Bus Drivers, School in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,564
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$11,136
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,902
Rhode Island costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Rhode Island — 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
$58,700
Kept after tax
$47,564
Worth in national money
$46,902
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Rhode Island pays bus drivers, school a middle wage of $58,700, ranking 7 of 51 states and sitting about 22.5% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Bus drivers, school ranks 264 among 452 occupations Rhode Island publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $58,700, tax leaves $47,564, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $46,902 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $56,620.
- Rhode Island's median for bus drivers, school is $58,700, about 22.5% above the national figure and 7 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 264 of 452 in Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for bus drivers, school — median $58,700 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $47,564 retained, $46,902 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $56,620 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Bus Drivers, School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $67,180 |
| This salary | $58,700 |
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 Rhode Island | $47,564 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,345 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,878 |
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 | $56,483 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,690 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of bus drivers, school in Rhode Island earn under $58,700 and half over. The published range runs $47,780 at the tenth percentile to $67,180 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $47,564 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $58,700. 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 264 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $46,902 uses one figure for the whole of Rhode Island. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 452 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 264.
- Figures are distribution medians for bus drivers, school in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,780 to $67,180; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $47,564, from $58,700, assumes a single Rhode Island 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 264 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $46,902, worked from $58,700, 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 Rhode Island address, on work sitting at 264 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $56,620 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $47,780 at the tenth percentile, $67,180 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $46,902 of national purchasing power.
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 Rhode Island adds its own income tax on top — which is why $47,564 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Rhode Island is $56,620. 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 ($47,780 to $67,180) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Rhode Island rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Rhode Island's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $46,902 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 $47,564 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Rhode Island 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.