Across all five sectors, approximately 650,000 workers were employed nationally by public sector aerospace-related entities in fiscal year 2024, down about 1.5% from 660,000 in the 2020 aerospace report. For comparison, public sector aerospace workers are equivalent to almost half the 1.39 million workers reported in the private aerospace sectors. Approximately 257,000 (40% share) of the 650,000 public sector aerospace workers were active-duty Air Force personnel and 162,300 (25% share) permanent Air Force civilian workers. Both estimates are down from 275,000 active-duty Air Force personnel and 168,200 Air Force civilians in the 2020 report. Smaller segments of the public sector aerospace industry include 102,600 (16% share) Air National Guard personnel and 64,750 (10% share) Air Force Reserve members in fiscal year 2024. Employment is down in both categories relative to the 2020 report, when reported levels of personnel were 105,000 and 68,500, respectively. In contrast to declining Air Force and Air Guard/Reserve personnel, permanent FAA civilian employment increased from 43,200 in the 2020 report to 44,900 (7% share) workers currently. Finally, NASA employment reached 18,000 workers (3% share) in fiscal year 2024, up slightly from about 17,200 workers in fiscal year 2019. Most of the major components of public sector aerospace employment posted declines between fiscal years 2019 and 2024. This trend in overall U.S. public aerospace employment the past five years suggests pressure on hiring in states with concentrated public aerospace employment. Oklahoma Public Sector Aerospace. Oklahoma now has 31,132 public sector aerospace- related employees, ranking 6th among the states. This represents a decrease of about 1,500 personnel from the 32,610 personnel reported in the 2020 report. The significant concentration of public sector aerospace jobs in Oklahoma highlights the importance of including them in comparative state-level studies of the aerospace sector. Remarkably, only Texas (66,980), Florida (47,777), California (41,770), Georgia (31,371), and Ohio (31,324) have a larger pool of public sector aerospace-related jobs. All five states are traditional aerospace and defense industry leaders. Since the 2020 report, only two of these states – Texas and Ohio – have posted gains in the number of public sector aerospace workers. Oklahoma and these five states form a top tier of states measured by public sector aerospace jobs, with each having between 31,000 and 67,000 public sector aerospace workers, far outpacing the remaining states. A second tier of states includes Virginia (26,260),
Greater OKC Region Aerospace and Aviation - 2025
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