Bus Drivers, School in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,727
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$7,743
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,740
New Mexico costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New Mexico — 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
$45,470
Kept after tax
$37,727
Worth in national money
$41,740
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays bus drivers, school a middle wage of $45,470, 36 of 51 states and about 5.11% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Bus drivers, school ranks 334 among 485 occupations New Mexico publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $45,470 you keep $37,727 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $41,740 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $46,790, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Mexico's $45,470 median for bus drivers, school places it 36 of 51 states, about 5.11% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 334 of 485 in New Mexico 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.
- Retained pay in New Mexico is $37,727 after the full tax stack, from $45,470. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $41,740 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $46,790 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 | $31,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,140 |
| This salary | $45,470 |
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 New Mexico | $37,727 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,715 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,899 |
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 | $44,240 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,297 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $45,470 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,020 and the ninetieth is $65,140 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Mexico's $37,727, worked from $45,470. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 334 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Mexico, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $41,740, the adjusted value of that $45,470 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 334 of 485 in the state.
- The New Mexico median of $45,470 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,020 to $65,140. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The New Mexico take-home of $37,727, on $45,470 for work ranking 334 of 485 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 334 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $41,740 — the adjusted value of that $45,470 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 334 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $31,020 and the top tenth $65,140 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $41,740.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and New Mexico adds its own income tax on top — which is why $37,727 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($31,020) and the ninetieth ($65,140) 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?
New Mexico'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 $41,740 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 $37,727 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New Mexico 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.