Legacy Space Versus NewSpace: Engineering Pay in the Space Industry

Since the late 1950s, there have been concerns about the shortage of science and engineering talent at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and in the American private civil space sector. In the early 2000s, the emergence of major NewSpace companies added further pressure to the constrained talent supply and the compensation competitiveness of NASA and Legacy Space enterprises. Since NASA last commissioned a publicly available study on compensation differences for space-related talent in 1969, this study aims to reignite research discussions on the importance of compensation in space talent acquisition and guide science, technology, engineering, and mathematics professionals in their career decisions. In this study, the salaries of over 600 U.S.-based aerospace engineers at eight major space organizations are analyzed between 2019 and 2024. The study finds that aerospace engineers experienced lower salary growth and relatively more volatile employment rates during the COVID-19 era; however, their employment opportunities increased relatively more compared to other professions when high inflation subsided. From a regional U.S. job market perspective, the aerospace engineering profession is concentrated in the Top 10 high-income and high-employment states. The study concludes with NASA/Government providing lower but predictable, stable, and structured salary growth. Legacy Space compensation also focuses on stability, but with more long-term salary growth than government employees. NewSpace salaries exhibit high initial career growth, followed by significant volatility, drops, and long-term stagnation. Given that the majority of NASA’s budget is allocated to private enterprises, Legacy Space may be a better career option, particularly given NewSpace’s long-term compensation volatility.