Bus Drivers, School in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,339
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$9,751
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,794
Illinois costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Illinois — 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
$49,090
Kept after tax
$39,339
Worth in national money
$39,794
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Illinois pays bus drivers, school around $49,090 at the midpoint, 19 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Illinois, this sits in the middle: 335 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $49,090, take-home of $39,339 is worth roughly $39,794 in national money. The average comes to $51,410, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For bus drivers, school the Illinois median is $49,090, ranking 19 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 drivers, school ranks 335 of 494 occupations in Illinois 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.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for bus drivers, school, whose median is $49,090, the adjusted figure of $39,794 differs little from $39,339 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $51,410 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bus Drivers, School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,560 |
| This salary | $49,090 |
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 Illinois | $39,339 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,624 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,040 |
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 | $46,246 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,676 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Illinois earn less than $49,090. The published range is $38,310 up to $62,560, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $39,339 take-home in Illinois comes from $49,090. 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 335 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,794, the adjusted value of that $49,090 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 335 of 494 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for bus drivers, school in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,310 to $62,560. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $39,339, from $49,090, assumes a single Illinois 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 335 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $39,794 — the adjusted value of that $49,090 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 335 of 494 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 $51,410, 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 $38,310 at the bottom tenth to $62,560 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Illinois sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $39,794 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Illinois's own levy, $39,339 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Illinois is $51,410. 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 ($38,310 to $62,560) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Illinois rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Illinois'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 $39,794 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 $39,339 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Illinois 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.