Bus Driver Salary

Bus Drivers make a good living, but your bus driver salary will be different depending on what sort of bus you drive and where you work. To begin, let’s look at what each type of bus driver makes:

School Bus Driver Salary

National averages:

Mean yearly salary = $28,660

Mean hourly rate = $13.78

But the pay is different depending on which state you work in. Here are the top five paying States for school bus drivers:

State	Mean Hourly Rate
1. Washington	$17.18
2. New York	$17.15
3. Nevada	$16.91
4. Alaska	$16.88
5. Massachusetts	$16.24

* Employers usually offer benefits to their drivers, like health and dental insurance. This is certainly something to think about when looking into what your personal bus driver salary will amount to.

City Bus Driver Salary

National averages:

Mean yearly salary = $37,060

Mean hourly rate = $17.82 

But the salaries are different depending on which state you work in. Here are the top five paying States for school bus drivers:

State	Mean Hourly Rate
1. New York	$22.10
2. Washington	$21.94
3. Ohio	$20.07
4. Hawaii	$19.92
5. California	$19.75

* Don’t forget to consider how much you will be making from your benefits.

Charter Bus Driver Salary

National averages:

Mean yearly salary = $31,990

Mean hourly rate = $15.38

* Again, think about the benefits.

Factors That Will Affect Your Bus Driver Salary

Since you have read the beginning of this article, you know the first two things already.

1. What type of bus you operate

2. Where you drive the bus

But there are other factors that contribute to how much your salary will amount to. Let’s take a look at a few of those:

1. Who you work for

Now this sounds similar what type of bus you drive, but that isn’t the point. Say you’re a school bus driver. You will get compensated differently depending on whether you work directly for the school district, or you work for an independent contractor who gets hired by the district to provide transportation services. Now there is no clear answer as to who pays more because it is different in every school district.

2. What type of people you drive

Let’s assume you are driving a school bus again. You may be compensated more if you are transporting students with special needs and you are properly trained to take care of them.

Another strong example is a tour bus driver who drives musical artists. If you are working for a successful and famous musician, you will get paid a lot better than a typical driver. And arguably you’ll have a lot more fun … if you can work those sort of hours.

3. How much experience you have

If you get employed somewhere, but you’ve driven buses before you may get hired at a higher level. And you’ll be paid more if you drive for the same employer for a lot of years. If you work for a certain city, for example, it is likely that you will receive cost of living raises every few years or so.