Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,092
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$11,778
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,470
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$57,870
Kept after tax
$46,092
Worth in national money
$47,470
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Maine pays this job around $57,870 at the midpoint, 18 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 261 among 484 occupations Maine publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $57,870, tax leaves $46,092, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $47,470 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $55,450.
- For bus drivers, transit and intercity the Maine median is $57,870, ranking 18 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 261 of 484 in Maine 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.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for bus drivers, transit and intercity — median $57,870 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $46,092 retained, $47,470 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $55,450 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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 | $45,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,360 |
| This salary | $57,870 |
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 Maine | $46,092 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,679 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,623 |
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 | $54,651 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,173 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $57,870 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,180 and the ninetieth is $63,360 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $46,092 take-home in Maine comes from $57,870. 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 261 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $47,470 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 261.
- The Maine median of $57,870 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,180 to $63,360. 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 $46,092, from $57,870, assumes a single Maine 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 261 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $47,470, worked from $57,870, 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 Maine address, on work sitting at 261 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $55,450, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $45,180 and the top tenth $63,360, so most people doing this work in Maine sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $47,470 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $46,092.
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 Maine is $55,450. 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 ($45,180 to $63,360) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $47,470 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 $46,092 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.