Bus Drivers, School · SOC 53-3051

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Bus Drivers, Schools

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for bus drivers, school. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (5 such areas are excluded here). Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 348 metro areas

Bus Drivers, School: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$75,230	610	0.5
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$73,680	2,350	1.0
3	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$72,070	200	3.8
4	Bellingham, WA	$69,640	300	3.2
5	Napa, CA	$67,430	70	0.8
6	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$66,880	330	3.5
7	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$66,380	4,070	2.0
8	Springfield, MA	$65,730	770	3.8
9	Worcester, MA	$65,640	1,270	3.6
10	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$65,170	6,470	2.4
11	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$63,710	1,760	4.3
12	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$63,400	720	3.0
13	Modesto, CA	$62,870	190	1.0
14	El Centro, CA	$62,610	60	0.9
15	Salinas, CA	$62,390	140	0.7
16	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$62,190	2,850	2.4
17	New Haven, CT	$62,160	1,460	5.2
18	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$61,900	2,980	1.7
19	Longview-Kelso, WA	$61,730	210	5.1
20	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$61,720	380	1.2
21	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$61,580	4,090	0.7
22	Merced, CA	$61,580	300	3.7
23	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$61,570	260	0.9
24	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$61,560	2,680	4.5
25	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$61,550	930	5.8

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Bus Drivers, School overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.