New York · BLS May 2025

How much do bus drivers, transit and intercity make in New York?

Bus drivers, transit and intercity in New York earn a median of $84,480 a year ($40.61 an hour), about $5,358 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 16,770 of these jobs in New York in May 2025.

Median pay · New York

$84,480A year, or $41 an hour.
Take-home a month$5,358After federal, state and FICA tax at 23.9%
Worth at national prices$78,279Prices here sit at 107.9 against 100
Against the nation43.1% aboveNational median $59,050
What bus drivers, transit and intercity earn in New York, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$57,610$28
25th percentile$64,590$31
MedianHalf earn more, half less$84,480$41
75th percentile$84,700$41
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$84,700$41
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$74,560$36

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in New YorkBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$84,480
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$40.61
  3. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$5,358 a month at an effective rate of 23.9%.$64,296 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in New York sit at 107.9 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$78,279
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $59,050.43.1% above
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 1.69 against the nation's 1.00.16,770
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $84,480 in New York, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$84,480
$55,000$85,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$84,480
Net 76%
Fed 12%
NY 5%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$64,296After all taxes
Monthly deposit$5,358Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$2,473Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate23.9%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$9,756 / yr
New York state income tax$3,965 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$6,463 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $84,480 is worth in New York

Prices in New York sit at 107.9 against a national average of 100, so $84,480 earned here buys what $78,279 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 122.2 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in New York takes in $85,974, so this occupation's median is 0.98 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 69% more concentrated in New York than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for bus drivers, transit and intercity in New York

New York ranks 1 of 51 states by median pay for bus drivers, transit and intercity, among the best-paying in the country.

Rents in New York index at 122.2 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 107.9, a gap of +14.2 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.

The median in New York is 43.1% above the national median of $59,050.

Pay is tightly grouped: the 90th percentile ($84,700) is only 1.5 times the 10th ($57,610), so most bus drivers, transit and intercity here earn within a narrow band.

Common questions

Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity pay in New York, answered

How much do bus drivers, transit and intercity make in New York?

The median wage for bus drivers, transit and intercity in New York is $84,480 a year, or $40.61 an hour.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity salary in New York?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for bus drivers, transit and intercity in New York is $74,560 a year. The median is $84,480.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the hourly pay for bus drivers, transit and intercity in New York?

The median hourly wage is $40.61. At a full-time year that lines up with about $84,480 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for bus drivers, transit and intercity in New York?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in New York, the lowest-paid 10% of bus drivers, transit and intercity earn under $57,610 a year and a quarter earn under $64,590 ($27.70 and $31.06 an hour).

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for bus drivers, transit and intercity in New York?

The overall salary range for bus drivers, transit and intercity in New York spans from $57,610 for the bottom 10% to $84,700 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $64,590 and $84,700 a year, with the overall median at $84,480.

What is the take-home pay for bus drivers, transit and intercity in New York?

On the median wage of $84,480, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $64,296 a year, or roughly $5,358 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 23.9%.

New York takes $3,965 of it in state income tax.

How much does bus drivers, transit and intercity make a month in New York?

On the median annual salary of $84,480, estimated take-home pay is roughly $5,358 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $2,473 net.

Do bus drivers, transit and intercity earn more in New York than in the rest of the country?

Yes. The median in New York is 43.1% above the national median of $59,050.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in New York sit at 107.9 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $84,480 a good salary in New York?

It is 0.98 times the median household income of $85,974. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in New York run at 107.9 against a national average of 100, with rents at 122.2, so $84,480 here buys about what $78,279 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid bus drivers, transit and intercity earn in New York?

The top tenth earn $84,700 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $57,610.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of New York someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many bus drivers, transit and intercity are there in New York?

The survey counted 16,770 of these jobs in New York for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 69% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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