Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,514
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$12,576
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,153
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$61,090
Kept after tax
$48,514
Worth in national money
$48,153
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Virginia pays this job around $61,090 at the midpoint, 27 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Virginia, this sits in the middle: 234 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $61,090, tax leaves $48,514, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $48,153 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $61,590, since top earners drag the number up.
- For bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists the Virginia median is $61,090, ranking 27 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists ranks 234 of 489 occupations in Virginia by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists — median $61,090 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $48,514 retained, $48,153 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $61,590 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 | $45,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,150 |
| This salary | $61,090 |
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 Virginia | $48,514 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,266 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,603 |
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 | $57,665 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,567 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $61,090 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,250 and the ninetieth is $79,150 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Virginia the take-home figure of $48,514, from $61,090, 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 234 of 489 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $48,153, the adjusted value of that $61,090 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 234 of 489 in the state.
- The Virginia median of $61,090 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,250 to $79,150. 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 Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $48,514 from $61,090. 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 234 of 489 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $48,153 — the adjusted value of that $61,090 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 234 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $45,250 and the top tenth $79,150, so most people doing this work in Virginia sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Virginia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $48,153 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $48,514.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($45,250 to $79,150) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $48,153 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 $48,514 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.