He Retired, Then Took the Bus-Driving Job His School District Couldn’t Fill. The Social Security Earnings Test Reshapes His Paycheck.

School districts across the country cannot find enough bus drivers, and the numbers tell an uncomfortable story. The Economic Policy Institute found that as of August 2025, there were roughly 21,200 fewer school bus drivers employed nationally than in August 2019, a 9.5% decline that has barely budged despite years of recruiting efforts. A 2025 HopSkipDrive survey found that 81% of school administrators still report a driver shortage, and 26% have already cut or shortened routes as a result. Superintendents have leaned on retirees for years, waiving fees, covering the cost of the commercial driver’s license, and carving schedules around morning and afternoon routes only.

For a man in his mid-60s who claimed Social Security early, the offer arrives when boredom, rising costs, and grandkids in the back seat all point the same direction. The median hourly wage for school bus drivers reached $22.45 as of August 2025, according to EPI data, which translates to a meaningful supplemental income on a part-time route schedule. The wages look useful. The question is whether they stay useful once Social Security’s rules take their cut.

This is a familiar spot for many retirees. Baby Boomers report a median retirement savings of $270,000, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics pegs average annual household expenditures at $78,535 in 2024. A part-time paycheck closes real gaps. It also collides with a rule most early claimers underestimate.

The Earnings Test Reshapes the Paycheck

If you claimed Social Security before your full retirement age (FRA) and keep working, Social Security withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn above an annual limit. For 2026, that limit is $24,480 for workers who remain below FRA for the full calendar year. A separate, higher limit of $65,160 applies in the year you actually reach FRA, with a softer withholding rate of $1 for every $3 earned above the threshold in the months before your birthday. The threshold is indexed to average wage growth, so it tends to rise each year.

Take a concrete example. Say his Social Security check is $1,800 a month, or $21,600 a year, and he earns $30,000 driving a route. That puts him $5,520 over the limit. Social Security withholds half the overage, roughly $2,760, by pausing several months of benefits until the withholding is satisfied. His household still comes out ahead because he added $30,000 in wages and gave back only $2,760 in benefits. What surprises people is the pause itself. Checks stop for a few months, then resume, and the reaction is often: “Did I make a mistake?”

He did not. Withheld benefits are deferred, not lost. Once he reaches FRA, which is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later, Social Security recalculates his monthly benefit upward to credit him for the months it withheld. The earnings test disappears at FRA entirely, so wages and benefits stop interfering with each other from that point forward.

One wrinkle worth noting: Congress is actively debating whether the earnings test should exist at all. The Senior Citizens’ Freedom to Work Act of 2026 was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Rick Scott in March 2026 and in the House by Rep. Greg Murphy in April 2026. If enacted, the legislation would eliminate the retirement earnings test for early claimers, allowing them to collect full benefits regardless of wages. The bills remain in committee in both chambers, and their outcome is uncertain, but their very existence signals growing political appetite for changing the rule.

Taxes Are the Quieter Cost

Adding wages raises what the IRS calls provisional income, which determines how much of a Social Security benefit becomes taxable. For a single filer, once provisional income clears $25,000, up to 50% of the benefit is taxable. Above $34,000, up to 85% is. For a married couple filing jointly, those thresholds are $32,000 and $44,000. These thresholds have not been adjusted for inflation in decades, which means almost any part-time job pushes a retiree into the taxable zone.

A $30,000 bus-driving job does not add $30,000 to spendable income. Payroll taxes come out first. Federal income tax applies next. And a larger slice of his Social Security check gets taxed on top of that. A reasonable working assumption is that 15% to 25% of the gross wage disappears before it reaches the checking account, depending on state tax rules and other income sources. Understanding that math before the first paycheck arrives is far easier than recalculating after the fact.

How It Fits With the Rest of the Picture

Two interactions deserve attention before signing on. First, retirement income he may already be drawing, such as a pension from a prior job, a 401(k), or an IRA, does not count toward the earnings test at all. Only current wages and net self-employment income do. That includes pension contributions withheld from the new paycheck, since those are still counted as part of gross wages for earnings-test purposes. Second, the 2.8% Social Security COLA for 2026 applies to his benefit whether he is working or not, so the base check continues to hold its purchasing power in the background.

Working can also delay tapping an IRA or 401(k). Every dollar left invested keeps compounding, and drawing less now leaves more room later when required minimum distributions kick in at age 73. For a retiree with a meaningful balance, that deferral can matter more than the extra route or two.

What to Think Through Before Signing On

Three questions are worth answering before he says yes.

1. Estimate wages against the annual limit before accepting the schedule. If he can stay near or under $24,480, the earnings test never triggers. One fewer route per week can be worth more than the extra pay once withholding is factored in.
2. Do a rough tax check using last year’s return. Add the expected wages, then calculate how much more of the Social Security benefit becomes taxable and whether the household crosses into a higher bracket.
3. Treat any withholding as deferral, not loss. Benefits paused today return as a higher monthly check at FRA, and the math is designed to be roughly actuarially fair over a normal lifespan.

Every household’s numbers land differently. State taxes, Medicare premiums tied to income (IRMAA surcharges), or a spouse’s earnings can all tilt the answer. The bus-driving job can absolutely be worth it. It just needs to be evaluated on the take-home number, not the hourly rate on the flyer.

Editor’s note: This update added current school bus driver shortage statistics from the Economic Policy Institute and a 2025 HopSkipDrive survey, the median driver wage of $22.45 per hour as of August 2025, the higher $65,160 earnings-test limit that applies in the year a worker reaches full retirement age, and legislative context on the Senior Citizens’ Freedom to Work Act of 2026, which has been introduced in both chambers of Congress to repeal the retirement earnings test.

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