USA · Engineering · Salary

Aerospace engineers: pay by state and city

What aerospace engineers — the main job for this pathway — earn across the U.S., from the latest BLS wage survey (May 2025).

U.S. median$134,960
BLS OEWS · May 2025
Occupational Employment and Wage StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Period
May 2025
SOC
17-2011 Aerospace engineers
File
oe.data.0.Current (download.bls.gov)
View official data
U.S. average (mean)$142,060
Jobs in the survey67,710
Most jobsCalifornia9,170 jobs · median $157,620

Pay where you want to work

Pick a state or search a metro area. The bar shows the spread from the lowest-paid 10% to the top 10% in that place.

United States

Aerospace engineers · annual wages, May 2025
BLS OEWS · May 2025
Occupational Employment and Wage StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Period
May 2025
SOC
17-2011 Aerospace engineers
File
oe.data.0.Current (download.bls.gov)
View official data
Lowest 10% below
$86,700
25th percentile
$106,110
Median
$134,960
75th percentile
$169,690
Top 10% above
$205,890
Middle half of workersMedianMean $142,060Jobs 67,710

BLS publishes this occupation for 43 state-level areas (50 states, DC and territories where available) and 98 metro and nonmetro areas. Places it does not publish are not estimated here.

Where the jobs are, and where pay is highest

Median annual pay, May 2025. Highest-pay lists only include places with at least 500 jobs. BLS wages are not adjusted for living costs, which are usually higher where pay is higher.

States with the most jobs

  1. California9,170 jobs$157,620
  2. Texas6,750 jobs$130,270
  3. Alabama5,820 jobs$127,540
  4. Washington5,760 jobs$158,370
  5. Colorado4,070 jobs$156,190

Highest-paying states

  1. Washington5,760 jobs$158,370
  2. California9,170 jobs$157,620
  3. Maryland3,180 jobs$156,750
  4. Colorado4,070 jobs$156,190
  5. Massachusetts990 jobs$149,470

Metro areas with the most jobs

  1. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA5,480 jobs$163,580
  2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA5,200 jobs$163,280
  3. Huntsville, AL4,880 jobs$131,090
  4. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX3,430 jobs$134,570
  5. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV2,420 jobs$166,420

Highest-paying metro areas

  1. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA510 jobs$191,260
  2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA930 jobs$181,630
  3. Boulder, CO800 jobs$167,160
  4. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD1,220 jobs$166,980
  5. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV2,420 jobs$166,420
All 43 state-level areas (sortable)
Pay by state; select a column heading to sort
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Every job in this pathway

National figures. A field of study leads to several occupations, each with its own pay.

OccupationLowest 10%MedianTop 10%Jobs
Aerospace engineers —$134,960——
Mechanical engineers —$104,110——

"Jobs" counts wage-and-salary jobs in the OEWS survey; it differs from the employment totals in BLS projections. "—": BLS publishes this group as separate occupations; the median shown is the group figure from the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Median pay by industry · aerospace engineers

  • Aerospace product and parts manufacturing$137,030
  • Engineering services$132,440
  • Federal government$142,630
  • Research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences$149,260
  • Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing$126,740
Data: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national, state, metro and nonmetro estimates). How Margdarshan sources its data → · Back to Aerospace Engineering