Bus Drivers, School in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$15,444
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$2,186
12.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$17,166
Alabama costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alabama — 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
$17,630
Kept after tax
$15,444
Worth in national money
$17,166
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alabama is among the lower-paying states for bus drivers, school. The middle earner takes $17,630, ranking 51 of 51 states — about 63.21% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Alabama, this one sits low: 482 of 482 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $17,630 you keep $15,444 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $17,166 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $19,190, since top earners drag the number up.
- Alabama ranks 51 of 51 for bus drivers, school, with a median of $17,630 — about 63.21% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Bus drivers, school occupies position 482 of 482 in Alabama's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Alabama is $15,444 after the full tax stack, from $17,630. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $17,166 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $19,190 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Bus Drivers, School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $16,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $17,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $21,580 |
| This salary | $17,630 |
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 Alabama | $15,444 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $16,128 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$569 |
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 | $16,800 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$671 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of bus drivers, school in Alabama earn under $17,630 and half over. The published range runs $16,560 at the tenth percentile to $21,580 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $15,444 take-home in Alabama comes from $17,630. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 482 of 482.
- Two cautions on $17,166, the adjusted value of that $17,630 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Alabama. 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 482 of 482 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for bus drivers, school in Alabama, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $16,560 to $21,580; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $15,444, from $17,630, assumes a single Alabama filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 482 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 51 of 51 for it.
- This $17,166 adjusted figure, worked from $17,630, 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 482 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 482 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $19,190 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $16,560 at the bottom tenth to $21,580 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. Alabama is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $17,166 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 Alabama adds its own income tax on top — which is why $15,444 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 Alabama is $19,190. 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 ($16,560 to $21,580) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alabama rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Alabama'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 $17,166 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 $15,444 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Alabama 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.