Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,297
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$20,183
23.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,741
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$84,480
Kept after tax
$64,297
Worth in national money
$59,741
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $84,480, putting the state 1 of 51 — about 43.07% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 161 among 493 occupations New York publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $84,480, tax leaves $64,297 — and because New York is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $59,741 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $74,560.
- For bus drivers, transit and intercity, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $84,480, ranking 1 of 51 and running about 43.07% 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 161 of 493 in New York 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.
- After tax, $64,297 remains from the New York median of $84,480 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $59,741 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $74,560 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 | $57,610 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,700 |
| This salary | $84,480 |
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 New York | $64,297 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,262 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,505 |
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 | $78,844 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,511 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $84,480 as a midpoint for New York, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $57,610 and the ninetieth is $84,700 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $64,297 take-home in New York comes from $84,480. 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 161 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $59,741 uses one figure for the whole of New York. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 161.
- The New York median of $84,480 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $57,610 to $84,700. 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 $64,297, from $84,480, assumes a single New York 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 161 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 1 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $59,741, worked from $84,480, 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 New York address, on work sitting at 161 of 493 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 $74,560, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $57,610 at the bottom tenth to $84,700 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $59,741 of national purchasing power.
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 New York's own levy, $64,297 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 New York is $74,560. 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 ($57,610 to $84,700) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $59,741 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 $64,297 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.