School Bus Monitors in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,865
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$5,105
15.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,599
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$32,970
Kept after tax
$27,865
Worth in national money
$29,599
State rank
34
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for school bus monitors is on the low side in North Carolina. The middle earner gets $32,970. That is 34 of 50 states, and about 6.07% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations North Carolina publishes, school bus monitors lands at 460. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where North Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $32,970 you keep $27,865, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $29,599 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $33,220, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For school bus monitors, North Carolina sits in the lower band at $32,970, ranking 34 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 6.07%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within North Carolina, this work ranks 460 of 489 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.
- After federal, FICA and North Carolina income tax, retained pay for school bus monitors on $32,970 is $27,865. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $29,599 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 $33,220 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: School Bus Monitors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $32,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $39,080 |
| This salary | $32,970 |
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 North Carolina | $27,865 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,671 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$95 |
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 | $31,966 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$114 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $32,970 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,650 and the ninetieth is $39,080 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In North Carolina the take-home figure of $27,865, from $32,970, 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 460 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $29,599, the adjusted value of that $32,970 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. 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 460 of 489 locally.
- The North Carolina median of $32,970 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,650 to $39,080. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for North Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $27,865 from $32,970. 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 460 of 489 locally.
- This $29,599 adjusted figure, worked from $32,970, 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 460 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 460 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $27,650 and the top tenth $39,080, so most people doing this work in North Carolina 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 $29,599.
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 North Carolina adds its own income tax on top — which is why $27,865 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($27,650 to $39,080) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Carolina rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $29,599 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 $27,865 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.