Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,398
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$6,122
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,295
Arkansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arkansas — 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
$37,520
Kept after tax
$31,398
Worth in national money
$36,295
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $37,520. That is 51 of 51 states, and about 36.46% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations Arkansas publishes, this job lands at 374. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Arkansas does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,520 you keep $31,398, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $36,295 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $40,050, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For bus drivers, transit and intercity, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $37,520, ranking 51 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 36.46%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Arkansas, this work ranks 374 of 489 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Arkansas income tax, retained pay for bus drivers, transit and intercity on $37,520 is $31,398. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $36,295 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $40,050 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 | $29,550 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,140 |
| This salary | $37,520 |
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 Arkansas | $31,398 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,327 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,027 |
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 | $36,363 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,661 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
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, transit and intercity in Arkansas earn under $37,520 and half over. The published range runs $29,550 at the tenth percentile to $56,140 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $31,398 take-home in Arkansas comes from $37,520. 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 374 of 489.
- Two cautions on $36,295, the adjusted value of that $37,520 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arkansas. 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 374 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for bus drivers, transit and intercity in Arkansas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,550 to $56,140; 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 $31,398, from $37,520, assumes a single Arkansas 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 374 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 51 of 51 for it.
- This $36,295 adjusted figure, worked from $37,520, 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 374 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 374 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $40,050, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $29,550 at the tenth percentile, $56,140 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Arkansas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $36,295 in national terms.
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 Arkansas's own levy, $31,398 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 Arkansas is $40,050. 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 ($29,550 to $56,140) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arkansas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Arkansas'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 $36,295 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 $31,398 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arkansas 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.