School Bus Monitors in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,005
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$5,215
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,609
Missouri costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Missouri — 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
$34,220
Kept after tax
$29,005
Worth in national money
$31,609
State rank
28
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Missouri pays school bus monitors around $34,220 at the midpoint, 28 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 488 occupations Missouri publishes, school bus monitors lands at 452. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $34,220 you keep $29,005 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $31,609 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $33,250.
- For school bus monitors the Missouri median is $34,220, ranking 28 of 50 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.
- Within Missouri, this work ranks 452 of 488 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.
- Retained pay in Missouri is $29,005 after the full tax stack, from $34,220. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $31,609 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $33,250 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: School Bus Monitors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,220 |
| Top tenth earn over | $36,600 |
| This salary | $34,220 |
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 Missouri | $29,005 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,676 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,070 |
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 | $33,385 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,294 |
| 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 Missouri earn less than $34,220. The published range is $28,600 up to $36,600, 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 Missouri's $29,005, worked from $34,220. 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 452 of 488.
- Two cautions on $31,609, the adjusted value of that $34,220 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Missouri. 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 452 of 488 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for school bus monitors in Missouri the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,600 to $36,600. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Missouri take-home of $29,005, on $34,220 for work ranking 452 of 488 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 452 of 488 in the state.
- This $31,609 adjusted figure, worked from $34,220, 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 452 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 452 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $28,600 at the tenth percentile, $36,600 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Missouri is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $31,609 in national terms.
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 Missouri adds its own income tax on top — which is why $29,005 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($28,600 to $36,600) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Missouri rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Missouri'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 $31,609 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 $29,005 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Missouri 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.