Protective Service
School Bus Monitors
Maintain order among students on a school bus. Duties include helping students safely board and exit and communicating behavioral problems. May perform pretrip and posttrip inspections and prepare for and assist in emergency evacuations.
Also called: Bus Aide, Bus Assistant, Bus Attendant, Bus Monitor, Bus Paraeducator, School Bus Aide
- Median pay in Greater Boston
- $38,470
- $18.50/hr
- Jobs in Greater Boston
- 1,090
- Massachusetts 2024–2034
- +4.6%
- 410 openings a year
- Typical U.S. entry requirement
- High school diploma or equivalent
- plus Short-term on-the-job training
Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.
Pay range in Greater Boston
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $33,690 | $36,180 | $38,470 | $38,470 | $42,710 |
10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.
What you’d do
- Buckle seatbelts or fasten wheelchair tie-down straps to secure passengers for transportation.
- Escort young children across roads or highways.
- Assist children with disabilities or children with psychological, emotional, or behavioral issues with boarding and exiting the school bus.
- Monitor the conduct of students to maintain discipline and safety.
- Evacuate students from the school bus in emergency situations.
- Direct students boarding and exiting the school bus.
AI and this job
AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.
Moderate exposure44 of 100
The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:
- AIOE 48
- Language-model AIOE 47
- GPTs-are-GPTs 37
Observed AI use today: Not published (Anthropic Economic Index)
AI exposure for this job is moderate. AI tools might help with routes, schedules, or messages to families. The main work is hands-on and relies on people: helping children board, securing seatbelts and wheelchair straps, escorting kids across roads, keeping order, and leading an evacuation in an emergency.
Likely to change
- Route and schedule information
- Reporting behavior problems
Still relies on people
- Helping children and students with disabilities
- Keeping order and leading emergency evacuations
Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.
Next steps from here
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- Pay difference
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- AI exposure
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Working safely around passengers carries over. This job pays about $70,120 in Boston, with 9.3% projected growth and moderate on-the-job training.
- Pay difference
- +$31,650 median
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- To get started
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Training near Boston
College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).
No college programs near Boston map to this job. Many people enter through on-the-job training or apprenticeship.
Talk to a career coach at the Office of Workforce Development about apprenticeships and City partner programs.
Related occupations
Talk to a career coach
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