Bus Drivers, School in Oregon
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,440
after federal, FICA and Oregon tax
Tax takes
$11,831
23.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,662
Oregon costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oregon — 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
$51,270
Kept after tax
$39,440
Worth in national money
$37,662
State rank
15
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for bus drivers, school is strong here. Oregon's middle earner gets $51,270, putting the state 15 of 51 — about 6.99% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Bus drivers, school ranks 341 among 489 occupations Oregon publishes pay for.
- Oregon is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $51,270 the take-home is $39,440; in national-average money that behaves like $37,662. The average comes to $55,260, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For bus drivers, school, Oregon sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $51,270, ranking 15 of 51 and running about 6.99% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 341 of 489 in Oregon 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.
- Take-home for bus drivers, school in Oregon, on $51,270, is $39,440; deflated by the state's price level, $37,662. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $55,260 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Bus Drivers, School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $67,260 |
| This salary | $51,270 |
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 Oregon | $39,440 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,375 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,975 |
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 | $46,372 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,435 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $51,270 as a midpoint for Oregon, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,830 and the ninetieth is $67,260 — 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 Oregon's $39,440, worked from $51,270. 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 341 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $37,662 uses one figure for the whole of Oregon. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 341.
- The Oregon median of $51,270 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,830 to $67,260. 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 Oregon take-home of $39,440, on $51,270 for work ranking 341 of 489 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 341 of 489 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $37,662, worked from $51,270, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Oregon address, on work sitting at 341 of 489 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 $55,260, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $45,830 at the tenth percentile, $67,260 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Oregon costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $37,662 rather than its face figure.
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 Oregon's own levy, $39,440 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 Oregon is $55,260. 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 ($45,830 to $67,260) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Oregon rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Oregon's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $37,662 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $39,440 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oregon 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.