National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Headcount, average pay, length of service, sub-agencies, and hiring trends for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, drawn directly from the OPM Federal Workforce Data (June 2026).
OPM FedScope stock folio
Employment stock June 2026 National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration is a mid-sized federal agency: 14,248 employees (0.7% of the federal civilian workforce) across 49 states (including DC). At an average salary of $153,014 it pays well above the federal average of $117,339, and headcount grew 2.0% from the prior period.
Monthly FedScope employment stock for National Aeronautics and Space Administration - headcount, pay, tenure, and nearest peer names from the same OPM extract (14,248 employees · $153,014 avg).
- HEAD 14,248
- RANK #15/126
- PAY $153,014
- LOS 17.8 yrs
- SHARE 0.7%
- STATES 49
- NET +630
- SUBS 10
- PHOTO Department of Energy
- BOOK OPM FWD
Headcount peers
Photo peer: Department of Energy (13,339 employees)
According to OPM FedScope June 2026, National Aeronautics and Space Administration ranks #15 of 126 federal agencies by headcount (the same employee_count ordering as our agencies directory and /rankings/largest-agencies). Peer bars use similar workforce size, not duty-station geography. Corpus placement →
Salary Analysis · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
How National Aeronautics and Space Administration pay compares to the federal average of $117,339.
Sub-agencies by average pay band
Employees counted under the sub-agency whose average salary falls in each band, not an individual pay distribution. Covers 14,248 of National Aeronautics and Space Administration's staff assigned to mapped sub-agencies.
- $120k–$150k: 6,905 (48%)
- $150k+: 7,343 (52%)
Agency Average
$153,014
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+30.4%
Where National Aeronautics and Space Administration ranks on pay
Ranked by agency (not weighted by headcount), its average salary of $153,014 is higher than 56% of the 121 federal agencies (68 pay less on average). Smaller specialized agencies often post higher per-employee averages than large ones like National Aeronautics and Space Administration, so this agency-count rank can differ from a comparison to the government-wide, employee-weighted average shown above. The highlighted bar marks where National Aeronautics and Space Administration sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 121 federal agencies; National Aeronautics and Space Administration ranks higher than 56%.
Sub-agency pay span (dense agency)
Under $80K
0
$80K–$100K
0
$100K–$120K
0
$120K–$150K
6,905
Over $150K
7,343
Sub-agencies & Organizational Units
National Aeronautics and Space Administration has 10 sub-agencies. The highest-paying unit averages $173,005.
| Sub-agency | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center | 2,687 | $157,912 | 17.5 yrs |
| Goddard Space Flight Center | 2,009 | $166,544 | 20.5 yrs |
| George C. Marshall Space Flight Center | 1,915 | $144,392 | 17.7 yrs |
| John F. Kennedy Space Center | 1,889 | $136,043 | 16.2 yrs |
| Headquarters, NASA | 1,652 | $166,344 | 18.1 yrs |
| Langley Research Center | 1,336 | $145,156 | 17.6 yrs |
| John Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field | 1,136 | $140,462 | 17 yrs |
| Ames Research Center | 995 | $173,005 | 18.2 yrs |
| Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center | 424 | $142,023 | 15.8 yrs |
| John C. Stennis Space Center | 205 | $136,268 | 14.3 yrs |
Geographic Presence
National Aeronautics and Space Administration has employees in 49 states (including DC). Texas has the most with 2,737 employees.
| State | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 2,737 | $159,529 | 17.6 yrs |
| Florida | 1,992 | $137,167 | 16.2 yrs |
| Alabama | 1,938 | $145,017 | 17.8 yrs |
| Maryland | 1,867 | $169,295 | 20.5 yrs |
| Virginia | 1,492 | $143,713 | 17.7 yrs |
| California | 1,413 | $165,160 | 17.8 yrs |
| Ohio | 1,223 | $142,193 | 17.1 yrs |
| District of Columbia | 684 | $178,284 | 18.5 yrs |
| Mississippi | 406 | $130,989 | 14.3 yrs |
| New Mexico | 83 | $139,708 | 17.3 yrs |
| Colorado | 40 | $157,582 | 15.9 yrs |
| New York | 35 | $176,749 | 19.8 yrs |
| Louisiana | 34 | $153,190 | 19.5 yrs |
| West Virginia | 31 | $156,155 | 22.9 yrs |
| Washington | 22 | $170,925 | 18.7 yrs |
| North Carolina | 17 | $154,942 | 18.5 yrs |
| Illinois | 11 | $142,317 | 13.8 yrs |
| Pennsylvania | 11 | $164,487 | 14 yrs |
| Utah | 11 | $156,022 | 16.8 yrs |
| Massachusetts | 10 | $182,654 | 20.4 yrs |
Showing top 20 of 49 states
Workforce Dynamics
Dynamics feed (RSS)Monthly hiring and separation trends. Net change over 6 months: +630.
| Month | Accessions | Separations | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2026 | +695 | -67 | +628 |
| May 2026 | +3 | -0 | +3 |
| Apr 2026 | +0 | -1 | -1 |
| Jan 2026 | +2 | -0 | +2 |
| Dec 2025 | +0 | -1 | -1 |
| Nov 2025 | +0 | -1 | -1 |
vs Federal Hiring Climate
OPM FedScope dynamics for Jun 2026 — National Aeronautics and Space Administration against the same-month federal civilian totals (not a forecast).
Agency net (Jun 2026)
+628
+695 / −67
Federal net (Jun 2026)
+2,416
+15,984 / −13,568
Share of federal accessions
4.35%
Moved with the federal climate this month
Hiring & Separation Reasons
Why employees join and leave National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Accession Reasons
NEW HIRE - COMPETITIVE SERVICE APPOINTMENT
546
NEW HIRE - EXCEPTED SERVICE APPOINTMENT
149
TRANSFER IN - INDIVIDUAL TRANSFER
5
Separation Reasons
RETIREMENT - VOLUNTARY
31
QUIT
27
TRANSFER OUT - INDIVIDUAL TRANSFER
3
OTHER SEPARATION
3
RETIREMENT - OTHER
3
Sub-agencies by average tenure
Agency-wide average length of service is 17.8 years. Counts below are employees in sub-agencies whose average tenure falls in each band, not how many individuals have that length of service.
Sub-agency avg under 5 yrs
0
Sub-agency avg 5–10 yrs
0
Sub-agency avg 10–15 yrs
205
Sub-agency avg 15–20 yrs
12,034
Sub-agency avg over 20 yrs
2,009
Similar-Sized Agencies
Federal agencies with a similar workforce size to National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Showing 6 of 125 other federal agencies.
Department of Energy
Environmental Protection Agency
Department of State
Department of Labor
General Services Administration
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Nationwide agencies with similar pay or tenure
Two peer sets for National Aeronautics and Space Administration on OPM FedScope averages that vary across the full agency corpus, not duty-station geography or sub-agency hierarchy.
Similar average salary
Nearest agency-wide average salaries ($153,014 here).
Peers near this dense headcount tenure
Nearest agency-wide average length of service (17.8 years here).
How these figures are calculated
The pay percentile above is computed live from PlainGovJobs' own OPM FedScope database, not hand-typed: National Aeronautics and Space Administration's average salary is ranked against every other federal agency's average salary, agency-by-agency (not weighted by headcount), and the percentile is the share of agencies whose average is strictly lower.
The sub-agency pay-span bars sum each sub-agency's own employee_count into one of five salary bands based on that sub-agency's average salary; the bands add up exactly to National Aeronautics and Space Administration's total employee count, since every sub-agency is counted in exactly one band.
See the methodology page for the full source-to-page pipeline and refresh cadence.
Data Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) FedScope Employment Cubes, June 2026. Federal civilian non-seasonal full-time and part-time employees. Data does not include military personnel, postal workers, or intelligence agency staff. Last updated: 2026-08-11.
Data currency: Employment stock from OPM Federal Workforce Data June 2026 (prior-period deltas vs May 2026); monthly hiring/separations from FWD Dynamics June 2024–June 2026 (filled civilian headcount and flows, not live USAJOBS vacancy listings). State pages sum only duty stations with a disclosed US state/DC code; 898,675 employees have redacted geography in the release and appear in the national total only. Database compiled 2026-08-11. See our methodology § populations for the three windows. Spot a figure that looks wrong? Report a correction.