Bus Drivers, School in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,666
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$4,974
16.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,402
Mississippi costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Mississippi — 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
$30,640
Kept after tax
$25,666
Worth in national money
$29,402
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for bus drivers, school is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $30,640. That is 49 of 51 states, and about 36.06% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 486 occupations Mississippi publishes, bus drivers, school lands at 434. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Mississippi is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $30,640 the take-home is $25,666; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $29,402 would nationally. The average comes to $32,770, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For bus drivers, school, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $30,640, ranking 49 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 36.06%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Mississippi, this work ranks 434 of 486 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for bus drivers, school in Mississippi, on $30,640, is $25,666 — equivalent to $29,402 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $32,770 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Bus Drivers, School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $18,680 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,300 |
| This salary | $30,640 |
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 Mississippi | $25,666 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,799 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,824 |
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 | $29,229 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,206 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Mississippi earn less than $30,640. The published range is $18,680 up to $47,300, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Mississippi the take-home figure of $25,666, from $30,640, 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 434 of 486 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $29,402, the adjusted value of that $30,640 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Mississippi. 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 434 of 486 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for bus drivers, school in Mississippi the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $18,680 to $47,300. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Mississippi is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $25,666 from $30,640. 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 434 of 486 locally.
- This $29,402 adjusted figure, worked from $30,640, 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 434 of 486 in the state. The occupation ranks 434 of 486 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 $32,770, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $18,680 and the top tenth $47,300 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Mississippi sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $29,402 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; Mississippi then takes its own share, leaving $25,666.
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 Mississippi is $32,770. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($18,680) and the ninetieth ($47,300) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Mississippi'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 $29,402 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 $25,666 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Mississippi 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.