What Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity earn in Passaic County, NJ
According to the latest federal wage data for the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area, the median pay for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Passaic County, NJ is $78,130 a year, or $37.56 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $60,729 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Passaic County, NJ.
The mean wage is $73,350, which is 6.1% below the median, which suggests many workers sit near the top of the pay scale. The survey counts about 19,770 people working in this occupation across the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Passaic County, NJ has roughly 521,012 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $56,560 a year ($27.19 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $84,700 or more ($40.72 an hour). That is a gap of $28,140 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $64,590 at the 25th percentile and $84,700 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.5 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Passaic County, NJ is $37.56. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $78,130, and the same salary is $6,511 a month before taxes or about $3,005 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $29.20 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Passaic County, NJ compares
Compared with the New Jersey average
Passaic County, NJ pays above the state benchmark. The New Jersey employment-weighted average for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity is $75,232; the local median of $78,130 beats it by $2,898, or 3.9%. Within New Jersey, Passaic County, NJ already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity is $62,322 across the contiguous United States. At $78,130, Passaic County, NJ pays $15,808 more, which is 25.4% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Passaic County, NJ
Among the 671 occupations with published wages in Passaic County, NJ, Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity ranks number 306 by median pay, ahead of about 54% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers at $335,270 a year, which is $257,140 more than the median for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $78,130 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $17,401 a year, which leaves $60,729, or $5,061 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $22 goes to taxes and $78 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 22.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $62,380. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $8,638, an effective 11.1% of gross pay, well below the 22% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $4,844 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,133. FICA totals $5,977, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in New Jersey
New Jersey income tax on this salary is $2,787 a year, or 3.6% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 32% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $232 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Passaic County, NJ
IRS Statistics of Income data for Passaic County, NJ show an average adjusted gross income of $73,650 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.6% across all filers. Filers in the $75,000 to under $100,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 9.5%, compared with the 11.1% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Passaic County, NJ
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Passaic County, NJ: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $60,729 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Passaic County, NJ is $1,987 a month, or $23,844 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,282 a month. For Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity, a one-bedroom absorbs 39.3% of take-home pay and 30.5% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 4.4% of gross pay for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Passaic County, NJ. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using New Jersey residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $2,044 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $518, for $2,562 in total. Gasoline in New Jersey averages $3.21 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,484.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $31,325 a year, 52% of take-home pay. That leaves $29,403 a year, or $2,450 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 37.6% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Can Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity afford to live in Passaic County, NJ?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $78,130 that ceiling is $1,953 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,987 is $34 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $38.21 an hour; the median for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity is $37.56, which is 2% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $29.20 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 15.7 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,282 a month means $1,141 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $10,152 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $39,555.
How fast you can save
At $2,450 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 5 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 10 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity pay in Passaic County, NJ
What is the hourly wage for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Passaic County, NJ?
The median is $37.56 per hour, based on $78,130 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $27.19 at the 10th percentile to $40.72 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Passaic County, NJ?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $78,130 becomes $60,729 a year. That is $5,061 a month, $2,336 every two weeks or $1,168 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Passaic County, NJ?
Total taxes are $17,401 a year, an effective rate of 22.3%: $8,638 federal income tax, $5,977 FICA and $2,787 New Jersey income tax.
Is pay for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Passaic County, NJ above the New Jersey average?
Yes. The local median of $78,130 is +3.9% versus the New Jersey average of $75,232, a difference of $2,898 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity salary in Passaic County, NJ?
A one-bedroom costs $1,987 a month against take-home pay of $5,061, which is 39.3% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,953 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity in Passaic County, NJ?
About $2,450 a month ($29,403 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $31,325 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Passaic County, NJ at the 30% guideline?
$38.21 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $23,844 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity is $37.56.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the New Jersey rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.