Median hourly earnings of schoolbus drivers were $10.77 in 2002. The middle 50 percent earned between $7.73 and $13.53 an hour. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $6.24, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $16.44 an hour. Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of schoolbus drivers in 2002 were as follows:
 

The benefits bus drivers receive from their employers vary greatly. Most intercity and local-transit bus drivers receive paid health and life insurance, sick leave, vacation leave, and free bus rides on any of the regular routes of their line or system. Schoolbus drivers receive sick leave, and many are covered by health and life insurance and pension plans. Because they generally do not work when school is not in session, they do not get vacation leave. In a number of States, local-transit and schoolbus drivers employed by local governments are covered by a statewide public employee pension system. Increasingly, school systems extend benefits to drivers who supplement their driving by working in the school system during off hours.

Most intercity and many local-transit bus drivers are members of the Amalgamated Transit Union. Local-transit bus drivers in New York and several other large cities belong to the Transport Workers Union of America. Some drivers belong to the United Transportation Union or the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.