Careers · Compensation
Space Industry Salaries (2026): What 51 Roles Pay, Nationally and by City
What space industry jobs pay in 2026: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage ranges for 51 roles from propulsion engineer to program director, nationally and by city, plus the ranges employers state in live postings. How to read an estimate and how to negotiate.
In this guide
The short answer
Aerospace engineer, US (BLS SOC 17-2011): median $135k, middle half $106k to $170k, national, all industries (OEWS, May 2025). The median of the 51 roles' BLS medians is $135k. Technician roles sit below that; engineering managers and executives well above. Employers stating a range in live postings right now (545 of 11,004 roles) quote $28k–$249k from entry to the most senior level listed.
Two things move a space salary more than the job title: where you sit (on BLS aerospace engineer wages, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV pays 119 percent of the national mean and Huntsville, AL 95 percent) and what you are cleared for. The rest of this page is the tables.
What 51 roles pay
Pay bands are U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) figures for May 2025, national, all industries: each role is matched to its closest BLS occupation (SOC code) and shows that occupation's annual wage percentiles. The low end is the 10th percentile, then the 25th, the median (50th), the 75th and the 90th; BLS publishes no maximum. Space employers may pay differently from the all-industry figure. Checked October 2026. Sorted by median within each group; the BLS occupation and SOC code behind each figure are in the second column.
What postings actually state (live)
Computed at page load from the 545 open postings on the jobs board that state a salary range. Averages of the stated minimum and maximum, by category. Postings that state a range skew toward states with pay-transparency laws (California, Colorado, Washington, New York), so these run a little above a national average.
| Category | Stated min | Stated max | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering | $137k | $189k | 344 |
| Operations | $113k | $146k | 52 |
| Business | $128k | $207k | 39 |
| Research | $147k | $223k | 3 |
| Legal | $179k | $226k | 4 |
| Manufacturing | $107k | $147k | 103 |
By seniority
BLS publishes wages by occupation, not by seniority, so the benchmark has no junior, mid or senior bands. What employers state in live postings, by level:
Stated in live postings · by level
| Level | Min | Max | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry Level | $28k | $32k | 10 |
| Mid Level | $116k | $164k | 334 |
| Senior | $147k | $195k | 120 |
| Lead | $153k | $203k | 55 |
| Director | $183k | $346k | 14 |
| VP | $231k | $250k | 4 |
| C-Suite | $183k | $249k | 8 |
By city
City multipliers are the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 annual mean wage for Aerospace Engineers (SOC 17-2011) in each metropolitan area, divided by the national mean of $142,060. They come from one occupation and are applied to every role, so treat them as a guide to how a metro pays, not a quote for a specific job. These are the same multipliers the estimator uses for the salary band on job listings.
How our salary bands are made
Every listing on the jobs board shows a salary band. There are two kinds and the label tells you which:
- Stated by employer. The posting includes a range. We show it unchanged.
- SpaceNexus estimate. The posting has no range. We match the title against the 51 benchmark roles (a “Senior GNC Engineer” matches the GNC engineer role), take the BLS middle half of national pay for that role's occupation (25th to 75th percentile), apply the city multiplier from the table above where BLS has an area figure, and round to the nearest $5k. There is no seniority adjustment: BLS publishes none. If the title matches nothing we know, we show no band rather than a guess.
The estimate is BLS annual wages (OEWS, May 2025, all industries). It does not include equity, bonus, overtime, relocation or the value of a clearance. Treat it as the opening number for a conversation, not the number on the offer letter.
Negotiating a space offer
- Anchor on the role, level and city, not the company. Use the BLS percentiles for your role (the 75th or 90th if you are experienced), times the city multiplier, as a reference for the number you name first.
- Quote a stated range from a competing posting. The live table above tells you what employers in the same category are publishing right now; a posting from a competitor with a range is the most persuasive comparison you can bring.
- Trade base for things the company can give cheaply: a signing bonus (one-off, does not compound their budget), relocation, an earlier review date, or a title bump that moves you into the next band.
- If you hold a clearance, say so in the first sentence of the negotiation. It is the reason they can close the requisition this quarter.
- Get the level in writing. Two offers with the same base can be a full band apart in what the next promotion pays.
Frequently asked
How much does a space industry engineer make?
BLS puts the national median for aerospace engineers (SOC 17-2011) at $135k, with the middle half earning $106k to $170k (OEWS, May 2025, all industries). The live table shows what employers state in current postings; those ranges can run higher because postings often quote total cash.
Does SpaceX pay more or less than the primes?
BLS does not publish pay by employer, and we have no independent source that compares companies level for level, so this page does not rank them. What we can show is what each employer states: our Salaries by company pages list the ranges in each company's own live postings, by role family and location. Remember that equity, bonuses and overtime eligibility differ by employer and are not in a stated base range.
How much is a security clearance worth?
An active, adjudicated TS/SCI is worth most, because the employer cannot hire and wait a year for adjudication. A Secret clearance adds less; eligibility to obtain one adds almost nothing until it is granted. Compare stated ranges for cleared and uncleared postings of the same title on the jobs board.
Are the salary bands on SpaceNexus job listings real?
When the employer states a range, we show it and label it "stated by employer". When they do not, we show a SpaceNexus estimate: the title is matched to a benchmark role, and the band is the BLS middle half of national pay (25th to 75th percentile) for that role's occupation, adjusted for metro where BLS has an area figure, labelled "estimate". The estimate is a starting point for a conversation, not an offer.
Do remote space jobs pay less?
BLS publishes no wage data for remote work, so we apply no city adjustment to remote roles: the estimate is the national figure.
What do space technicians and machinists make?
BLS medians for the technician occupations in the dataset: Satellite Operations Analyst $83k (SOC 17-3021), Manufacturing Technician $65k (SOC 51-2011), CNC Machinist $59k (SOC 51-4041), Production Supervisor $74k (SOC 51-1011), Spacecraft Integration Technician $83k (SOC 17-3021). Overtime during launch campaigns can push take-home well above base.
Keep going
- The live jobs board: every posting with its salary band, filterable by category, company and remote.
- Salaries by company: every employer with three or more open roles, with its median band by role family and location and how it sits against the benchmark.
- How to get a job in the space industry: where the jobs are and what the postings ask for.
- Hiring?: post a role with a stated range; postings with a range get more applicants.
Pay bands are U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) figures for May 2025, national, all industries: each role is matched to its closest BLS occupation (SOC code) and shows that occupation's annual wage percentiles. The low end is the 10th percentile, then the 25th, the median (50th), the 75th and the 90th; BLS publishes no maximum. Space employers may pay differently from the all-industry figure. Checked October 2026. Live figures are computed from job postings aggregated from company career sites at the moment the page loads (board as of Oct 28, 2026). Nothing here is an offer or a guarantee of pay.