Bus Drivers, School in Delaware
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,455
after federal, FICA and Delaware tax
Tax takes
$7,935
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,714
Delaware costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Delaware — 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
$42,390
Kept after tax
$34,455
Worth in national money
$34,714
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Delaware is among the lower-paying states for bus drivers, school. The middle earner takes $42,390, ranking 42 of 51 states — about 11.54% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Delaware, this one sits low: 353 of 445 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $42,390 the take-home is $34,455, which is worth about $34,714 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $45,180, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Delaware ranks 42 of 51 for bus drivers, school, with a median of $42,390 — about 11.54% 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 353 of 445 in Delaware'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.
- Delaware's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for bus drivers, school on its $42,390 median: $34,455 retained after tax becomes $34,714 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $45,180 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Bus Drivers, School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,910 |
| This salary | $42,390 |
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 Delaware | $34,455 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,240 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,580 |
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 | $40,168 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,120 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
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 Delaware earn under $42,390 and half over. The published range runs $36,380 at the tenth percentile to $60,910 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $34,455 take-home in Delaware comes from $42,390. 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 353 of 445.
- Two cautions on $34,714, the adjusted value of that $42,390 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Delaware. 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 353 of 445 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for bus drivers, school in Delaware, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,380 to $60,910; 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 $34,455, from $42,390, assumes a single Delaware 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 353 of 445 locally, and the state ranks 42 of 51 for it.
- This $34,714 adjusted figure, worked from $42,390, 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 353 of 445 in the state. The occupation ranks 353 of 445 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 $45,180, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $36,380 at the tenth percentile, $60,910 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Delaware sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,714 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Delaware then takes its own share, leaving $34,455.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Delaware is $45,180. 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 ($36,380 to $60,910) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Delaware rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Delaware'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 $34,714 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 $34,455 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Delaware 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.