $59,460. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $52,161 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $61,260 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,610 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,000 |
| This salary | $59,460 |
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 Kansas | $46,927 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,956 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$753 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $55,690 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$910 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Kansas earn less than $59,460. The published range is $43,610 up to $81,000, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Kansas the take-home figure of $46,927, from $59,460, 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 215 of 488 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $52,161, the adjusted value of that $59,460 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Kansas. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 215 of 488 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists in Kansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $43,610 to $81,000. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Kansas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $46,927 from $59,460. 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 215 of 488 locally.
- This $52,161 adjusted figure, worked from $59,460, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 215 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 215 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $61,260, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $43,610 at the bottom tenth to $81,000 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Kansas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $52,161 in national terms.
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 Kansas adds its own income tax on top — which is why $46,927 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 Kansas is $61,260. 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 ($43,610 to $81,000) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Kansas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Kansas's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $52,161 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $46,927 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kansas 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.