School Bus Monitors in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,177
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$6,333
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,953
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$36,510
Kept after tax
$30,177
Worth in national money
$29,953
State rank
17
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia sits in the middle of the pack for school bus monitors. The median is $36,510, ranking 17 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Virginia, this one sits low: 451 of 489 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $36,510 the take-home is $30,177, which is worth about $29,953 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $36,690, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Virginia occupies the middle band for school bus monitors: a median of $36,510, ranking 17 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- School bus monitors occupies position 451 of 489 in Virginia's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for school bus monitors on its $36,510 median: $30,177 retained after tax becomes $29,953 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $36,690 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 | $28,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,510 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,020 |
| This salary | $36,510 |
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 Virginia | $30,177 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,516 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,479 |
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 | $34,844 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,998 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Virginia earn less than $36,510. The published range is $28,220 up to $46,020, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $30,177 take-home in Virginia comes from $36,510. 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 451 of 489.
- Two cautions on $29,953, the adjusted value of that $36,510 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Virginia. 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 451 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for school bus monitors in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,220 to $46,020. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $30,177, from $36,510, assumes a single Virginia 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 451 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 50 for it.
- This $29,953 adjusted figure, worked from $36,510, 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 451 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 451 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $28,220 at the bottom tenth to $46,020 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 $29,953 of national purchasing power.
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 Virginia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,177 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 ($28,220 to $46,020) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $29,953 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 $30,177 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.