Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,725
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$10,425
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,819
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$64,150
Kept after tax
$53,725
Worth in national money
$52,819
State rank
9
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $64,150, which ranks 9 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 8.64% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 227 among 430 occupations Alaska publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $64,150 the take-home is $53,725, which is worth about $52,819 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $65,100, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alaska ranks 9 of 51 states publishing a median for bus drivers, transit and intercity, at $64,150 — about 8.64% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 227 of 430 in Alaska places bus drivers, transit and intercity 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.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for bus drivers, transit and intercity on its $64,150 median: $53,725 retained after tax becomes $52,819 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $65,100 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,960 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,230 |
| This salary | $64,150 |
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 Alaska | $53,725 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,725 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,468 |
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 | $64,150 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,984 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $64,150 as a midpoint for Alaska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,960 and the ninetieth is $76,230 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $53,725 take-home in Alaska comes from $64,150. 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 227 of 430.
- Two cautions on $52,819, the adjusted value of that $64,150 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Alaska. 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 227 of 430 locally.
- The Alaska median of $64,150 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,960 to $76,230. 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 $53,725, from $64,150, assumes a single Alaska 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 227 of 430 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 51 for it.
- This $52,819 adjusted figure, worked from $64,150, 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 227 of 430 in the state. The occupation ranks 227 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $46,960 at the tenth percentile, $76,230 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Alaska run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $52,819 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $53,725 of this wage reaches your account, because Alaska 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($46,960 to $76,230) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $52,819 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $53,725 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.