Aerospace Engineering
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Aerospace Engineering occupation series (code 0861): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
With 8,359 employees (0.4% of the federal civilian workforce), Aerospace Engineering ranks as a mid-sized federal occupation within the Engineering and Architecture Group family, and headcount edged down from the prior period. Its average salary of $155,848 pays well above the federal average.
- Headcount change
- -0.5%
- Pay change
- +0.1%
- Avg tenure
- 14.8 yrs
- Rank in family
- #6 of 29
FedScope read on Aerospace Engineering (dense series)
For job seekers weighing career length: this series shows a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Headcount moved down versus the prior period, a useful gauge for job seekers on USAJOBS trying to assess whether this role is expanding government-wide or contracting under hiring freezes and attrition. As for pay, the latest move was a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change.
Code 08, the Engineering and Architecture Group family, is where the federal government classifies Aerospace Engineering alongside 28 related occupations. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Aerospace Engineering postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Engineering and Architecture Group family. The Engineering and Architecture Group family totals 120,278 employees, and Aerospace Engineering accounts for 6.9% of them. Its average salary ranks in the top half (81st percentile) of pay among Engineering and Architecture Group occupations.
Salary context · rich-pay series
How Aerospace Engineering pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$155,848
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+32.8%
Where Aerospace Engineering ranks on rich federal pay
Aerospace Engineering earns more on average than 91% of federal occupation series (492 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Aerospace Engineering sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Aerospace Engineering.
Related Occupations in Engineering and Architecture Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Engineering | 27,619 | $158,941 | 16.9 yrs |
| Engineering Technical | 14,443 | $93,062 | 15.2 yrs |
| Mechanical Engineering | 12,920 | $136,601 | 11.9 yrs |
| Electronics Engineering | 12,889 | $155,270 | 16.8 yrs |
| Civil Engineering | 10,260 | $124,230 | 14.7 yrs |
| Electronics Technical | 7,298 | $103,713 | 15.6 yrs |
| Electrical Engineering | 5,231 | $142,419 | 13.5 yrs |
| Computer Engineering | 3,753 | $160,672 | 14.2 yrs |
| Nuclear Engineering | 2,813 | n/a | 13.5 yrs |
| Environmental Engineering | 2,429 | $139,024 | 17 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Aerospace Engineering outside the Engineering and Architecture Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar dense headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (8,359 here).
Similar rich average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($155,848 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Aerospace Engineering pay in context with the pay-rank chart above, then compare it with another occupation.
- Turn an average salary into a grade: the GS pay grade tables show how grades and steps map to pay.
- Browse the Engineering and Architecture Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Aerospace Engineering postings on USAJOBS.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.