Bus Drivers, School in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,699
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$9,241
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,337
Minnesota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Minnesota — 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
$48,940
Kept after tax
$39,699
Worth in national money
$40,337
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Minnesota pays bus drivers, school around $48,940 at the midpoint, 20 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Bus drivers, school ranks 365 among 490 occupations Minnesota publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $48,940, tax leaves $39,699, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $40,337 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $49,310, since top earners drag the number up.
- For bus drivers, school the Minnesota median is $48,940, ranking 20 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.
- Position 365 of 490 in Minnesota places bus drivers, school 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.
- Because Minnesota sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for bus drivers, school — median $48,940 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $39,699 retained, $40,337 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $49,310 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bus Drivers, School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,170 |
| This salary | $48,940 |
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 Minnesota | $39,699 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,503 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,373 |
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 | $46,694 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,869 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,940 as a midpoint for Minnesota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,580 and the ninetieth is $62,170 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $39,699 take-home in Minnesota comes from $48,940. 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 365 of 490.
- Two cautions on $40,337, the adjusted value of that $48,940 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Minnesota. 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 365 of 490 locally.
- The Minnesota median of $48,940 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,580 to $62,170. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $39,699, from $48,940, assumes a single Minnesota 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 365 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 51 for it.
- This $40,337 adjusted figure, worked from $48,940, 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 365 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 365 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $36,580 at the bottom tenth to $62,170 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 Minnesota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $40,337 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 Minnesota's own levy, $39,699 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($36,580 to $62,170) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Minnesota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Minnesota'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 $40,337 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 $39,699 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Minnesota 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.