Short answer
California had 347 aerospace product and parts manufacturing establishments in 2023, employing 56,575 people on a $6.71 billion payroll (Census County Business Patterns): 18.25% of the US total and first among states. The Los Angeles metro holds 202 of them. Eleven establishments with 1,000 or more employees account for 54% of the jobs. Listed aerospace companies headquartered in the state include Teledyne, Ducommun, Rocket Lab, Karman and Joby Aviation.
- 347 aerospace manufacturing establishments and 56,575 employees in 2023, first among states.
- 173 establishments have fewer than 20 employees; the 11 with 1,000 or more employ 30,626 people.
- The Los Angeles metro has 202 establishments; Riverside-San Bernardino and San Diego have 28 each.
- Federal contracts coded to aerospace manufacturing and performed in California totaled $7.84 billion in fiscal 2025, fifth among states.
- Kratos now lists Round Rock, Texas as its headquarters, and SpaceX announced a move to Starbase, Texas in late 2024.
On this page
This report is for anyone working California's aerospace industry at state scale: buyers comparing suppliers across regions, people deciding where to work, and B2B sellers building a California territory.
California aerospace in Census data
US Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, NAICS 3364 (Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing), State of California:
| Measure (2023) | California |
|---|---|
| Establishments | 347 |
| Employees (week of March 12) | 56,575 |
| Annual payroll | $6,712,016,000 |
| Average employees per establishment | 163.0 |
| Average annual pay | $118,639 |
| Share of US establishments | 18.25% of 1,901 |
| Rank among states by establishments | 1st |
CBP counts establishments (single locations) with paid employees, so one company with three plants counts three times, and the self-employed aren't counted. California's economic development office (GO-Biz) cites a much larger figure, 110,000 aerospace jobs (from Lightcast), because its definition reaches beyond manufacturing.
Two markets in one state: many small shops, a few giant sites
| Employees per establishment | Establishments | Employees in that class |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 87 | 146 |
| 5 to 9 | 39 | 250 |
| 10 to 19 | 47 | 661 |
| 20 to 49 | 50 | 1,594 |
| 50 to 99 | 35 | 2,483 |
| 100 to 249 | 50 | 7,781 |
| 250 to 499 | 16 | 5,737 |
| 500 to 999 | 12 | 7,297 |
| 1,000 or more | 11 | 30,626 |
The employee column comes from the same CBP state file, which publishes employment by size class for states, and it sums to the 56,575 total.
Half the establishments (173) have fewer than 20 employees and together employ about 1,000 people. At the other end, 11 sites hold 54% of the jobs. A seller can't treat those as one market: the small shops buy like small businesses, and the eleven buy through procurement departments and supplier portals.
What California makes
| Industry (NAICS) | Establishments | Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Other aircraft parts and auxiliary equipment (336413) | 198 | 15,396 |
| Aircraft manufacturing (336411) | 50 | Not reported (high-noise) |
| Aircraft engines and engine parts (336412) | 49 | 2,364 |
| Guided missiles and space vehicles (336414) | 21 | 7,667 |
| Other missile and space vehicle parts (336419) | 19 | 3,232 |
| Space vehicle propulsion units and parts (336415) | 10 | 6,496 |
"Not reported (high-noise)" means the Bureau published the figure but flagged it as moved by 5% or more by its confidentiality noise. The 50 space and missile establishments employ 17,395 people between them, more than the 198 aircraft parts makers. Beyond NAICS 3364, the state has 104 navigation and guidance instrument makers (NAICS 334511) with 18,327 employees and 2,221 machine shops, the second tier of the supply chain.
Where they are
| Metro area | Establishments | Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim | 202 | 31,989 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario | 28 | 1,331 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad | 28 | Not reported (high-noise) |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont | 18 | 1,602 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura | 16 | Not reported (high-noise) |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara | 13 | 4,239 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom | 8 | 651 |
| Bakersfield-Delano | 7 | Not reported (high-noise) |
These eight metros hold 320 of the 347 establishments. Southern California is the core: Los Angeles alone has 58% of the state's establishments. San Jose's 13 sites average 326 employees, the Bay Area's space and eVTOL hardware. Kern County (the Bakersfield metro) includes Mojave, which Northrop Grumman's 10-K lists among its Aeronautics Systems sites, and Edwards Air Force Base. For the metro detail, see aerospace companies in Los Angeles and aerospace companies in San Diego.
Listed aerospace companies headquartered in California
Each company below was checked on the cover of its latest 10-K:
| Company (ticker) | Headquarters | FY2025 revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teledyne Technologies (TDY) | Thousand Oaks | $6,115.4 million | About 15,800 |
| Ducommun (DCO) | Costa Mesa | $824.7 million | 2,130 |
| Rocket Lab (RKLB) | Long Beach | $601.8 million | 2,600+ |
| Karman Holdings (KRMN) | Huntington Beach | $471.5 million | About 1,400 |
| Joby Aviation (JOBY) | Santa Cruz | $53.4 million | 2,559 (31 Jan 2026) |
| Archer Aviation (ACHR) | San Jose | $0.3 million | 1,160 full-time plus 500 contingent |
Teledyne's SEC industry code is navigation and guidance systems, and much of its business is instruments and imaging rather than aircraft. Two moves matter for anyone using an older list. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions still has a San Diego address on EDGAR, but its fiscal 2025 10-K gives Round Rock, Texas. And the Texas governor's office reports that SpaceX announced in late 2024 that it would move its headquarters from California to Starbase, Texas. Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin run their largest California sites from headquarters in Virginia and Maryland.
Federal contracts performed in California
USAspending shows $7.84 billion of federal contract obligations in fiscal 2025 coded to aerospace manufacturing (NAICS 3364) with a California place of performance, fifth among states behind Texas, Arizona, Connecticut and Florida. The Department of Defense obligated $7.29 billion and NASA $488.2 million.
| Recipient (as named in the federal record) | FY2025 obligations |
|---|---|
| The Boeing Company | $2,260.7 million |
| General Atomics Aeronautical Systems | $1,039.4 million |
| Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation | $529.3 million |
| AeroVironment | $485.5 million |
| Northrop Grumman Systems Corp (second record) | $444.4 million |
| Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) | $411.9 million |
| General Atomics | $325.5 million |
Obligations are recorded where the contract places the work and exclude subcontracts.
A California territory plan
| Region | Establishments | Lead with | Typical buyer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles and Orange counties | 202 | Supplier-tier services: quality systems, recruiting, special processes | Plant or quality manager at 20 to 249 employee shops |
| Inland Empire | 28 | Capacity, logistics, facilities | Owner or operations lead |
| San Diego County | 28 | Production scale-up for drone and defense makers | VP of operations |
| Bay Area (San Francisco and San Jose) | 31 | Supply chain, certification, test for eVTOL and space startups | Head of supply chain or manufacturing |
| Ventura, Central Coast and Kern County | 31 | Flight test, launch and range support | Program and site leads |
Illustrative example. The seller and its numbers are invented; the counts are from Census data.
Coastline Quality (coastlinequality.example), a three-consultant AS9100 and ISO 9001 firm, wants a California book of business. It starts with the 85 establishments with 20 to 99 employees, where certification work is usually bought by one quality manager, and adds the eVTOL and space startups in the Bay Area, which need AS9100 before their first production contracts. At a 10% yearly win rate on 100 accounts and $28,000 per engagement, that's 10 projects and $280,000. Before writing, it confirms each target's certificate status in the IAQG's OASIS database and its entity status in bizfile. Bebop can build the target list from a plain-language description and explain each match.
State sources
| Source | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| GO-Biz aerospace and defense | State industry figures and installations: Vandenberg Space Force Base, Space Systems Command at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Edwards Air Force Base and four NASA research centers |
| California bizfile | Entity status and registered agents |
| LAEDC SoCal Aerospace Council | Southern California's aerospace industry forum |
| San Diego Regional EDC | Defense and unmanned systems data for San Diego |
| USAspending | Awards by recipient and place of performance |
Next step: see how aerospace fits the state's wider industrial base in the report on manufacturing companies in California.
Sources
- County Business Patterns (CBP), 2023, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- County Business Patterns methodology (noise flags), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Aerospace and defense, California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), accessed 30 October 2026
- Teledyne Technologies Incorporated Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 20 February 2026
- Ducommun Incorporated Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 26 February 2026
- Rocket Lab Corporation Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 26 February 2026
- Karman Holdings Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 3 April 2026
- Joby Aviation, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 27 February 2026
- Archer Aviation Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 2 March 2026
- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 23 February 2026
- Aerospace, Aviation and Defense Industry, Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office, Office of the Governor, May 2025
- Advanced Search: prime contract obligations, FY2025, NAICS 3364, place of performance California, USAspending.gov, US Department of the Treasury, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many aerospace companies are in California?
Census County Business Patterns counted 347 aerospace product and parts manufacturing establishments in California in 2023, employing 56,575 people, more than any other state. That counts locations with paid employees, so a company with several plants counts more than once. California's economic development office cites 110,000 aerospace jobs using a broader industry definition from Lightcast.
What are the biggest aerospace companies in California?
By fiscal 2025 federal aerospace contracts performed in the state, the largest recipients were Boeing, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Northrop Grumman, AeroVironment and SpaceX. Among companies headquartered in California, Teledyne Technologies reported the most revenue at $6.12 billion, followed by Ducommun, Rocket Lab and Karman, according to their 2025 10-K filings.
Where are most aerospace companies in California?
In Southern California. The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro has 202 of the state's 347 aerospace manufacturing establishments, according to 2023 Census data. Riverside-San Bernardino and San Diego have 28 each, San Francisco-Oakland 18, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 16 and San Jose 13. San Jose's sites are large, averaging about 326 employees, while most Inland Empire shops are small.
Did SpaceX leave California?
SpaceX announced in late 2024 that it would move its headquarters from California to Starbase, Texas, according to the Texas governor's office's 2025 aerospace report. It still performs work in California: federal records show $411.9 million of fiscal 2025 aerospace manufacturing contract obligations to SpaceX with a Los Angeles or Orange County place of performance.
How much do aerospace manufacturing jobs in California pay?
California's aerospace manufacturing establishments paid $6.71 billion in 2023 to 56,575 employees, an average of $118,639, according to Census County Business Patterns. Pay varies by region and role; the figure blends engineers, machinists, assemblers and managers and uses employment in the week of March 12. For pay by occupation, use the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage estimates for the state or metro.