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Bus Drivers, School

Occupation · SOC 53-3051.00

Drive a school bus to transport students. Ensure adherence to safety rules. May assist students in boarding or exiting.

Also called: Bus Driver · Public School Bus Driver · SPED Bus Driver (Special Education Bus Driver) · School Bus Driver · Bus Drive Coordinator · CDL Bus Driver (Commercial Driver's License Bus Driver) · SPED School Bus Driver (Special Education School Bus Driver) · School Van Driver · Shuttle Bus Driver · Student Driver · Bus Monitor · CDL School Bus Driver (Commercial Driver's License School Bus Driver)

Job family: Transportation and Material Moving Occupations

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A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch /roles/role-53-3051-00/context.md directly.

AI work map

A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.

39th-percentile task overlap — yet about 61,000 openings a year (+0.2% projected, BLS) . What exposure means →

AI & job outlook

What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.

Exposure to current AI

Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.

Measure Rank vs all occupations Percentile Score
LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) Moderate 35th 0.4
AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) Moderate 47th 0.1

OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.3), with simple added tooling (β 0.3), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.4). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.

How AI is actually used in this job

Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.

Read maps and follow written and verbal geographic directions. 1.1%
Comply with traffic regulations to operate vehicles in a safe and courteous manner. 0.2%
Maintain knowledge of first-aid procedures. 0.2%

Job outlook

Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.

Outlook About average · +0.2% by 2034
Projected annual openings 61,000
Employment 2024 → 2034 387,300 → 388,200

“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.

Tasks

All 17 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.

Work activities

Knowledge, skills & abilities

O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).

Knowledge

Transportation 4.5
Public Safety and Security 4.0
Customer and Personal Service 3.9
English Language 3.7
Mechanical 3.2
Law and Government 3.1
Geography 3.0

Abilities

Far Vision 4.0
Near Vision 3.8
Problem Sensitivity 3.5
Reaction Time 3.5
Depth Perception 3.5
Speech Recognition 3.5
Control Precision 3.4
Multilimb Coordination 3.4
Peripheral Vision 3.4
Oral Comprehension 3.3
Spatial Orientation 3.3
Auditory Attention 3.3
Speech Clarity 3.3
Oral Expression 3.1
Information Ordering 3.1
Selective Attention 3.1
Time Sharing 3.1
Arm-Hand Steadiness 3.1
Response Orientation 3.1
Rate Control 3.1
Visual Color Discrimination 3.1
Deductive Reasoning 3.0

Essential skills

Active Listening 3.4
Critical Thinking 3.4
Monitoring 3.4
Speaking 3.1
Reading Comprehension 3.0

Transferable skills

Social Perceptiveness 3.3
Operations Monitoring 3.1
Coordination 3.0
Service Orientation 3.0
Operation and Control 2.9
Judgment and Decision Making 2.9

Skills in demand

Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.

Tools & technology

Example Category
Microsoft Windows Operating system software Hot technology
AOL MapQuest Map creation software
Web browser software Internet browser software

Work context

How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.

In an Enclosed Vehicle or Operate Enclosed Equipment 4.8
Frequency of Decision Making 4.5
Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls 4.4
Spend Time Sitting 4.3
Contact With Others 4.3
Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams 4.1
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate 4.1
Freedom to Make Decisions 4.0
Physical Proximity 4.0
Outdoors, Exposed to All Weather Conditions 3.9
Exposed to Sounds, Noise Levels that are Distracting or Uncomfortable 3.9
Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions 3.9
Time Pressure 3.8
Health and Safety of Other Workers 3.7
Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results 3.5
Consequence of Error 3.5
Exposed to Very Hot or Cold Temperatures 3.5
Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team 3.4
Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals 3.3
Deal With External Customers or the Public in General 3.3
Exposed to Contaminants 3.1
Conflict Situations 3.0
Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People 2.8
Coordinate or Lead Others in Accomplishing Work Activities 2.7
Work Outcomes and Results of Other Workers 2.7
Pace Determined by Speed of Equipment 2.6
Indoors, Not Environmentally Controlled 2.6
Telephone Conversations 2.5
Importance of Repeating Same Tasks 2.5
Spend Time Bending or Twisting Your Body 2.3
E-Mail 2.3
Written Letters and Memos 2.3
Exposed to Extremely Bright or Inadequate Lighting Conditions 2.2
Exposed to Disease or Infections 2.1
Outdoors, Under Cover 2.1
Exposed to Hazardous Conditions 2.0
In an Open Vehicle or Operating Equipment 1.9
Exposed to Hazardous Equipment 1.8
Exposed to Cramped Work Space, Awkward Positions 1.8
Exposed to Whole Body Vibration 1.8

How to get in

Job zone
Zone 2 — Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
Education
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Typical entry-level education
High school diploma or equivalent · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
Related experience
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Preparation level
SVP (Below 6.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.

What to study: Transportation and Materials Moving . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.

Education of current workers

Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.

High School Diploma 59.3%
Less than a High School Diploma 37.3%
Post-Secondary Certificate 3.5%

Interests & work styles

The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.

Interest areas

Transportation/Machine Operation 6.5
Physical/Manual Labor 2.5
Protective Service 2.4
Mechanics/Electronics 2.3
Personal Service 2.2
Social Service 2.1

Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)

Realistic 5.5
Conventional 4.7
Social 4.5
Enterprising 2.2

Work styles

Dependability 4.0
Attention to Detail 3.0
Cautiousness 2.8
Integrity 2.2
Cooperation 2.0
Self-Control 1.9

Wages & employment

U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)

$28k10th$37k25th$47kMedian$56k75th$64k90th
Annual wages by percentile — U.S. (BLS OEWS). The light band spans the 10th–90th percentile; the darker band is the middle half (25th–75th); the line is the median.
387k2024388k2034 (proj.)+0.2% · About average
Projected U.S. employment, 2024–2034 (BLS Employment Projections). A labor-market forecast for the occupation, not an AI-impact forecast.
10th percentile $27,680
25th percentile $37,490
Median (50th) $47,040
75th percentile $56,140
90th percentile $63,810
People employed 387,920

Industries that employ this occupation

Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.

Industry Workers National median pay
Educational Services · Sector 201,110 $42,630
Transportation and Warehousing · Sector 142,760 $49,200
Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector 5,200 $38,900
Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector 630 $41,200
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities · National industry 200 $26,310
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation · Sector 100 $44,020
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers · National industry 100 $44,020
Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector — $44,290
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector — $54,450

Where this work is most concentrated

Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).

Industry Concentration Workers
Transportation and Warehousing · Sector 7.68× 142,760
Educational Services · Sector 5.86× 201,110
Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector 0.09× 5,200
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers · National industry 0.06× 100
Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector 0.06× 630
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities · National industry 0.03× 200
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation · Sector 0.02× 100

Part of the Supply Chain & Transportation career cluster.

Exposure quadrant: AI task-overlap percentile vs Median pay Bus Drivers, School sits at the 39th percentile of AI task-overlap and the 25th percentile of median pay, placed here against 12 adjacent occupations on the same two axes. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Bus Drivers, School Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers Light Truck Drivers Locomotive Engineers Subway and Streetcar Operators Crossing Guards and Flaggers School Bus Monitors Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
AI task-overlap percentile (horizontal) vs. median-pay percentile (vertical), across all scored occupations. This occupation is highlighted; related occupations are plotted alongside it. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation.

Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.

What you can do with this

Options the data surfaces for Bus Drivers, School — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.

Skills that travel

Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.

Adjacent roles

Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.

Paths in

How people typically prepare for this work.

Zoom out

See where this work sits in the bigger picture.

Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation

Bus Drivers, School show 39th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 61,000 annual U.S. openings

  • Bus Drivers, School rank in the 39th percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
  • The occupation is projected to see about 61,000 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • BLS projects employment to be about average (+0.2%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • Median annual pay is $47,040, across about 387,920 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
Copy the whole kit
Bus Drivers, School show 39th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 61,000 annual U.S. openings

• Bus Drivers, School rank in the 39th percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE)
• The occupation is projected to see about 61,000 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• BLS projects employment to be about average (+0.2%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• Median annual pay is $47,040, across about 387,920 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024))

Source: Singulariki — "Bus Drivers, School". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-53-3051-00
Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom

Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Bus Drivers, School." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-53-3051-00

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Bus Drivers, School. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-53-3051-00

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-role-53-3051-00,
  title  = {Bus Drivers, School},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-53-3051-00}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.

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