Bus Drivers, School in Nevada
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,134
after federal, FICA and Nevada tax
Tax takes
$5,146
13.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,135
Nevada costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the bottom tenth percentile for this work in Nevada — 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
$37,280
Kept after tax
$32,134
Worth in national money
$33,135
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Nevada is among the lower-paying states for bus drivers, school. The middle earner takes $37,280, ranking 46 of 51 states — about 22.2% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Nevada, this one sits low: 437 of 485 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $37,280 you keep $32,134 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,135 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $41,440, since top earners drag the number up.
- Nevada ranks 46 of 51 for bus drivers, school, with a median of $37,280 — about 22.2% 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 437 of 485 in Nevada'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 Nevada is $32,134 after the full tax stack, from $37,280. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,135 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $41,440 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 | $37,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,280 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,310 |
| This salary | $37,280 |
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 Nevada | $32,134 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,134 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$66 |
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 | $37,280 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$80 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,280 as a midpoint for Nevada, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,280 and the ninetieth is $50,310 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $32,134 take-home in Nevada comes from $37,280. 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 437 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of Nevada, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $33,135, the adjusted value of that $37,280 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 437 of 485 in the state.
- The Nevada median of $37,280 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,280 to $50,310. 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 $32,134, from $37,280, assumes a single Nevada 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 437 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 46 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Nevada, so $33,135 — the adjusted value of that $37,280 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 437 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $41,440, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,280 and the top tenth $50,310, so most people doing this work in Nevada sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $33,135.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $32,134 of this wage reaches your account, because Nevada takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
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 Nevada is $41,440. 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 ($37,280 to $50,310) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Nevada rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nevada'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 $33,135 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Nevada levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $32,134 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.