Charts are grouped by topic in tabs. This dashboard is a work in progress and will evolve over time. Please email us at twc@transportcenter.org to suggest future analyses that would be helpful to your transit agency’s operations.

Please note that the dashboard is meant to be viewed in full-screen mode; re-sizing your browser window may adversely affect the interactive charts’ readability. The data dashboard is not yet mobile-device compatible; mobile-friendly updates will be available in the future.

The dashboard is compatible with the accessibility widget (bottom right of the page) that is available across the TWC site. However, to enlarge charts and data labels we recommend using your browser’s zoom function rather than the widget.

BLS releases multiple workforce datasets, created through varied surveys and analytical methodologies. Our dashboard features:

• data on job openings, training, and more from BLS’ Employment Projections program
• data on wages in selected occupations, sourced from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program
• data about the demographic composition of the U.S. transportation workforce sourced from the Current Population Survey (CPS), which is co-sponsored by BLS and the U.S. Census Bureau. To obtain comprehensive demographic data, we use iPUMS CPS microdata to generate estimates by occupation. Our results closely mirror annual averages produced by BLS.

These data are up-to-date and nationally representative, and allow analysis based on specific occupations. However, some data are not available for all occupations or for workers in occupations within specific industries. Therefore, the dashboard presents summaries for transit-related occupations across the entire U.S. economy (both transit workers and those employed in other industries). Data reflect annual averages.

NTD collects data on a variety of agency characteristics from transit systems across the U.S. Each year, NTD releases data on transit employment, some of which are used in this dashboard. All recipients of Urbanized Area Formula Program (5307) or Rural Formula Program (5311) funds are required to report to NTD. The reporting body includes 3,000 or more transit systems, but only Full Reporters (systems receiving Urbanized Area Formula Grants and operating more than 30 vehicles or either fixed guideway or high intensity busways) report employment data. NTD aggregates employees into broad categories (e.g., vehicle operations, vehicle maintenance), not by specific occupational classifications. Employment statistics reflect directly operated services only. Not all transit providers are required to report to NTD and thus these data do not reflect all transit employees in the U.S. For more information, please visit https://www.transit.dot.gov/ntd.

NTD’s mode categories were grouped in this dashboard in the following ways: “bus” includes bus, bus rapid transit, commuter bus, and trolley bus; “light & streetcar rail” includes light rail and street car rail; and “other” includes Alaska Railroad, cable car, ferryboat, hybrid rail, inclined plane, monorail/automated guideway, and vanpool. This re-categorization simplifies the charts and makes them more straightforward to the viewer, particularly in light of the relatively small number of workers in many of the categories.

FTA requires full reporters to NTD to report labor into two categories: operating and capital. Operating labor is the personnel necessary to carry out the day-to-day requirements for providing transit service; it is made up of vehicle operations, vehicle maintenance, facility maintenance, and general administration. Capital labor is the personnel involved in the purchase of equipment and construction of facilities. The dashboard focuses primarily on the operating category, which encompasses most frontline transit workers. Several charts include total operating, which is the compilation of the 4 classifications under operating labor.

The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) produces quarterly and annual cost-of-living (COL) indices. These indices are based on local economic context, reflecting different categories of consumer expenditures: groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous. TWC uses the county-level annual COL index to match up COL factors with transit agencies reporting to NTD and adjust raw wages to allow for more accurate benchmarking across peer agencies. COL-adjusted wages by agency are available on the Agency Explorer.

The Agency Explorer can be filtered using dropdown menus for state, agency name, mode, labor classification/job function, and full-time/part-time. These filters will adjust all of the data in the four charts, table, and summary statistics, with some exceptions:

• Full-Time/Part-Time: Full-time/part-time data are not reported for hourly wage and salary expenses. If a selection is made in that filter, the summary statistics will not be available and charts/tables showing wages and salaries will not update and will continue showing the total wages/salaries.

There are also dropdowns that use ranges of two statistics, employee count and urbanized area (UZA) population, to filter the data. These dropdowns use ranges to help select a smaller subset of agencies; the ranges are not consistent in size, but rather aim to split the number of agencies between them as evenly as possible. They use data from the most recent year an agency has reported to NTD.

The Agency Explorer features four charts with workforce statistics from 2018 to 2024:

• Employee Count: The number of individuals who are compensated by the transit agency for directly operated (DO) transit services.
  • Please note that individual employees can be split between transit and non-transit departments, directly operated and paid transportation services, as well as between modes and job functions. The counts may include decimals, including the total count for an agency.
• Labor Hours: The number of employee work hours, not counting paid leave, on directly operated services at the agency.
• Average Hourly Wage: A calculated statistic of average hourly wages of directly operated employees at the agency, determined by dividing operating salary expenses by operating labor hours. Note: this chart does not distinguish full-time and part-time employees.
• Salary Expenses: The total salary expenses by agency of employees who work on directly operated services at the agency, including cost of labor and excluding paid absences and fringe benefits. Note: this chart does not distinguish full-time and part-time employees.

The summary statistics (within the light green boxes on the right side of the page) show average and total data from 2024, with the exception of the number of agencies, which shows the number of agencies that have been selected by the filters.

More details about each statistic are described below:

• Total Employees: This statistic shows the total number of employees in 2024 from each agency. Each filter affects this statistic. Again, please note that this is not the total number of transit employees in the country, but only the employees from directly operated services of full reporters to NTD.
• Average Wage: This statistic calculates the average wage across each agency. Each filter except for the full-time/part-time dropdown affects this statistic.
• Average Labor Hours: This statistic calculates the average labor hours across each agency, with each agency weighted equally. Each filter affects this statistic.
• Average Salary Expenses: This statistic calculates the average salary expenses across each agency, with each agency weighted equally. Each filter except for the full-time/part-time dropdown affects this statistic.
• Average Vehicles Operated in Annual Maximum Service (VOMS): This statistic calculates the average vehicles operated in annual maximum service across each agency, with each agency weighted equally.
• Average Unlinked Passenger Trips (UPT): This statistic calculates the average unlinked passenger trips across each agency, with each agency weighted equally.
• Population: This statistic calculates the average urbanized area (UZA) population weighted by agency. Each filter except for the labor classification/job function and full-time/part-time dropdowns affects this statistic. Population does not change by mode, but agencies without selected modes will not be included.

In response to suggestions from transit partners, TWC has now added a new cost-of-living (COL) adjustment feature to the Agency Explorer. This feature enables users to compare wages between transit agencies, weighted to account for local economic context. When a user selects an agency or set of agencies using the filters at the top of the page, these locations’ raw wages (green bars) will be adjusted (blue bars) using the COL factor provided in annual data procured from C2ER for the county where the agency headquarters is located. The formula used is:

COL adjusted wage = (Raw wage * 100) / County COL factor

100 is the baseline COL factor in an area that is essentially average nationally in cost-of-living; more expensive counties will have a higher index value and less expensive counties will have a lower one. For example, for an agency that has an average raw wage of $35/hour and a COL factor of 110, the COL adjusted average wage for that county would be $31.81, while an agency with an average raw wage of $35/hour and a COL factor of 95 has a COL adjusted average wage of $36.84. The comparison highlights that a $35/hour wage holds more purchasing power in a less expensive area than in a more expensive area. The same filters are operable in this feature as are operable in other charts.

The chart shows the 15 agencies with the greatest number of employees in 2024 in accordance with filter selections. Agencies are listed left to right from highest COL-adjusted wage to lowest.

The table beneath the charts lists 2024 operating data for all full reporting transit agencies. Use the column headers to sort the table from largest to smallest or vice versa or select a specific agency to display it on the time series charts.

Please note that not all agencies reported data in 2024; there may be agencies that appear in the charts for previous years but not in the table.

• NTD collects workforce data from only directly operated services of full reports (see key terms). This means the Explorer does not include every transit worker in the country; and larger agencies are overrepresented; also, since many agencies contract out rather than directly operate demand response services, the counts, hours, and salary expenses displayed for that mode are incomplete.
• The charts show a maximum of 10 agencies at a time.
  • The 10 agencies shown are the agencies with the highest employee counts that fit the filter criteria. The charts will all show the same 10 agencies using the same color for each appearance of an agency.
  • The summary statistics on the side show average and total data for, and the table at the bottom shows 2024 operating data for, all agencies selected by the filters, not just the top 10.
• Some agencies did not report to NTD for each year shown. There may be gaps in the data for those cases, and the summary statistics on the side only use data agencies that reported to NTD in 2024.