Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Ohio
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,598
after federal, FICA and Ohio tax
Tax takes
$11,162
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,200
Ohio costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Ohio — 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
$62,760
Kept after tax
$51,598
Worth in national money
$56,200
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Ohio is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $62,760, which ranks 11 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 6.28% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Ohio, this sits in the middle: 202 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Ohio is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $62,760 the take-home is $51,598; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $56,200 would nationally. The average lands at $58,310, below the middle of the range.
- Ohio ranks 11 of 51 states publishing a median for bus drivers, transit and intercity, at $62,760 — about 6.28% 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.
- Bus drivers, transit and intercity ranks 202 of 494 occupations in Ohio by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for bus drivers, transit and intercity in Ohio, on $62,760, is $51,598 — equivalent to $56,200 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $58,310 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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 | $40,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,270 |
| This salary | $62,760 |
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 Ohio | $51,598 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,608 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,063 |
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 | $61,504 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,495 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Ohio earn less than $62,760. The published range is $40,660 up to $74,270, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Ohio's $51,598, worked from $62,760. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 202 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $56,200 uses one figure for the whole of Ohio. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 494 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 202.
- Reported values are medians; for bus drivers, transit and intercity in Ohio the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,660 to $74,270. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Ohio take-home of $51,598, on $62,760 for work ranking 202 of 494 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 202 of 494 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $56,200, worked from $62,760, 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 Ohio address, on work sitting at 202 of 494 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 $58,310, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $40,660 and the top tenth $74,270, so most people doing this work in Ohio sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Ohio sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $56,200 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Ohio adds its own income tax on top — which is why $51,598 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Ohio is $58,310. 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 ($40,660 to $74,270) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Ohio rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Ohio'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 $56,200 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 $51,598 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Ohio 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.