Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,563
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$7,207
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,845
Tennessee costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Tennessee — 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
$47,770
Kept after tax
$40,563
Worth in national money
$43,845
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $47,770. That is 36 of 51 states, and about 19.1% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Tennessee, this sits in the middle: 310 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $47,770 you keep $40,563, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $43,845 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $51,770, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For bus drivers, transit and intercity, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $47,770, ranking 36 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 19.1%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Bus drivers, transit and intercity ranks 310 of 491 occupations in Tennessee 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.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for bus drivers, transit and intercity on $47,770 is $40,563. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $43,845 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 $51,770 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 | $39,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,900 |
| This salary | $47,770 |
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 Tennessee | $40,563 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,563 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,103 |
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 | $47,770 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,543 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Tennessee earn less than $47,770. The published range is $39,530 up to $58,900, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $40,563, from $47,770, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 310 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $43,845, the adjusted value of that $47,770 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 310 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for bus drivers, transit and intercity in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,530 to $58,900. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $40,563 from $47,770. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 310 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $43,845 — the adjusted value of that $47,770 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 310 of 491 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 $51,770, 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 $39,530 and the top tenth $58,900, so most people doing this work in Tennessee sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $43,845.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $40,563 survives, because Tennessee levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 Tennessee is $51,770. 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 ($39,530 to $58,900) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Tennessee rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Tennessee'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 $43,845 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Tennessee levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $40,563 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.