Bus Driver: Salary

According to the BLS, the median annual salary for a transit and intercity bus driver was $35,720 in 2011. The best-paid 10 percent made approximately $57,410, while the lowest-paid made approximately $21,080 in a year. The field’s best-compensated are usually charter bus drivers, but competition for those positions may be higher. The highest-paid in the profession work in Spokane, Wash., Olympia, Wash., and New York City. School bus drivers earn slightly less, with an average salary that is a little less than $30,000 per year. The highest-paid in that profession earn around $43,640, and work in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and New Bedford, Mass.

Bus drivers make a mid-range salary when compared to other social services workers. Although they’re in a lower tax bracket than lawyers, they earn more than security guards, hairdressers, and maids. And though a bus driver doesn’t pocket as much as other scholastic careers—speech-language pathologists or school counselors, for example—he or she does make more than the school janitor. Bus drivers also make more than delivery truck drivers.

The highest paid in the bus driver profession work in the metropolitan areas of Spokane, WA, Olympia, WA, and New York City, NY. The Santa Barbara, CA area also pays well, as does the city of Vallejo, CA.